Hello! Welcome to the Instructable of the Jellyfish Nightlight.

Now, a little background...this was a final project for a course called Creative Technologies. I had the idea for a night light one assignment before, so I took it up a level (maybe two).

Anyways, I had this light cover from an old ceiling fixture and someone pointed out how it looked like the top of a jellyfish. Voila! My final project idea was born.

As I processed this idea, I thought, "My nephew is scared of the dark and he LOVES the aquarium, I'll give it to him once I'm done!" Lo, and behold the night light worked! It's now happily hanging from the ceiling in my nephew's bedroom. (Whether he actually sleeps or stay up because he is fixed on the jellyfish, that's a different story).

Step 1: The Items You'll Need...

The makings of this Jellyfish are few, it's the construction that takes time.

See the picture if you need visuals, just keep in mind I switched out the felt for 2 layers of shower curtain.

Here is a list of what I used.

-Light Fixture Cover

-Clear Shower Curtain

-8 Neopixels

-Adafruit Gemma 8mHz

-Conductive Thread

-Regular Thread

-Fishing Line

-Lithium Ion Battery 3.6 Volts

-Button (wires of battery and button soldered together)

-1 wire hanger

Step 2: Plan Ahead

Prevent mistakes!!

Although, I mess up a lot--when it comes to creative projects.

So, plan ahead and draw a circuit to make sure you have the places plotted and that the design you have in mind will work.

I added a picture of the circuit I made. (I made it via Photoshop, so the smaller images might not be very visible).

The red line is stitched from the 3VO pin (on the gemma) and travels to each "+" pin on the neopixels with the conductive thread.

The green line is the data pin. This pin travels from the D1 pin to the first neopixel. That would be the in pin which is the arrow that points to the light of the neopixel.

The blue line travels from the ground (GND) pin and travels to each "-" pin on the neopixels.

Then there's the picture of what my circuit really looks like. I attached my circuit to two layers of shower curtain.

AND because the layer is see-through, it's best to keep a good eye on the stitching as you go so there aren't any big balls of thread that shouldn't be there in the first place.

Step 3: Sew...You Thought You Were Done?

Well, well...if the sewing of the circuit had you done, I'm sorry. There's a little more to the wonderful jellyfish.

Nothing too scary, I promise.

OK, I bought a $3 shower curtain from Wal-Mart. As of this step, all I have used is two 5-6 inch circles for the base. In order to get the full use of the rest of the curtain, use it for the tentacles. In total, I made 11 tentacles, 4 long and 7 short.

Cut out circles, 5-6 inches wide for the longer tentacles, 4 inches wide for the shorter. Then cutting in a circular motion inside the circle makes the tentacles wavy and somewhat curly.

Here comes the sewing!

Take the end of each tentacle and thread through non-conductive thread and attach it to the base of the jellyfish.

They should hang like an actual jellyfish! Check out the picture!

Step 4: Better Sharpen Those Wire Cutters!

I may have forgotten to mention that wire cutters are necessary for this step.

Take the wire hanger, and cut the length needed for the inside of the light fixture, whatever it may be...you'll have 3 sides, so if you mess up once, there'll be at least one more chance to make it up!

Make an "X" on the inside and tie the 2 wires together.

This step allows the base of the jellyfish to be attached to the head.

Step 5: Light the Night!

Or the jellyfish...

8 Neopixels + 1 properly programed code = a totally awesome nightlight!!

The original plan was to just have the lights be purple and pink, but then jellyfish are often transparent. Shining different colored lights on the jellyfish would only lead to it being the same color. With that written, I coded a rainbow cycle so the jellyfish is multiple colors!

Also, with the button attached to the battery there's no coding required on turning the lights off or on. All that needs to happen is press the button!

The Word document has the code that was used for this specific jellyfish. If you make your own and know how to code, GO AT IT! Do what you want. This is basically as simple as it gets, my friends.

Jellyfish Code.doc
Download

Step 6: That Next Step...But Not the Last

Alright, the coding is done, so is the base of the "Jelly", now what?

Well, this is kinda the best, yet sucky part.

Here is when the last part of sewing comes in. Now, other ways can be used this is just how this jellyfish was constructed.

Take the base of the jellyfish and sew it to the wire rods inside the fixture.

TIP: attach the center and the outer part of the base for more support!

Step 7: You're Almost Done!

Now that the base and head are attached, you're basically done. Except, there's one last item that hasn't been used yet. The fishing line!!

The line is for hanging purposes. Take 4 strings, tie each to one end of the wire hanger and bring them upwards above the fixture to tie together. Tie the top how you like, just make sure it stays!

Check out the pictures for the finished product, but also the finished product when it's on!

P.S. my nephew's eyes were SO big when he saw this night light and he LOVED it!