You will soon find that adding by adding extra EL wire it begins to get dimmer. The more powerful inverters will drive the EL wire brighter eg the 8xAA inverter runs 15m of EL wire brighter than the 2xAA inverter drives 1m of wire. A Hot-glue gun is the best. Remember if it is being permanently fixed to clothing which is being worn out that there is some chance the wire will suffer some extreme environments so take care to observe point 5.
Lightpainters are advised to tape up and reinforce this part as well as the wires as they come out of the inverter before they star swinging the wire around. Instructions how to do this are on the website — unfortunately it requires wirestrippers, a soldering iron and some copper tape — but it is fairly easy. Sometimes though it is the fault of the very far end of the EL wire, perhaps the end cap has fallen off and something has shorted thewires at that end so give it a quick rub and see if it sparks into life you yourself might get a tingle of an electro shock off this — dont worry though, EL Wire is VERY low current so there is no danger of a painful shock.
For this project, in addition to three colors of EL wire and two EL inverter battery packs, you will need one stretched canvas in any size, scissors, needle, thread, hot glue, an X-Acto knife and some tape. First you need to decide what you want your sign to look like. I used Adobe Illustrator to plan my design, but you can also free-hand a line drawing on your canvas.
This where you get to be creative. Pick a design that you love! If you planned it digitally as I did, print it out. We will start by making a small hole using the X-Acto knife at the top left corner of your design. Thread the end of the EL wire through the hole so the battery connector is in the back and the rest of the EL wire is in the front.
Now start sewing down the EL wire along your line drawing or tracing. You will also want to glue the EL wire down to your line using some hot glue. The thread is good at keeping it in place, but you need some extra support. When you get to the end of a line, make a small hole with your X-Acto knife like the first one, and thread the EL wire through front to back.
Make another small hole at the beginning of your next line, thread the EL wire back through back to front and continue sewing and gluing. When all your drawn lines are covered with the EL wire, thread it to the back of the canvas and cut it, leaving a few extra inches. Hot glue the exposed tip to secure it from the elements. Once everything is in place, plug your EL wire battery leads into the EL converter battery pack. You will need two battery packs for three colors because each EL inverter battery pack can support two EL wire connections.
Hot glue these to the back of the canvas. Now turn them on, and your neon sign is complete! I love adding EL wire to clothing and accessories. To make your own hat, in addition to one color of EL wire and the EL inverter battery pack, you will need a needle, thread, tape, scissors and hot glue. You also want to pick a hat that is slightly too big for your head.
You need about two fingers of space to fit the battery pack. First, you want to tape your EL wire down according to how you want it. This will help you know the best way to arrange the EL wire. Use a little hot glue over the tip to protect it from the elements. The EL wire backpack follows a very similar process to the EL wire hat. Question 2 years ago on Introduction. Hi there! I'm an experienced amateur costume designer. Have you ever tried creating a casing for the wire made of tulle or other very sheer fabric?
Then that could be sewing into hems etc. Question 2 years ago. I am going to wear EL wire as part of a cosplay, I was wondering if it can glow underneath a spiderman im assuming spandex Costume? Thanks in advance. Reply 2 years ago. I usually don't recommend mounting EL wire on a stretchy fabric. Can you add non-stretch reinforcement behind the places you're mounting the EL wire? As far as visibility through the top layer of fabric, that will depend on how sheer the top layer is, and how bright your wire is which varies with the type of driver and the total length of the wire.
I would test it, and if it's too dim put it on the outside. I love all your examples of different applications for el wire! I have a question that I haven't been able to find an answer to Do certain colours like purple of El wire emit any harmful UV light? Reply 4 years ago. The phosphor core of the EL wire does not emit UV light - most colors are obtained from the combination of the glowing aqua color plus the tinted color of the outer covering on the wire.
EL wire that glows white typically uses a different base phosphor. LEDs are similar but you don't need the invertor, they run on DC power. But if your power supply is a greater voltage than the power used by the LEDs, you will need to calculate a value for the resistor. Here's a simple schematic of an LED light powered by a 9v battery. If you don't want the dimmer, just omit it, no other changes need to be made.
This is a Great tutorial. I use clear thread in my sewing machine and use a wide zig-zag stitch on top of the el-wire to hold it down. You have to go a little slowly until you get the hang of it. I use a foot for my singer which is designed for "Piping" so it has a thin side for the el-wire and a wide side to hold the material down.
I have done dozens of garments this way, and it is really great! Reply 5 years ago. It's not loud but noticeable, at first I thought mine was defect I'm glad the author mentioned it now I know it's normal. If I could get a reply from either the author, or other readers who've had experience with this, that would be great.
I'm just wondering how you get separate objects or shapes to light up together. I'm having trouble explaining what I mean. I'm trying to make a glowing skeleton costume for my son this Halloween. I have a suit that already has the bones printed on it, and a rope of EL wire that's already put together and connected to a battery pack. I want to outline the bones with the wire, but how do I trace the separate bones and get them to all light together at the end?
I read that you can cut the wire and add a connector to it? I'm kind of lost on all of this I was wondering the same thing but after reading this article I think I know how the author did it. I hope this answer your question. I'm glad I found this instrucable because I have 9ft wire and I want to do stick person costume for my son but I haven't worked on the costume yet because I'm trying to figure out how to 'separate' the wire where I don't want to see the EL wire lights up.
Thanks author! Hello very helpful but can i ask If you sew it with needle or sewing machine it may be ruin or damage the el wire? By enlighted Follow. More by the author:. Here are some examples of EL wire suits, with comments included on the photos. First Prize in the Let It Glow! View Contest. Did you make this project? Share it with us! I Made It! Retro Arduino Radio by exposedwire in Arduino.
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