How To: Make glowing LED creature costume eyes

By using LEDs that only put out a little light the eyes can be lit in dim room light but still appear white, the moment the eyes are in shadow they glow bright red. Watch this video tutorial to see how to make glowing LED creature costume eyes for your film or costume project.

This project has a hefty supply list, and you'll need to visit different stores to find all the products.

This project combines craft making, electronics, and costume design. You'll need to know how to solder for connecting wires and components. You'll need to know how work with a Plexiglas-type material for cutting 1/8 inch polycarbonate sheets. You'll need to know how to work with a hand torch or heat gun for heating up polycarbonate to around 280 degrees and shoving the back of a spoon into it to make a pair of lenses.

Building Eyes:

Making polycarbonate lenses allows for a very clear lens that give the eye an appearance of depth in light and in the dark. The shape and colors are up to you.

You can tell the polycarbonate was shaped over the back of a spoon. I choose polycarbonate because it's easy to work with but very clear.

Cut to the same size is a flat piece of polycarbonate.??There's a tiny ring that will be hot glued to the center of the flat piece.

Slightly larger is a flat piece of cut from a sheet of craft foam.

The tiny ring is cut from fun foam and hot glued, it's slightly thicker than the LEDs are wide.

The ring is hot glued to the center of the flat polycarbonate piece, then the polycarbonate is painted on both sides with acrylic paint. The dabbing motion will help hide the LEDs, and the paint will diffuse light.

The ring is then used as a stamp to outline where to cut a hole.

After cutting the hole trace the foam onto tin foil and cut it out.

Then use a thin layer of glue to attach the foil to the foam piece.

Decorate your eye!

For full written instructions, go to:

http://gryphern.googlepages.com/eyetranscript.rtf