Fireflies - Analog version... Or, How to randomly flash 8 LEDs OK. I'll admit that the fireflies in a jar thing has been done already. The difference here will be that this version will be done entirely with an analog circuit. For anyone without a lot of electrical knowledge, what that means is that you can do the firefly circuit without needing to buy a PIC micro controller or do any programing on your computer.
This circuit can be put together entirely from parts available at Radio Shack for a reasonable amount of money. The one or two I have built are being used in enclosed projects with a translucent lens. The primary difficulty in designing this was in finding a way to randomly flash the LEDs. The Decade counter chip (LED driver) can actually drive up to 8 LEDs. The second difficulty was finding a simple way to get a fade-effect in the LEDs. Parts List: 1 lm555 timer chip1 cd4026b combined counter and display driver IC16v 47uf capacitor2 - 10k resistorsJumper wire, a few feet.
Soft-circuit LED Bracelet. LED Throwies. LED throwies consist of only a few inexpensive parts and can be made for ~$1.00 per Throwie.
You can reference the parts list below or download the attached spreadsheet for more info on parts, part's numbers, vendors and application notes. Part: 10mm Diffused LED Vendor: HB Electronic Components Average cost: $0.20 avg per LED Notes: Cost reductions for larger quantities. Comes in red, blue, amber, white in both diffused and clear. Diffused works better than water clear for the Throwie application. HB has even created a Throwies packs page with deals on 10mm LEDs and lithium batteries! You Have Just Been Poisoned. Step #1: Clean bottom of glass PrevNext Moisten a paper towel with rubbing alcohol and wipe the bottom of the glass squeaky clean.
Step #7: Verify that the etch is complete When the glass is completely dry, hold it up to the light and inspect the etch closely to verify that you haven't missed any spots.If there are flaws in the etching, simply reapply etching cream and rinse as in steps 5 and 6.Repeat until the etch is complete to your satisfaction. Mine did not need any retouching. Felt fortune cookies – geekified (and a giveaway!) It’s April!
Which has nothing even remotely specific at all to do with fortune cookies, but they seemed a fun thing to make. I’ve seen these felt fortune cookie creations all over the internet, made for Chinese New Year parties or Christmas or Valentine’s Day or pretty much any other occasion. I like to geekify things, and it occurred to me that Mario has at least a couple of phrases that are very obviously well-suited to the tradition of handing out short and to-the-point fortunes and bits of wisdom.
(I’m not saying that the repurposing of these phrases is in any way original, just that it’s thematically appropriate.) So I thought I’d see how Mario mushroom felt fortune cookies would turn out. Below are instructions for normal, everyday felt fortune cookies, as well as for the Mario mushroom version. Also, at the end of the post I’m doing a giveaway. Paper orchids AND spiralled paper roses. We’re moving soon, and I’ve been slowly going through all my stuff, organizing and paring down.
When I say “stuff” I largely refer to crafting supplies, since that’s what most of my world is made of. While sorting through all that “stuff” it came to my attention that I have what might technically be referred to as a boatload of paper scraps. They’re useful, you see. And they’re paper, so it’s not like they take up much space, or weigh very much… right? Um. So in the interest of using some of this stuff up, I started a one-woman flower-making factory a couple weeks ago. The other reason for this particular post is that last week I sort of taunted you all with “oooh, look at the pretty paper flower” photos (and suggested in passing that you could try them yourselves) without giving any instructions for them.
My scrap paper collection We’ll start off with instructions for the paper orchid. What you’ll need: Putting it all together: 1) Start by printing out the template on some plain cardstock.