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How I Make my LED GLOW HOOPS
Sharpies:
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!OH MY GOSH! DISCOVERY ABOUT LEDS!
I discovered something WONDERFUL. I've been unhappy with the UV purple LED bulbs that are available, they always seem to be too dim. So.... I started thinking about what I could do to brighten them up a bit, especially when building a RAINBOW hoop. I thought, what if I took some white LEDs & colored them with Sharpie permanent markers?
BINGO!! a nicer brighter PURPLE LED!!! Other colors work as well.
Here's what I've found from lots of experimentation:
• white leds are available in bright white & warm white, they each look different with the colored marker on them
• word of warning--I ordered some white LEDs on ebay (Hong Kong) & the marker DID NOT stay on the bulbs. But all of the other bulbs from ebay worked, just not these particular ones for some odd reason.
• some colors look great, some not so much. purples, pinks, oranges, yellows, limes were the best.
• greens, turquoise, blues, reds not as good but useable if you don't have the regular colored LEDs.
• I tried both Sharpies & Bics. I liked the Sharpies better.
ALSO, & this is really cool too: if you try a marker color on a bulb & you don't like it, take an EXPO dry erase marker & ink over the Sharpie on the bulb, then rub off with a tissue, the Sharpie color will come off. Now you can try another color! No wasted LEDs with colors that you don't like. Genius!
The RAINBOW hoop that I made using both regular LEDs & some Sharpied LEDs is pictured below. Since I was able to use different shades of colors, the RAINBOW effect is more graduated then using blocks of colors.
Here's the breakdown of LEDs in my new RAINBOW hoop:
pink (blueish) - magenta sharpie on bright white LED
pink - regular LED
pink (reddish) - magenta sharpie on warm white LED
red - regular LED w/resistor
orange (reddish) - Prodmod LED
orange - regular LED w/resistor
orange - orange sharpie on warm white LED
yellow - regular LED w/resistor
yellow - yellow sharpie on warm white LED
lime - yellow sharpie on bright white LED
lime - lime sharpie on bright white LED
green - regular LED
green - regular LED
turquoise - Prodmod LED
blue - regular LED
blueish purple - purple sharpie on bright white LED
purple - blue sharpie on warm white LED
purple (pinkish) - purple/magenta sharpie on bright white LED
NEW RAINBOW HOOP (made with marker LEDs)
Looks even better in real life!
OLD RAINBOW HOOP (made with standard LEDs in color blocks)
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E N J O Y ! ! !