Lighting a costume wig

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hippyhillary
 
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Lighting a costume wig

Post by hippyhillary »

What I am trying to do is wire an existing wig (like this one http://www.ecrater.com/p/7998281/34-lon ... very-white) with fiber optics so that there are glowy strands throughout. I realized that there are fiber optic "hair extension barrettes" (glowbys) specifically made for hair, but I don't think they quite meet my needs--I would need like 5-7 of them, have to able to hide them just right and even then, the fiber optics would be more in clumps/stripes than what I want. My idea was to take the waterproof flexible LED strips (just white is fine... multi-color is unneccesary) and line the wig with them (probably just one strip around the forehead would work, but I would have to see what works once I got everything together) and then connect fiber optic cables to that. Whatever arrangement I end up with, it has to run on one battery pack which has to be of a size and weight that we could sew a pocket for it into the back of my costume dress. The batteries would only need to last a few hours at a time The main concerns I have are going to be weight, functionality and safety

For weight, it needs to be light enough that I can wear it on my head. without headaches/neck strain and the battery pack needs to be light. enenough to be able to fit in a dress pocket without tearing the pocket or. causing significant back/neck strain. However, the dress is not already. made so, making the pocket a certain way to accommodate the battery. pack/reinforcing the pocket, etc. Is totally a possibility.



For functionality the question is just mainly going to be wether or not I can Enage in normal activities with it on (standing, sitting, walk around,

Walking up stairs, eating etc) and how much said normal activies will
wear the electronics down over time (I have heard that bending flexible lights too much can compromise their functioning).


For safety, I just want to make sure I'm not going to burn or electrocute myself or have wires catching on every doorknob or coat hook I walk by. I know LED's don't put out much heat but are there other things that need to

be taken in to consideration since they will be under a wig and directly on my skin/scalp/hair. Same thing for the wiring and battery pack.

As far as my skill level is concerned, I am crafty but have no experince with electronics (other than building my own PC in the late 90's) My husband, however, has a fair bit of experience with home projects. He can solder an
d has done things like making guitar effects pedals and so forth in the past. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Also, I apologize for the odd formatting on this post. I am posting from my phone which is utterly uncooperative when posting on forums.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Flexible led strips are a possibility. You might also consider EL wire or tape.

The choice depends on the effect you are trying to achieve. EL would be limited to a single color per strand. It also runs at a higher voltage, so you would need to make sure all connections are insulated from your scalp.

LED strips can be single color or RGB. The RGB comes in analog (one color at a time for the whole strip) or digital (each led is individually addressable).

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hippyhillary
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by hippyhillary »

i noticed you sell a splitter for EL wire but not LED. If there's not a way to split and put multiple LED strips on one battery pack, then the EL tape or wire would be the best way to go for the sake of flexibility in execution. However, I am an amateur and it does run at higher voltage and the look might be a little too "Neon"/cartoony for what I want. The LED strips would be easier and I think the "warm white" would provide a better color (I'm trying to create a somewhat natural glow), but if I decide I need 6 of them under the wig, instead of just the one, then i'm sunk. Both sound like very good options, though. Thank you for your expertise.

adafruit
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by adafruit »

you can use the splitter for LEDs just fine - but its only two wires so many LED strips wont work with it (because they have 4 wires). HOWEVER for the warm white LED strip in particular it should be totally fine and will look great :)

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hippyhillary
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by hippyhillary »

Good to know!
I actually had another idea and wondered what people thought about one versus the other as far as safety, reliability, ease of use, and ease of actually doing the project:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lightwi ... /?ALLSTEPS
She gets a fair amount of light out of just 2 LED's. So my thought would be to sew a few led's in different places in the wig with the conductive thread and then attach sparkle fiber optic wire... But the leds and attachment points might have to be in a cap or something under the wig so they're not horribly conspicuous. I thnk she basically used this and pulled out the individual fibers http://www.wiedamark.com/fiberopticsparkle6strand.aspx. That's actually not that expensive.
Also if it's possible, i had wondered about creating the circuit like this http://www.instructables.com/id/Light-U ... /?ALLSTEPS and then I wouldn't even have to solder! (although i haven't ruled out soldering--it might be safer, less likely to fail, and possibly easier depending on the specific type of clasp used).

mtbf0
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by mtbf0 »

since the wig is nice and long, could the electronics go in the dress? probably be considerably more comfortable.

and it seems like the circuit could be as simple as an led throwie... just a coin cell and an led with a piece of heat shrink to hold the cluster of fibers against the led. would weigh very little.

a micro controller and three or four rgb leds would be more entertaining, but bulkier. the mega32u4 breakout or a minipov would work and offer some cool color changing effects.

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hippyhillary
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by hippyhillary »

yeah, the battery pack or other parts of the electronics could definitely be housed in the dress. I am trying to do something that will get glow throughout the wig... So one led wouldn't work... but a string of a few of them would.... trying to make sure they're all on the same battery pack/switch because not wanting to turn on multiple switches is the exact reason i'm not just using glowbys (well...and they're too short). I saw a video of throwies with multiple LEDS in a cluster... That COULD work but i'm not sure of whather or not i could easily get the fibers evenly distrubuted throughout the hair that way. Color changing is not needed as it wouldn't fit the character.

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hippyhillary
 
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Re: Lighting a costume wig

Post by hippyhillary »

sorry to resurrect such an old thread but I have read up on circuitry/soft circuitry and have some new thoughts on how to do this, which, of course, brings about new questions.
I was thinking of using conductive thread to sew smaller LEDS in a parallel circuit and I'm hoping I can power the whole thing off one coin cell or maybe a couple. I haven't decided for sure if I want to do a combination of sewed circuits and hard wires or a completely solderless circuit. I think conductive thread would be better for conforming to the shape of the wig and being able to have the LEDS scattered throughout the wig, but I was concerned about fraying and shielding. I know I can use some anti-fray glue stuff on critical joints to help make sure the circuit doesn't short, but is there anything else i can do. Also,what about shielding my head from the circuit? I was planning on sewing this directly in to the cap of the wig which will go directly on my head... I had thought of using electrical tape over the circuit but A. I am not sure how well it will stick to a wig cap and B. I wanted some more insurance on top of that. Is there material I could make a bald cap out of or some other way to shield the wires from my head and vice versa? Also, if I wanted to do three seperate sewn circuits (or something of that nature), how possible/difficult would it be to get them all on one switch?
any and all thoughts are welcome as I am still really new to this.
Also, what tools/materials would you recommend for a beginner?

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