Homemade 'Neon' signs
For Christmas presents this year I decided to try to make my Niece and Nephew something unique. I had seen this battery powered EL wire on Amazon that imitates neon lights. It's a wire covered in flexible, coloured plastic that you can manipulate into shapes.
First of all, I decided what I wanted to use as a backing board. I had some pallet wood lying around that I thought would be suitable for one of them. I glued some of the pallet strips together and sanded them down. It had a 'rustic' look to it which I thought worked.
I drew out the text I wanted to use first. I thought for my teenage nephew, Jake, who is a bit of a gamer would appreciate a plain text on the wooden background. Once drawn out on a piece of paper, a piece of string was used to measure out how long the wire would need to be. I had to take into account where the wire would be threaded through holes in the backing board. When all of this was worked out, I bought an appropriate length of EL wire. I stuck the paper template on top of the prepared wooden board with masking tape and I drilled holes in the appropriate places.
I was going to use wire to stick the EL wire to as although it's flexible it doesn't stay in shape very easily but I decided to stick it directly on to the wood instead.
With the lights on.
With the lights off.
For my nieces sign, I thought some pink sparkly card would work and decided to use her name, Erin, for the sign. I wanted this to be a bit more 'showy' and for the text to be more flowy.
The sign with the lights on.
With the lights off.
Overall, the EL wire is very easy to use, although sticking down with glue can be a bit fiddly. It looks quite effective and there is a flashing setting too!
