Published October 16, 2020 © GPL3+

Hot Air Balloon Light Up Tee

A wearable piece of art, hot air balloons scattered across the sky, when it gets dark the fire that fuels them becomes visible.

IntermediateFull instructions provided3 hours159

Things used in this project

Hardware components

SparkFun lilypad protosnap kit

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

Materials needed

Ready to build a one of a kind hot air balloon tee? Here are the things you'll need:

Tee shirt
Paints
Scrap fabric (approx. 2 ft x 8 in)
Super glue
Rubber Cement
Scissors
Velcro
Aligator clips
Lily Pad usb plus ProtoSnap kit

Step 1: Plan out your painting and circuits.

Planning the painting and where the electrical components would go

Step 2: Sew along your lines for connections, leaving longer stitches on the bottom where they won't be visible. Leave a long thread on both sides but don't tie in your LEDs or boards yet.

Step 3: Paint the front over your stitching. This will help hide it for a cleaner look on the finished product.

Step 4: Upload the code below to your Lilypad USB plus while your paint dries.

Step 5: Tie all the electrical components in on the back side of the painting where they were previously marked, but make sure the LEDs are on the front side where the painting is. They aren't bright enough to shine through paint.

Step 6: Clover the LEDs with random fabric scraps cut into the shapes of hot air balloons. I used rubber cement on the edges of the fabric to secure mine (I also used rubber cement to secure some of my knots).

Step 7: Secure this to whatever you'd like using velcro. I used a thrifted T-shirt!

Turn the switch on and go into a dimly lit room to see your creation slowly flash lights, just like the fire from a real hot air balloon!

Code

int lightSensor = A2;
int numLEDs = 2;
int LED[3] = {6,A7};
int threshold = 50;
void setup()
{
  int x;
  pinMode(lightSensor, INPUT);

  for (x = 0; x <= numLEDs; x++)
  {
    pinMode(LED[x],OUTPUT);
  }
  Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
  int x,lightLevel,brightness;
  lightLevel = analogRead(lightSensor);
  Serial.print("light level: ");
  Serial.print(lightLevel);
  Serial.print(" threshold: ");
  Serial.print(threshold);
  Serial.print(" twinkle: ");
  if (lightLevel < threshold)
  {
    Serial.println("ON");
    x = random(numLEDs);

    for (brightness = 0; brightness <= 255; brightness++)
    {
      analogWrite(LED[x],brightness);
      delay(1);
    }

    for (brightness = 255; brightness >= 0; brightness--)
    {
      analogWrite(LED[x],brightness);
      delay(1);
    }

    delay(random(1000));
  }
  else
  {
    Serial.println("off");
  
  }
}

Credits

Clare Guckenberger

1 project • 1 follower

Thanks to Sparkfun.

Hot Air Balloon Light Up Tee

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Schematics

Code

Materials needed

Planning

Planning

Code

sewn in

Credits

Clare Guckenberger

Comments

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Hot Air Balloon Light Up Tee

Hot Air Balloon Light Up Tee

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Schematics

Code

Materials needed

Planning

Planning

Code

sewn in

Credits

Clare Guckenberger

Comments

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