For this hat, I used 5 LEDs, 5 tubes, and 5 fiber-optic bundles.

MATERIALS:

There are two kinds of people: dog people, and dog people who buy doggy clothes for their dogs. If you’re into canine couture, check out this Fiber-Optic Doggy Coat that I made just for Cali Lewis’s pet Chihuahua, Sydney. We were looking forward to Cali’s visit to The Lair, so I did some research. Turns out Sydney just had knee surgery—and Cali made a documentary about her! This dog needed some serious TLC, in the form of LEDs.

After making a fiber optic hat for Nancy Jaeger, I thought, why not a fiber optic doggy coat?

We took light-up flower arrangements, wrapped heat-shrink tubing around the fiber-optics, and used a snap-in battery to make the ends of the fiber-optics light up.

No more icky, gadgety nightlights -- hold this one in your hands. It only lights up when you're holding and reading... so it's never left on. Curve or arch the light around, it's made from fabric, buttons and a few LEDs.

Make the cover to match your room or personal style -- all it takes is a little stitching, soldering, and TLC...

MATERIALS:

* 1/4 yard exterior material
* 1/4 yard interior material
* 2 Foamies sticky-back foam sheets (can be found at Michael's and other craft stores)
* 2 Pieces of conductive fabric, each the same size as the cover of your book (can be found at LessEMF.com)
NOTE: You can use aluminum foil instead of conductive fabric but I don’t recommend it.
* Fabric scissors
* Ruler
* Thread to match exterior fabric
* Thread to match the bias tape
* 3 120-degree LEDs (can be found at superbrightLEDs.com)
* 1 270-ohm resistor (red, violet, brown)
* 16-20 gauge wire
* Solder
* Soldering Gun
* 24-26-gauge electronic wire
* 9V battery
* 9V battery holder
* 1 large 4-hole button
* Needle, thread and sewing machine (if you're doing a fabric cover)
* Book cover pattern (download here)
* Wiring diagram (download here)

I know it's pretty 11th-hour right now to start on a DIY Valentine's Day gift...especially one that involves circuitry and LEDs instead of just construction paper and scissors. But even if you're a day or two late with your gifting, this project's "wow!" factor is bound to make your sweetheart forget all about such artificial contrivances as "time" and just focus on the transistor-warming feelings you two are sharing.

If you're technically inclined and interested in making one of these cool touch-activated, pulsating LED heart Valentine cards, blogger and do-it-yourselfer Ian Lesnet was kind enough to include complete instructions, schematics and firmware at diylife.com.]]>Jim 2.0Mar 21, 2008http://2pointhome.com/articles/tip/holdDec 31, 1969