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Tech

Halloween Hacks: Glowing Fiber Optic Fairy Wings

Instructables user Mikaela Holmes shows you how to make a Halloween costume that will have your whole neighborhood glowing.
Photos by audreyobscura, courtesy the artist & Instructables

Your latex ears are perfectly pointed, and your eye shadow sparkles with the Northern Lights, so what's holding you back from the perfect fairy costume? If you guessed it was those store-bought vinyl and glitter strap-on wings, let Instructables user (and experimental fashion and costume designer and artist) Mikaela Holmes grant the first of your Halloween wishes. Using fiber-optic end glow cables, individually addressable LEDs, and a little microcontroller wizardry, Holmes has created the perfect illuminating fairy wings for your next forest court.

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"When Natalina created her amazing fiber optic dress last spring, she opened up a whole new world of wearable lighting magic and costume possibilities. Since then, some of us who love making ourselves glow have been playing with different ways to use fiber optics on clothing and costumes," Holmes writes. Her results, which you (yes, you!) can create at home, work for everything from performances to light painting, and make for the perfect high-tech costume to keep the dream of fairies alive in a world where screens seem to be the only things blinking in the dead of night.

Writes Holmes, "The line between science an sorcery is really just a matter of perception and understanding… so from my perspective, being a maker really does give you supernatural powers ;) For anyone who ever wanted to grow up to be a magical fairy princess, this project is for you. Clap your hands if you believe… then go use them to make some magic."

Check out images of Mikaela Holmes' programmable fiber optic fairy wings below:

Click here for Mikaela Holmes' Programmable Fiber Optic Fairy Wings and other Instructables.

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