Help: Internal Lighting for Shadow Box Frame

[trentsketch]

I'm clueless on how to do this. I've had a design in mind for years for a Halloween prop and it hinges on lighting.

Basically, I've been painting on large glass surfaces for years for private homes and businesses. These paintings look gorgeous from the inside of the building when the light hits them, but all but disappear when the sun goes down.

I want to work on a series of miniature paintings for atmosphere with the unexpected light-up effect that painting on glass provides. I know that I'll be using shadowbox frames to give me plenty of room to add lighting and maybe even sound. The smallest are 5"x7" and plenty deep (at least two inches). Sound I can handle without issue. It's the lighting that's the problem.

I don't want to just plug in a fixture like you'd find in a light-up miniature house (like SpookyTown or Dept. 56) but that's about as far as my knowledge will take me. I'm looking to rig up some kind of LED fixture to run off of a battery inside the frame. Ideally, there would be some kind of on/off switch that can be accessed from outside the frame to control the light. I just have no idea how to do this.

Can anyone explain how this would work? All the tutorials for LED lighting that I can find online act like no one who doesn't already know how to wire LEDs has any interest in controlling the power source. That doesn't help when the only way I know how to power an LED is to put a watch battery between the pins and wrap it with electrical tape.

[thrilltainment]

I'm clueless on how to do this. I've had a design in mind for years for a Halloween prop and it hinges on lighting.

Basically, I've been painting on large glass surfaces for years for private homes and businesses. These paintings look gorgeous from the inside of the building when the light hits them, but all but disappear when the sun goes down.

I want to work on a series of miniature paintings for atmosphere with the unexpected light-up effect that painting on glass provides. I know that I'll be using shadowbox frames to give me plenty of room to add lighting and maybe even sound. The smallest are 5"x7" and plenty deep (at least two inches). Sound I can handle without issue. It's the lighting that's the problem.

I don't want to just plug in a fixture like you'd find in a light-up miniature house (like SpookyTown or Dept. 56) but that's about as far as my knowledge will take me. I'm looking to rig up some kind of LED fixture to run off of a battery inside the frame. Ideally, there would be some kind of on/off switch that can be accessed from outside the frame to control the light. I just have no idea how to do this.

Can anyone explain how this would work? All the tutorials for LED lighting that I can find online act like no one who doesn't already know how to wire LEDs has any interest in controlling the power source. That doesn't help when the only way I know how to power an LED is to put a watch battery between the pins and wrap it with electrical tape.

Hi there,
Our company has LEDs that are simply plug and play that may make things a bit easier for you. It seems like you're looking at a backlight application, in that case, I can recommend our Precision Y (http://www.darklightsystem.com/products/Precision-Y:-Mid%252dRange-Theme-Light.html) in white or Precision Z (http://www.darklightsystem.com/products/Precision-Z%3A-Hi%252dPower-Spotlight.html) wash in white.

We sell a battery holder that will connect to our lights here (http://www.darklightsystem.com/products/PowerPak-Portable%3A-12V-Battery-Holder.html) and we also sell a switch (http://www.darklightsystem.com/products/Darklight-Switch.html) that you can use to turn the lights on and off.

You can always build your own LEDs, I've written a tutorial in another post here (http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=26134&highlight=HOWTO). Hopefully that may help you a bit.

Cheers,
Quan

[Mr_Chicken]

you might also consider using something like the clear plastic panel with a gradient of frosted dots used in the back of backlit screens for an even glow.

[trentsketch]

thrilltainment, your LED fixtures are perfect, but they're out of my price range for this project. I have a lot of little shadow boxes to light up and I don't want to turn $4 in new materials into $40 projects. I'll keep those in mind for some other things I'm working on. Your tutorial helps a little bit, but I'm still not putting all the pieces together.

MrChicken, I'll play around with that idea. The paint itself should diffuse the light where it needs to go pretty nicely, but I'll experiment a bit to create just the right effect.

[hpropman]

you can make led spots yourself - they are easy to make and can be placed in any kind of small plastic container inside the frame (Glad lock comes to mind) Check this thread out we made these at our make and take and they work great.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=25530&highlight=led+spot

this goes with the link above also

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20809

[Bascombe]

Or you can use a string of white Christmas lights evenly spaced on the back of your panel and then an inch or two above them put a piece of Rosco diffusion gel which will even out the glow quite nicely.

[trentsketch]

hpropman, that's the kind of tutorial I was looking for. Thank you.

bascombe, I'm really trying to avoid having to run these shadowboxes off of an outlet. I already run too many extension cords through the yard without having to think of adding at least another two power strips to light these accent pieces up.

[Frankie-s Girl]

You might also check out the dollar stores for the little led book lights. They run off of button cell batteries and are (of course) $1. I've painted the surface of the light's lens with acrylic or glued colored gels to change up the color, too.

You'd need to check out what's available to see if you can fit them in your frame without being seen from the outside, and also make them easy to get to so you can turn them on and off, but if you can figure that out, it's the cheapest solution to your problem. :)

[trentsketch]

Oh, Frankie-s Girl, that sounds like the easiest possible solution. I'll have to look into that. Thank you.