Day 16
Easy Paper Menorah
Today's project is by
Everyone has their own holiday traditions. Mine is making LED menorahs for Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. In 2020, the first night of Hanukkah is Thursday, December 10 and continues for eight crazy nights.
This menorah is super-quick and requires no wiring. Just take a mini string of lights and sandwich it between your design and a background piece of paper!
This version is similar to the soft circuit projects in my book Paper Inventions. Look below for tips to making this menorah programmable, as well as an e-textile version using techniques from my book Fabric and Fiber Inventions!
What is a Menorah?
The menorah is the candle holder that families light as part of the Hanukkah celebration. On each night a candle is added. A ninth “helper” candle, or shamash, is used to light the other candles.
Menorahs come in all varieties, from simple to ornate and from elegant to playful. In the United States, it’s common for kids to make their own. An LED menorah has the advantage of being safe for all living situations. If you make it flat, you can even hang it on a wall or in a window!
What You Need
Drawing or design of your menorah on a piece of paper thin enough to let light through
Dark background piece of paper, larger than your design (construction paper or cardstock is good)
Battery-powered light strand -- find them at the dollar store
Tape (both clear and double-sided are handy) and/or adhesive dots
Steps
You need nine lights for your menorah. With the battery pack turned off, cut off any extra lights. Save them! You can use them in other projects.
To make your menorah stand up, fold the bottom edge of the background paper to make a base. The battery pack will help hold it up.
Cut a flap near the bottom of the base. Cut one corner off the flap. Insert the end of the light strand through from the back to the front. Close the flap.
To figure out where you want your first light to go, turn the light strand on. Take the light nearest the battery pack and position it behind the nearest candle on your menorah picture. Check that it's where you want it, then tape the light in place. Repeat with the other lights, in order, until all the lights are in position.
Center the menorah picture on the background, then attach it using double-sided tape or adhesive dots. Seal all around the edges so the light doesn't leak out.
On the back of the menorah, attach the battery pack to the base. Position it so it helps to hold up the background.
Display your menorah on a table top, on a wall, or in a window so everyone can see your handiwork!
Make Your Light Strand Menorah Programmable!
With a small programmable microcontroller board, such as an Adafruit Gemma M0 and an easy-to-learn language like Microsoft MakeCode, you can program an ordinary LED strand to make it flash, dim, and brighten! See my tutorial on the Adafruit website.
Make a Programmable Menorah Pillow!
Taking a cue from preschool-style felt boards, I made a felt-covered menorah pillow. Just press an additional candle onto the menorah every night.
Instead of wiring, it uses peel-and-stick conductive tape and Chibitronics Circuit Stickers, LEDs that adhere right onto the tape circuits.
The twinkling effect is controlled by the Chibitronics Love to Code Chibi Chip, which lets you program up to six different patterns in Microsoft MakeCode.
For full directions, go to my tutorial on the Make magazine website!