I saw this one viral video on Twitter where a boy made a 'fanlight' or a 'light stick' for Kuya Will. The video clip was so funny, and it inspired me to make one the next day. All of the materials used in this blogpost was bought with my own money mainly for this post unless otherwise noted.


YOU WILL NEED:

1. 2 Printed Logos

2. 1 Pair of Scissors

3. 1 Pencil

4. Glue/Hot Glue

5. 1 Black Marker

6. 1 Vellum Paper - $0.80

7. 1 Mini Flashlight - $1

8. 3 Batterties - $1

9. 1 Black Plastic Folder - $1

10. 1 Gold Paper - $2

11. 1 X-Acto Knife - $7


THE PROCESS:

Making Circles:
I used the lid of a container that is bigger than the size of my printed logo. I made 2 circle cutouts with the black plastic cover, and also 2 circles of the same size for the vellum paper.

Logo Cutting:
I glued the printed logo onto the black circle plastic that I just made (put the 2 circle vellum papers on the side). After letting it dry, I used my exacto knife to cut out the black portion of the print out. The black portion of the printed was made on purpose so that when I light up my 'lightstick', the blank portion would be the only part that would light up. This process took so much time, at least 30 minutes to trace and cut out everything per logo. Remember, you are going to make two of these. Your lightstick will be two sided, okay?

After I cut out the logo, I glued the rest of the black plastic onto the vellum paper. When it dried out, I noticed that the logo curled up. I decided to put it under three books to let it straighten out a little bit. Put the two logos aside and make the handle.

The cutting with the exacto knife was not easy. As you can see, I do not have smooth edges and kinda sloppy. Guess what? It makes it more unique when every shape is different lol.

The Handle:
I cut a 2.5x6 rectangle on my black plastic folder to wrap my flashlight in. Using the hot glue, I glued the plastic around the flashlight. Lol, this is pretty self explanatory. You know the drill. Just make sure you line them up together, and of course, make room for the batteries so that you can change them when they run out.

The Sides:
Making the sides were kinda tricky for me. Hot gluing the first logo (it did straighten out a little bit after I placed it underneath the books, but I feel like it is more suitable if I used hot glue to place the white portion of the logo rather than the elmer's glue) onto the side was pretty easy, but the second logo as you close them was really difficult. After placing the first logo onto one side, I tested how the light would spread into the rest of the logo. I noticed that the light just made a straight line, and did not lit the rest of the logo. It was more of onto the center, and it was not looking good. I then decided to add a strip of aluminum foil inside the plastic sides that I got from our kitchen, so that it would possibly make the light travel, and bounce inside in between the two logos. After closing the two logos, I again tested out the light by just holding the handle as if it was a finished product. And yes! the light was so much better!

Closing Up:
I have no idea what you call this part, but it is when you stick the handle with the head of the lightstick. Closing up the gap in between the handle and the head was confusing. I had no idea what to do. I just cut out the left over black plastic and glued it onto the sides of the head extending it so that no light would come outside. After letting that dry, I used a marker to blacken the dried out glue so that it would be just pitch black.

Gold Strip:
I added a gold strip onto the handle for a final touch! and..... CHARAAAANN! There is your finished lightstick!

**Oh, the mini flashlight had a strap to it. It really looks like a lighstick!




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Anyway, I just made this lighstick for fun. Of course, it was inspired by someone's lighstick lol. Version 1? I just also wanted to add that gold paper on the handle ;D

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This was my first crafting blog post! I hope you like it!
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'Til the next crafting!

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xo,
rj