DIY: I Made A Mighty Glow Cloud
So, I'm still in quarantine right? I'm passing time by binging YouTube content from my favorite creators. I came across this video…
…and absolutely lost my mind. With the basement studio renovation, I needed a light above my desk but nothing I had found was in budget or cool enough to fit into my dream creative space. I didn't really want a traditional desk lamp, but I absolutely needed something I could just plug in as opposed to hardwiring.
I roughly followed their methods, and bought everything I needed on Amazon (damn you, Bezos), with the exception of the glue gun (Home Depot) and polyfill (craft stash).
you will need:
The cloud itself:
Glue gun and glue sticks that fit it.
LED strip lights. This one is music reactive and can be controlled via their app.
Polyfill(not pictured)
An extension cord that is long enough hang it with and still reach your plug. I like this one because it's decorative.
A ceiling hook
And if you want a raincloud:
Clear beading thread and needle (I thought fishing line would work but it's way too thick).
That's it.
First step is to heat up your gluegun. I strongly recommend using an industrial strength cordless one, like this Ryobi. I love this thing.
Then, put together all your paper lanterns by following the instructions in the package. You just stretch them open and insert the metal support.
Now comes the fun part. Glue the lanterns together. I didn't plan it out, but I did have a general shape in mind, in that I wanted the bottom to be flat and I didn't want the finished cloud to be super symmetrical. I started with the biggest lanterns first as the middle and glued on smaller ones, stopping to take a look at the overall shape after each addition.
You should keep in mind a general idea of where you'd like the entire lamp to hang from and keep a larger lantern 'upright' so that you can hang the cord from there. Other than that, go wild.
You'll end up with something like this:
If you watched the video, Evan goes on a small monologue on how he should have planned a little better about where to thread through the lights, and being a logical human, you should learn from his mistake instead of getting caught up in the excitement of gluing like both he and I did. Not only did I not plan this out before gluing, I also did not take any progress photos of this part. Oof.
So, you have a loooong strip of LED lights that need to be intertwined inside of this blob. Mine are sound reactive, and I wanted the inside to light up first. Thus, I needed to figure out where the lights start and place that point in the center of the cloud. The plug needed to be in the topmost lantern, and the power button / bluetooth receiver needed to be towards the bottom so I could reach it. With that knowledge, I cut holes in the paper and fished everything through the lanterns, securing the center point with hot glue first, and then working outward from there. This was the longest process in the build because of all the tight spaces and lack of planning. Please, learn from my mistakes!
Once everything was wired up and secured, I plugged it in to test the music responsiveness and nearly cry at how cool it was, even without the fluff:
The fluffing process is rather straightforward. Glue fluff all over the outside of the cloud. I found it easiest to fill all the gaps where the lanterns meet first and then cover the faces of the lanterns themselves.
Repeat until you cover it completely. Then plug it back in and play with the lights some more. The ugly cry about how neat it is is optional.
The cloud itself is surprisingly very light; I secured the cord to the frame of the biggest lantern and then tied a knot in it to hang from a ceiling hook.
Play with the lights again:
Now, this step is not at all necessary because the cloud itself is cool enough. For some reason my brain insisted on shiny things, so I added raindrops. Thread a piece of clear beading string through the needle, and then stab the cloud. Stab it again from the inside, and then remove the needle. You should have two strands. Decide on the length of your teardrops, and then tie the bead onto the string.
Oh, and it does function as a regular lamp. Midnight, all other lights off:
all hail
Final thoughts:
Price: Cheap compared to similar ready-to-buy lamps and anything remotely as cool.
Time: I built the cloud itself in a few hours and then added the drops a few at a time over the course of a week, so maybe 6 hours in total.
Skill: Nothing specialized at all. This would be good to make with your kids.
Impact: Massive.
I sit under this cloud daily. In fact, I'm sitting under it now. Are you going to try it? Tag me in your posts if you do!