Rookie Magazine’s look-like-neon sign diy made out of EL wire got us thinking about using THAT as our holiday lighting, with signs like JOY or a moderne neon Xmas tree or WHAT IF? or other messages for the coming year.  The battery-powered flexible glowing tube has the essential effect of neon without doing complex glass manipulation.

neon EL wire 6 colors TDLTEK Neon

The process is pretty straightforward, and doable in a few hours (a fine weekend project):
—draw your sign
—twist wire into its shape
—then attach EL wire using superglue or invisible fishing filament.
—position it where you want it and turn it on!

neon EL wire TDLTEK Neon

If you want to make non-script letters or images with a space between each one, the process is slightly more complex. You can see both in this video. (Video link here.)

Check out Rookie to get the steps at a glance. And then start imagining your sign. Here’s some inspiring ones we love:

Holiday specific signs include trees. It would take quite a lot of EL wire to make this  full-on literal neon which might inspire an interesting freeform creation…

neon christmas_trees

We find Mai Thu Perret‘s work Flow My Tears a fine starting point for a poetic neon tree:

Flow My Tears/Mai Thu Perret
Flow My Tears/Mai Thu Perret

Artist Chris Fraser‘s corner triangle makes for an imaginal tree (though you could “decorate it” by affixing ornaments to the wall…)

Chris Fraser
Chris Fraser

One of our favorite words would be wonderful throughout the year…

Noes Lettering
Noes Lettering

…as would…

neon yes

Artist Jill Epstein’s work is a good reminder:

Jill Epstein
Jill Epstein

We found one of our favorites at Hawaiian Coconut’s tumblr:

hawaiiancoconut.tumbler.com
hawaiiancoconut.tumbler.com

What if we followed Mai Thu Perret‘s and wrote in a secret language?

Mai Thu Perret
Mai Thu Perret

 

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