How To Make an LED Shadowbox
Elemental customer service representative Tara Bowerman turned in another great DIY project for the month of July, a shadowbox made of cut paper silhouettes lit by LED light strips. The low heat and zero ultraviolet (UV) emissions of 12V LED strip lights are ideal for making a shadowbox or light box, as they cause minimal fading of the art inside.
Here are Tara’s instructions for making an LED Shadow Box :
- 1. Buy a frame; remove the back of the frame and the glass.
- 2. Place transparent image on the back of the glass panel by adhering with a spray adhesive.
- 3. Print a few silhouette images on cardstock to make an attractive composition and cut with an exacto knife.
- 4. Take the images outside and spray one side with black spray paint, and let dry.
- 5. After the images have dried, spray the back of the silhouette images with the adhesive and place on the front side of the picture frame.
- 6. Cut LED strip lights (I used our Flexible LED Strip Light by the foot) into sections to fit on the back side of the glass where you have adhered your transparent material and place directly behind the silhouette.
- 7. Use a small amount of gorilla glue around the inner edge of the frame and place the glass back inside the frame and let dry for 24 hours.
- 8. The number of silhouette images and sections of LED light strip will determine the accessories you need. Here I used three Flexible LED Strip Light DC Plug Connectors to connect the strip sections to the a 3-Way DC Splitter, which plugs into the 12V Inline Dimmer Switch to our 12V Adapter.
- 9. Finally, close the back of the frame with cardboard and attach with a staple gun, be careful not to staple into one of your lighting accessories.
- 10. Enjoy!
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Place the led strip light behind the black silhouette images to help hide the LEDs that are adhered to the glass. Lining up your feeds to power in from one direction, adjusting the lengths of your line wire to reach the dedicated placement and lastly staple a backing to the frame will help keep your cords in place. =)
Curious how you hide the cord running from the light behind the tree. Do you adhere it to the glass behind the tree’s trunk?
Message from Tara ” I used parchment paper for the mountains, like what you use when wrapping a present… rice paper would work, translucent is fine. the reflection was coming off the surface it was sitting on, a black marble table.” She also thanks you for the kind complements!
very nicely done and I love how you placed the lights! What are the faint lavender and greenish mountains I see in the background made of? Also I wonder if rice paper would work for the paper backdrop or does it have to be transparent not just translucent? Lastly I am curious as to what that reflection is coming from that I see below the image?
Hi Robin, the transparent material used was a vellum type material or paper that was sheer and translucent in order to allow light to pass through the object. You can purchase it at Michael’s or any crafty hobby store. Good luck on your creation. We would love to see photos of the finished project! You can send them to answers@elementalled.com.
Could you please explain what the transparent image is, as referred to in step 2? Thanks!
Our team is happy to help you design an LED installation. Email us at answers@elementalled.com.
This idea looks like it will adapt to my needs. I work with stained glass and am trying to find something other than the typical washed-out light panel to display my work on a solid (windowless) wall.
Does Tara have an email where I can send some more questions?