How to build a constellation light for a little astronomy in the bedroom

Guest post by Evita
#Do It Yourself#bedrooms#crafts#lighting#living room#stars

Evita’s been sharing her tutorials on Offbeat Home all year — remember the starry window pelmet? Or her sewing machine-cum-computer-desk? She RETURNS! And you’ll be thrilled.

constellation light

Materials you need for this constellation light project

1. Find the constellation/art you want to use. We found our Leo on Google. Size it up to your desire. If it’s larger than what your printer will print, you’ll need to use a tiling program to print.

If you have access to Adobe Acrobat, you’re good to go (that’s what we used). There are free tiler programs online like Tiler and PosteRazor.

2. Save it to PDF format and print.

3. Lay out your printed design and tape them together. Place the ‘map’ on the piece of foam board that will be the front of the light box.

Using a small awl or other piercing object, make a small hole in the center of each star. Lift the ‘map’ and put it to the side. We used a silver Sharpie to lightly highlight the starter hole.

4. Finish piercing the holes. Start small. Using your map, adjust the size of the holes to mimic large and small stars. Some of the larger holes may require a larger piercer, such as a screwdriver (or larger awl). Add silver lines in the front, connecting the stars.

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5. Build your box. For the switch, we put it on the lower left side corner and cut a section out of the foam board.

5. Lay out your lights. Depending on your artwork, it may take two strands.

7. Make a circle with the hot glue around each hole and push the light down. Hold and let set.

8. Hang your new art and enjoy!

Guest Post By: Evita

Evita is a crafter, blogger, caregiver, costumer, and cat herder living in Charleston, South Carolina. She also jumps at the opportunity to help her husband when he's building Tesla coils and other projects. In a previous incarnation she was a graphic designer, a massage therapist and sometimes yoga instructor.

Comments on How to build a constellation light for a little astronomy in the bedroom

    • Hi great tutorial but how much foam board and led lights do I need? What did you do with the ones that you don’t put through the wholes? And what did you do with the back to hang it. I could figure it out myself but I really love your dimensions and would like to make this as a gift. Thank you for your answer and super great job

  8. Do the lights end up poking all the way through the foam board then?

    Very cute. I’m running to Target now to see if they have any battery operated Christmas lights still on sale! (this would be great to feature on the day after Christmas.)

  11. I love this! I really want to make this for my nephew (he has a space themed room) but I am confused on how you built the sides. Can you break down the “Build your box” step for me? Thanks!

  14. Beautiful! I was going to do this with a dandelion pattern and I never thought of step #5 to easily turn on and off the box. Thanks for this great tutorial

  15. Thanks very much for this idea and tutorial – we’ve been looking at it for a year or so and finally made our Stegoplodocus Rex light last night and we LOVE it 🙂 thanks!

  18. Hello, I am going to make this for my boyfriend for our anniversary and I just have some questions. How many inches did you cut off from the sides before you hot glued them back on? Or did you use a separate board and cut that (but again, how many inches did you cut off)? If you could just explain how you put the foam board together that would be helpful. Did you pull the bulbs out of the ones you didn’t use or just leave them there?

    Thank you!

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