LED Snake Plant

This piece is inspired by buying a house. I want to equip every room with LEDs, both practical and decorative. I decided to start with a house plant.

Design

Each leaf is made of 1/8” steel rod, welded together into wonky leaf shapes, with LED strips running along the inside edges and yarn wrapped around each side. Here are some sketches I made before I started building.

1 / 2 • LED strips run along the inside of the outer rod so that the LEDs point inward toward the stem

Test diffusing the LEDs

I’ve been wanting to try using string as a method of diffusing LEDs for a while. I originally wanted to use something clear/translucent like fishing line, but I realized I’d have to buy that, and I have so much yarn lying around. So I set up this test with some kitchen skewers to make sure the yarn would have the right effect of capturing the light and making the whole leaf look lit.

Things used in this project

	ESP32 development board	×	1
	Rocker switch	×	1
	3 pin wire connectors	×	10
	Mount screw terminal block connectors	×	2
	3A output USB adapter	×	1
	Any 3-foot USB cable	×	1
	1/8” threaded rodI bought 15x 36” rods (3 rods per leaf)	×	15
	5V 300 pixel LED strip	×	1
	Yarn	×	1
	10 in. round foam blockfor holding the leaves in place	×	1

Read More: LED Snake Plant – Hackster.io