My daughter and I have been experimenting with light painting, producing interesting photographic effects by leaving the camera shutter open for a long time in a dark room, and moving various kinds of lights in front of the lens. One popular piece of equipment for light painting is generically referred to as an 'orb tool', a light source on a string that you can swing in circles. There are fairly simple ways to make them by taping LED light strings into bunches or modifying flashlights, but I wanted something with a little more character, and in particular something that would be visible from all sides.

This project lets you combine some inexpensive LED tape with a 9 volt battery to create a cylindrical light source that can be safely attached to a piece of paracord and swung around to make interesting light painting patterns. Do be careful though - you're swinging a bright light in a dark place, and it's easy to get confused and smack it into something or someone!