I have seen several projects where people have used fake white fur to diffuse the leds. I’m curious as to where to get such fur - is it something I could find at hobby lobby or JoAnn fabric? Or are people just finding suitable garments by luck?
Both of those sound like good places to look. Perhaps costume supplies?
What says @Erin_St_Blaine ?
@marmil I’m happy to go look - I guess my question really is what am I looking for - is there a particular kind of fur that’s best suited to this application?
Fake or faux fur, or costuming fur.
I am not sure what you are looking for, but I’ve seen projects using synthetic fiber batting for plush toys - mostly if they wanted to recreate a cloud.
Fun fur comes in a million varieties and I’ve found that they pretty much all work great for light diffusion. The main variations will be in thickness and in length of the fibers (do you want poodle or sheepdog?). Best place to get it is fabric stores. It comes by the yard. In my area, the Chinese fabric stores have a better selection than the JoAnns, but you can find plenty of good stuff at JoAnn too.
You can also find fun fur trim, which comes already cut into 4" wide strips. Like this: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B003SBH00G/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g2609328962?_encoding=UTF8&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B003SBH00G&hvadid=198071571252&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvlocint&hvlocphy=9032007&hvnetw=g&hvpone&hvpos=1o4&hvptwo&hvqmt&hvrand=10850592322880160393&hvtargid=pla-319559779651&ie=UTF8&linkCode=df0&tag=hyprod-20
Awesome information, Erin - thanks! I might just order some of that 4" wide stuff. Do you just put the lights behind the backing fabric, or do you have the “bury” the lights in the fur somehow?
I just put them behind. I did a tutorial for this kind of thing ages ago… here it is: https://learn.adafruit.com/animated-neopixel-gemma-glow-fur-scarf/materials
Thanks again, Erin - you rock! That covered a lot of what I needed to know. So looking forward to this!