This project was difficult and frustrating to say the least, and I even burnt my fingers in the process. Using the same design principles of my Nintendo World Mosaic from fall 2013, in conjunction with my mosaic “Lite Brite” mood lamps from December, I’ve combined both ideas and created a flat mosaic sprite portrait with hollow innards lined with 16 feet (~5 meters) of bright LED strips! The light from the LEDs illuminate the colored LEGO dots plugged into a mosaic grid of Technic bricks, thus mimicking a “Lite Brite” effect. Each LED strip is soldered into a series circuit with 24 gauge wires, then connected to a switch and a female DC adapter plug. The grid of LED strips is attached to a rear door which opens/closes via LEGO hinge bricks. The LEGO portion was rather easy and streamlined, but the electrical work spanned over a few weeks and had multiple failures in the circuitry before finally functioning.

Check out the tutorial on Instructables!