This is my sketch.
And this is the image that inspiration me to make a wand. I learn from the part of this wand to make my own.
The material and tools:
- Wood club
- Kitchen paper
- Masking tape
- Soldering tools
- Spray-paint
- Wire
- Ribbon
- Easter Grass
Arduino code
// Code by Erin St. Blaine for Adafruit Industries
// Color Touch Pendant Tutorial: https://learn.adafruit.com/color-touch-pendant-necklace/introduction
// Two neopixel rings connected on pin 1 will cycle through gradient colors when the pendant is touched. For Gemma M0.
#include “Adafruit_FreeTouch.h”
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#define CAPTOUCH_PIN 0 //capacitive touch pin
#define NEOPIXEL_PIN 1 //neopixel ring pin
#define NUM_LEDS 16 //how many pixels total
//#define LED_TYPE WS2812
//#define COLOR_ORDER GRB
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(NUM_LEDS, NEOPIXEL_PIN, NEO_GRBW + NEO_KHZ800);
//CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS]; //LED array
// Calibrating your capacitive touch sensitivity: Change this variable to something between your capacitive touch serial readouts for on and off
int touch = 400;
long oldState = 0;
// set up capacitive touch button using the FreeTouch library
Adafruit_FreeTouch qt_1 = Adafruit_FreeTouch(CAPTOUCH_PIN, OVERSAMPLE_4, RESISTOR_50K, FREQ_MODE_NONE);
//TBlendType currentBlending;
//CRGBPalette16 currentPalette;
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
if (! qt_1.begin())
Serial.println(“Failed to begin qt on pin A1”);
//FastLED.addLeds<WS2812, NEOPIXEL_PIN, COLOR_ORDER>(leds, NUM_LEDS); // Set up neopixels with FastLED
//FastLED.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS); // set global brightness
//FastLED.setMaxPowerInVoltsAndMilliamps(3,350); //Constrain FastLED’s power usage
strip.begin(); // INITIALIZE NeoPixel strip object (REQUIRED)
strip.show(); // Turn OFF all pixels ASAP
strip.setBrightness(50); // Set BRIGHTNESS to about 1/5 (max = 255)
}
void loop() {
Serial.print(qt_1.measure());
Serial.write(‘ ‘);
checkpress(); //check to see if the button’s been pressed
//delay(20);
}
void checkpress() {
// Get current button state.
long newState = qt_1.measure();
Serial.println(qt_1.measure());
if (newState > touch && oldState < touch) {
// Short delay to debounce button.
delay(500);
// Check if button is still low after debounce.
long newState = qt_1.measure(); }
if (newState > touch ) {
colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0,255) , 50); // white
}
else{
colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 255, 0) , 2); // off
}
// Set the last button state to the old state.
oldState = newState;
}
void colorWipe(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) { // For each pixel in strip…
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
}
Reflection
The whole parade I really get fun. And this is my first time to participate in Halloween parade, and I never dress up and make up for Halloween. It was really worth to make a lot of effort in preparing this event. Actually，I bought the custom before I figured out what exactly I want to do. Due to this custom, I decided to do a wand to match my custom. And it was successful in the end because at my first time I didn’t know if I can make it or not. I used a free touch to change the color of light inside of crystal ball. In the beginning, it was hard to find the use of the paper for making a wand look like hardness. Finally, I got masking tape to wind-up the wood. And I found the way to hide the circuit and the light which inside of crystal ball. The really tricky one was hiding switch because I pierced a hole to let me turn on or off. But even I can not find this hole quickly turn on or off the light. Also, the whole process is not easy; everyone gets fun in the parade.