Hot Glue Mushroom Lights

So these had been popping up on my feeds/tik toks etc and I thought they looked cool. However having a look about there didnt seem to be a lot of knowlage on how to make them and the ones i saw I thought could use some improvement or simplifications.

So what follows is (I hope) a pretty accessable instructable on how to make your own Hot Glue mushroom lights.

Materials

Micro fairy lights: These are readily available in lots of stores and come in various sizes and light effects. They also come with a variatey of battery packs and even solar powered ones should you wish to leave your lights out side. For the purpose of this instructable I am using a set of warm light battery opperated bottle lights, just because the battery pack is light and compact.

Hot melt glue: Again easy to source and they come in a variety of colours. Im opting to just user the regular off white glue but I will show examples of other colours as well as alternative ways to colour the mushrooms.

Tree bark or wood: A quick trip to the local park, forrest or anywhere with trees will get you some (Please only take from the ground, DON'T pull it off live trees). At a push you could always purchase some from your local pet store. You want a piece that isnt too thick but also not paper thin.

Tools.

Hot glue gun.

Drill and wood drill bit (the size of the drill bit only needs to be big enough to feed your chosen lights through)

A surface to drill on.

Scissors.

Greaseproof paper.

Additional but not necessary.

Coloring pens.

Paint pen.

Popper fidget toy.

Synthetic moss/lichen

If you have sourced your bark from outside you will want to make sure it is clean, dry and isnt home to any creepy crawlies.

As mentioned before you dont want it too thick as this will limit the length you can make your mushroom "stalks". If it's too thin it may crack when you come to drill holes in it.

I wish I knew more about trees to suggest actual types of wood but alas i dont.

First and foremost MAKE SURE THEY WORK!

Taking one of the micro light bulbs twist the wire so the wires on either side of it coil round each other for a couple of centimeters to an inch. makes sure that the light is at the "top" of each coil. You dont need to twist them all the way to the next bulb. This is only to help you feed the lights through the holes yo will drill in an upcoming step. Repeat this until the last light which you will have to leave uncoiled.

For the purposes of this instructable I am using a paint pen to mark the drill spots on the back of the piece of bark. You dont need to but remeber to keep the holes close enough together that your lights can reach throgh them and still have enogh room to extend out the other side as a "stalk"

Make sure you have enough holes to match the number of bulbs on your lights or alternativly leave some of your lights at the back to create an underglow (like the cars in the Fast and furious movies)

Drill your holes. I don this by drilling into the curve of the bark as not to potentially break it by putting pressure on the bark.

This step is simple, feed your lights through the hols you have drilled.

Once through decide if you want tour piece to be displayed horizontal (ie on a shelf) with the stalks going straight up or vertical (ie a wall hanging) with the stalks curving and orintate your wires acourdingly.

For this one i am curving the stalks : )

Once you have the wires in place you may want to apply a bit of hot glue to the holes on the back to help hold them in place. You can also glue the glue pack in place (be warned this wont be the strongest of bonds but it will stop it from moving about during the next step)

You will have to forgive the lack of photos for this bit as I needed both hands and truth betold once i started forgot to take photos (hopefully by the time this is published there will be a video to go along with it)

Warning: your hand will be close to hot glue so please be carefull

For this step you want to coat each of your wires with the hot glue. You can do this with your piece on a flat surface, holding it upside down and applying the glue from the base or like me by holding the piece and changing the angles so you can "control" the way the glue runs.

Remeber you can use the nozzle of the glue gun to remelt parts you are not happy with.

Once its cooled pull away any glue "webs" you have to tidy it up

There are two ways to do this

Option 1: Blobs on grease proof paper. This will give you flatter caps but the dome will be shinier and you can play about with the shapes and sizes.

Option 2: Fill the "pops" of a figet toy. This will give you more domed caps but they will be a bit duller. Its not really an issue if you are sticking to normal glue but as you can see from the photo it mutes coloured glue a bit (i would imagine a coat of varvish would bring it right up)

EDIT: Thank you to instructable member Memestra for this, If you quickly run a gas torch over the cap the surface will go shiney. The same could be potentially achieved with a heat gun or evenI would imagine a lighter

You can also colour the caps using pens (I would recomend sharpies)

Once they have cooled you can trim off any straggly bits with scissors

Again, your fingers will be near the hot end of the glue gun so be careful

Simply used the point of the nossle to remelt a divit into the base of the cap and place it on one of the stalks. the light should sit nicely in the divit. No need for more glue.

You can also cut straight edges into some of your caps, remelt that edge and attach them to the wood directly to give you more variety of your mushrooms.

At this stage you can also add some of your sythetic moss (its good for hiding any bits you are not 100% happy with)

And now you should have a lovely feature for your home or garden.

You dont need to just use wood and bark, the mushrooms can be attached to various bases or "things" and with all the different colours of hot melt glue you can have an entire spectrum of colours. You could even make moulds for different cap shapes.

The world is your oyster mushroom.

I hope you have enjoyed this instructable and as always comments, thoughts and photos of your own mushroom creations are welcome :)