Outdoor string lights for yard art
November 20, 2022 11:26 AM Subscribe
I'd like to put up some outdoor string lights to accent our seasonal yard art. I've never done this before and want shopping and staging advice.
The art: eleven kraken arms emerging separately from our lawn. Yes, we are those neighbors. Anyway, I'd like to be able to wrap each arm in a short string of mini-lights, ideally each in one of several solid colors, so it's like kraken pride all winter. But the art is not close to an outdoor outlet.
- Do I want solar lights for this, or is there some accepted way that people connect e.g. trees and fences to their house wiring without creating a tripping hazard?
- Is it feasible to connect a bunch of short strands together, without having lights between the arms?
- Where should I look for a good variety of single-color light strands in short sizes? I'm finding it very hard to search for this on Amazon. Eleven different colors would be outstanding. Six that span the pride flag set would also be great.
The art: eleven kraken arms emerging separately from our lawn. Yes, we are those neighbors. Anyway, I'd like to be able to wrap each arm in a short string of mini-lights, ideally each in one of several solid colors, so it's like kraken pride all winter. But the art is not close to an outdoor outlet.
- Do I want solar lights for this, or is there some accepted way that people connect e.g. trees and fences to their house wiring without creating a tripping hazard?
- Is it feasible to connect a bunch of short strands together, without having lights between the arms?
- Where should I look for a good variety of single-color light strands in short sizes? I'm finding it very hard to search for this on Amazon. Eleven different colors would be outstanding. Six that span the pride flag set would also be great.
Really need a picture of these eleven kraken arms
posted by cyclopticgaze at 2:35 PM on November 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by cyclopticgaze at 2:35 PM on November 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are outdoor multi plug outlets. Also, check into Twinkly, programmable lights thru an app.
posted by onair at 2:36 PM on November 20, 2022
posted by onair at 2:36 PM on November 20, 2022
This is probably harder with mini lights than the larger ones (though maybe possible; I haven't checked), but the strings many professional holiday light installers use have removable bulbs (so it's easy to customize the color of each string), and are trivially cuttable so you can make a string of exactly the length you need without lights in between. There are a bunch of videos about holiday light installation on YouTube that show how to cut and join strings, for custom lengths, etc.
posted by primethyme at 3:43 PM on November 20, 2022
posted by primethyme at 3:43 PM on November 20, 2022
Also regarding tripping hazards, if you don't want to bury the cord as sciencegeek suggested, I've used garden staples to just hold the cord down so it's flush with the ground and not a major tripping hazard. Does depend on where you need to run it, though.
posted by primethyme at 3:46 PM on November 20, 2022
posted by primethyme at 3:46 PM on November 20, 2022
If you fancy having some time to all down a rabbit hole, you could earn about the free WLED software: http://kno.wled.ge
(Here is some random Internet person's web page & video about how they did it: https://www.randomdiyprojects.it/smart-christmas-lights-in-15-minutes-with-wled-and-ws2811/ No affiliation, just borrowed this to sho how it's done.)
You zap the WLED code onto an inexpensive device called a microcontroller, or else buy a pre-made one, and then plug it into a strip of LEDs -- in your case, strings of individually-controllable LEDs called WS2811 that come in weatherproof blobs.
The WLED software has wifi to work with a free phone app, which has tons of built in effects and a wide color gamut. The strips might need to be driven by a separate power supply, which would go in a weathrpoof box outside.
Tons of people use these to do holiday lights on their house, and you can visit YouTube to find plenty of videos where delighted nerds are showing off their lighting rigs. They go big FAST! :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:24 AM on November 21, 2022
(Here is some random Internet person's web page & video about how they did it: https://www.randomdiyprojects.it/smart-christmas-lights-in-15-minutes-with-wled-and-ws2811/ No affiliation, just borrowed this to sho how it's done.)
You zap the WLED code onto an inexpensive device called a microcontroller, or else buy a pre-made one, and then plug it into a strip of LEDs -- in your case, strings of individually-controllable LEDs called WS2811 that come in weatherproof blobs.
The WLED software has wifi to work with a free phone app, which has tons of built in effects and a wide color gamut. The strips might need to be driven by a separate power supply, which would go in a weathrpoof box outside.
Tons of people use these to do holiday lights on their house, and you can visit YouTube to find plenty of videos where delighted nerds are showing off their lighting rigs. They go big FAST! :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:24 AM on November 21, 2022
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You can fairly easily use a flat bladed shovel to cut a long slit in your lawn and put an outdoor rated extension cord in it so you don’t trip on it and get it to run from your house to your cephalopod. Ideally you’ll be using a GFCI outlet so if things go wrong it disconnects.
Please post links to pictures when you get it set up.
posted by sciencegeek at 2:23 PM on November 20, 2022