13 seriously high-tech DIY ornaments that make great gifts
DIY geekdom doesn't take a break for the holidays: delving head-first into the wonders of technology is a 365-day-a-year-pastime. And really, what better time to showcase your techno-tinkerings than the holidays? After all, the modern-day Christmas celebration is built around household technologies, be it the array of lights that makes your roof visible from space or the animatronic Saint Nick dancing a non-stop yuletide jig in your front yard.
The holidays, then, are the perfect excuse for the true DIY enthusiast to share their basement engineering feats with the whole neighborhood, nay, the world! And keeping with the tradition of homemade seasonal tech, we decided to scour the DIY webspace to find the most seriously high-tech DIY Christmas ornaments. Here, we present the projects— for electronics amateur and auteur alike— that will transform a traditional (read: boring) Christmas tree into something truly geektastic.
Happy Holidays, nerds*!
*That's a compliment 'round these parts.
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1. LED micro-readerboard ornament You know what's no fun at the holidays? All the gabbin'. If only there was some way to cut down on all the yuletide jibber jabber by shifting holiday sentiments from talk to text. Thankfully, the good folks of Evil Mad Scientist have posted directions on how to create a mini display panel that will spell out a seasonal message with LED lights, one letter at a time. You could go biblical, whimsical, or personal with this one. It's all up to you.
2. Repurposed motherboard ornament Every geek has a drawer full of plastic and metal debris left over from the ghosts of gadgets past. But really, anything can be repurposed with a little thought and preparation. For example, old motherboards in particular are rather pretty when taken out of context. You can shape these decorated pieces of plastic and metal into whatever holiday shape strikes your fancy. Or, if you're on the lazy side, you could always purchase a set of three from ThinkGeek for $19.99.
4. Hackable Christmas ornament Perhaps this "hackable ornament" is really more of a Christmas card, but you could certainly retrofit it to fit onto your tree— so we're gonna call it an ornament. A perfect multimedia accompaniment to this season of music and lights.
5. Solar-powered ornaments Using a set of solar powered walkway lights that are available at any neighborhood hardware store, this project will help you turn any outdoor tree an Earth-friendly holiday display. Saving the planet, one project at a time.
7. LED ornament Like the micro display ornament, this programmable ornament will allow you to create a personalized holiday message. But unlike that wimpy little display, this project with its 8x8 scrolling LED display is for advanced tinkerers with seasoned soldering skills only.
8. Nixie Tube ornament For the steampunk DIY enthusiast, there's nothing sweeter than the amber-hued retro glow of a Nixie tube. Yeah, you probably knew it wouldn't be long until we got all Nixied up on this list. With this project, you can give your tree a little bit of that stylish flare with this customizable display ornament.
9. Laser cut ornament Of course, no DIY craft feature would be complete without the measured, programmable perfection of a laser cutter. These laser cutters present near-limitless new possibilities for tinkerers and craftsmen alike. Take these intricately cut plastic ornaments, for example, that would be nearly impossible to create using our clumsy monkey hands alone.
11. Blinking LED ornament Here's a programmable LED ornament that one geek created to send out as a Christmas gift. Just so we know what kind of person this project is aimed at, one of his stated goals for this Christmas gift was for "the board to be easily hacked by family and friends that were so inclined." And who says the spirit of giving is dead?
12. LED mini tree ornament Here's another example of using programmable LED lights on a board to help ring in the season. Turn any Christmas tree branch into a rave.
13. Voice activated tree display You know what's the worst part about Christmas caroling? The fact that Christmas trees can't sing with us. Well, no more. Thanks to one basement scientist's hack, anyone can program the lights on their tree to twinkle and flicker along to audio cues. Now you can finally live that dream of starting a band with a plant.
3. Oversized DIY LED ornament If the end goal is to make your tree all glittery and festive, then why not do it yourself with this Instructables project that teaches anyone to build their own bulbous glowy Christmas tree decoration with cheap and readily-accessible materials.
6. Animatronic Pac-Man ornament As this season is about bringing us closer together, we decided to include this robotic Pac-Man ornament to represent the coming together of DIY-enthusiasts and gamers. May the magic of the season allow these two great peoples to never be apart again.
10. Chemically grown ornament Geeks, like other types of people, will occasionally reproduce. So, here's a good geeky DIY project for your entire geeky family (but please use strong parental supervision in this case). Using easily accessible chemicals available at your local supermarket, you can "grow" a Christmas ornament using little more than a pipe cleaner, a Mason jar, and some borax.
