What you decide to attach your EL wire to will ultimately dictate what tools and materials you will need. That said, the three main items in an EL wire project are the EL wire, the inverter, and the battery. The EL wire is a phosphor coated wire that illuminates when an AC voltage is attached to it. The inverter converts a DC voltage into the required AC voltage. The battery provides the DC voltage.



These all need to be matched. For instance, I needed 50cm of EL wire for each shoe and the inverter I used needed to be able to work with this length. If the inverter is not powerful enough, the wire will be dim. Too powerful and it will damage the wire. Where you get your inverter from should be able to tell you the lengths it is rated for. The battery also needs to be the right voltage for the inverter.



Bits and Pieces:

- Battery Charger (for charging the batteries if using LiPO batteries) http://www.adafruit.com/products/259

- Fishing Line

- Sticky-Back Velcro

- Inverter (converts the low DC voltage from the battery to high AC voltage for the EL wire) http://www.elec2go.com.au/prod38.htm

- LiPO Battery or CR2023 CMOS battery (http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/polymer-lithium-ion-battery-110mah)

- Extra Wire

- Connectors

- Heat Shrink Tubes

- EL Wire

- Solder

- Wide Elastic (not pictured)





Tools

- Soldering Iron

- Needle

- Dremel

- Scissors, Screw Drivers, Pliers etc