DIY Icelight for Photography Save ~$400

Here is my first ever 'ible, so please be gentle. I shoot a lot of nighttime photographs and work a lot with light-painting. I have been looking at the westcott icelight for some time now but can't justify the £499 price-tag. Although my build isn't as pretty as the icelight it i a proof of concept and i'm planning on re-building it when i have a little more funds.

The total build cost was approx £30 but it could be done cheaper with a bit of hunting on popular online auction websites.

So for this i am using the following:

5m flexible RGB LED tape with remote control
Poster shipping tube
Silver wrapping paper
Double sided tape
White baking parchment

You will need to draw 2 lines down the whole of the tube and mark off enough for a handle and a little bit at the top. I didn't have a ruler so you can use the crease in a door frame instead

Depending on what tube you use you can use a knife but i ended up using my dremmel with a cutting disk. Be careful as it could start smoking :-S

I then lined the tube with silver wrapping paper and stuck the LED tape inside the tube

I then covered the whole with baking parchment and take to hold it in place. I had to make sure the ir receiver is poking out.

The last step is to simply enjoy.

So i'm already planning version 2 of this stick and know what i will do differently.

1. I'll use either aluminium tubing or black PVC pipe
2. I will use frosted plastic for the window
3. I'll offset the LEDs to give a more even spread with the thinner diffuser
4. Purchase proper battery source
5 hardwire in a physical switch and that way i don't have to keep using the remote.