# Ten DIY lamp builds for the early-sunset season

Adafruit's roundup of lamp projects, from NeoPixel rings and edge-lit acrylic to a LEGO head lamp and a 3D-printed dragon with glowing fire.

- Category: Hardware (build)
- Made by: Stephanie
- Original: https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/11/13/celebrate-early-sunsets-with-a-diy-lamp/
- On Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/ten-diy-lamp-builds-for-the-early-sunset-season

## Can I build this?

- Difficulty: Intermediate
- AI-buildability: 4/5 (Most of these are CircuitPython or Arduino code on off-the-shelf Adafruit boards, so AI can write nearly all of it, but you still do some soldering and print and assemble the lamp bodies.)
- Time: A weekend
- Cost: $20–60
- Tools: soldering iron, 3D printer

Estimates based on the original write-up. How the AI-buildability score works: https://afterware.xyz/ai-buildability

## Starter prompt

```
Based on "Ten DIY lamp builds for the early-sunset season" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/ten-diy-lamp-builds-for-the-early-sunset-season

Write CircuitPython code for a Circuit Playground Express that drives a NeoPixel ring as a desk lamp. Add button presses to cycle between warm white, a slow color fade, and an off state. Keep the animation logic in a separate function so new modes are easy to add.
```

## Story

Adafruit's blog is treating the early sunset as a build season, and this post is a roundup of lamp projects rather than a single build. The list runs from a NeoPixel ring lamp and a BLE Feather lamp that can change color through Adafruit IO and IFTTT, to a Star Fragment lamp that turns on at sunrise and off at sunset.

Other entries include a 3D-printed dragon with glowing fire, a LEGO head lamp with audio, an edge-lit acrylic NeoPixel lamp, a 3D-printed stained glass lamp and a 3D-printed LED Shoji lamp. Jeff Epler's LED sculpture lamp uses about 3 meters of LED strip and has a dimmable power supply.

If you want a starting point, the NeoPixel ring and the Circuit Playground Express Ikea-lamp hack are the simplest, since both are CircuitPython projects on Adafruit hardware.

Tags: neopixel, led lamp, circuitpython, 3d printed, roundup

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