Here's a guide to building your very own EL invisibility box. Keep in mind that this wire is extremely easy to bend and will warp very easily when being handled. It is strictly for display purposes only!:






Before we begin, you will need to decide whether you want the orange or blue version. Orange is more toon accurate, but not bright and much thicker. I decided after a while to go with the blue since it contrasts better with my background on my display:






First pick up some EL wire (available on ebay). You need minimum 63 inches (1.6m), so I highly recommend getting about 3m, to be prepared for mistakes. Make sure you get the USB or AC inverter attachment with it:




IF you are going with the blue version, take a wire stripper and strip out the jacket of the EL wire completely:




This next part is really annoying (and possibly avoidable). Use an X-Acto blade on this inner wire and make a vertical cut about 1/8" to expose 3 more wires. Carefully separate the jacket and use a nail clipper to cut the 1/8" jacket piece off. The thick center wire is the EL core and you need to use the X-Actoo to scrape off the a good bit of the white phosphor covering expose the copper core:




Next, there are 2 VERY thin corona wires on either side of the core:




Twist the two wires together and you should end up with an end-piece like the picture here. Be careful not to over-twist the corona wires as they'll likely break:




Overall you will need 12 pieces, one for each side of the box: the shorter ones are 4" each and the longer ones are 7" each. Since you will need 1/8" of exposed wire on each end, the actual lengths you want to cut are 4.25" and 7.25":




This is the most painful part of building this box. If you prefer to take a giant shortcut, you can simply bend the entire length of the EL wire into a box and you can avoid all the soldering. Keep in mind that it is not possible to create an entire box shape in this way without repeating a few of the sides twice. You can use a hot-glue gun (or glue of your choice) to stick the wires together:




In the end, take the end of the EL wire (or corner of the EL box) and solder it to your power source. Make sure that there's a clear gap between the positive & the negative wires after soldering it all together. (on all 8 vertices of the box as well as the connection to the power). Also keep in mind that you're working with AC power, not DC, so if you touch both ends at the same time while active, you will end up with a shocking surprise. I learned this the hard way many times!:




Once finished, it should look something like this. Keep in mind that it is very difficult (if not impossible) to get the wires to be 100% straight:




I used Tint It (Sunflower) spray paint to paint it up yellow, so at least it will look toon accurate when the lights are out:




For maximize brightness, you may want to avoid the spray paint altogether. Regardless, I am very happy with the result on my display. I don't know if the natural phosphor color of EL always shines blue, but I've grown to like it. It makes a nice contrast to my orange display, and it matches the color scheme of Mirage anyways. That being said, if I find an jacket-less amber version somewhere, I'll probably find myself upgrading this yet again!:




Thanks for checking it out!