Do It Yourself

A step-by-step guide on how to create your own DIY UV Blacklight, just as we created it.

Follow along with our video tutorials:

Materials Come First!

Gather the following materials to prepare for your project:

Clear Tape (Scotch tape would do)
Blue & Purple Sharpie Markers
A Black Paper Clip
Elastic Bands

Creating the Ribbon:

Follow along with the video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzRTj0Z2Bs&t=12s

Step One:

Take a piece of clear tape [this should be double or triple the length of your smartphone] and vertically fold it in half. It should look something like this:

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Step Two:

Colour both sides of the tape with a blue sharpie marker.

Step Three:

Take another piece of tape [make it the same length as the coloured tape] and place the folded piece of colour tape directly in the middle of the clear tape. See the photo below as an example – although the folded tape is not coloured in, this photo presents a guide of how your coloured tape should rest in the clear tape.

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Step Four:

Wrap the piece of clear tape around the colour tape, and then colour the smooth side of the tape purple. Once you are completed, the ribbon should look something like this:

Observe on the left – the flat side of the tape is coloured in purple with a blue background. On the right, you can see the creases where the clear tape was folded across the blue tape.

The Adjustable Mechanism:

Follow along with the video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWfO96e8MS4

Step One:

Take the elastic band and wrap it around the inside of the black paper clip. This may take a few tries, but we recommend wrapping the band around the clip at least three times. Think of it as wrapping a hair elastic. By the time you’re done, it should look like this:

Observe that the elastic band is wrapped tightly around the inside of the clip, between the two clamp heads. For best results, you should leave a small bit of slack for Step Three.

Step Two:

Take one end of your ribbon and tape it to the inside of ONE of the clamp heads. The ribbon end should be firmly attached to the clamp head – for best results, use two pieces of tape to secure it in place.

Step Three:

Now, take the free end of the ribbon and loop it through ONE of the elastic band loops that’s attached to the clamp. Feed the free end through the loop, and you should be able to freely adjust the ribbon’s length. See an example below:

Observe the right-hand picture, where the free end of the ribbon (in Preyansh’s hand) is fed through the elastic band loop and creates an adjustable mechanism for devices.

Using the DIY UV Blacklight:

Follow along with the video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJLg_oXrZc

Step One:

Slide the phone into the ribbon loop (created by the adjustable mechanism) and clamp the paper clip onto the base of your phone. The location of the clamp should be vertically in line with the phone’s flash.

Step Two:

Using the free end of the ribbon, loosen or tighten the ribbon as needed. For best results, you should ensure that the ribbon is tightly against the phone’s flash with little slack in-between the two.