I've been making moth trails in the form of animated light. To learn more, please follow the links below.
https://hackaday.io/…/163201-electronic…/log/161522-moth-bus
Here's video documentation of a moth electrolier. This work was completed in spring of 2018, almost one year ago, but the majority of this footage was recorded in my studio in April, 2019.
The long, white, flexible circuit boards are meant to represent the flight trail of a moth at night. The pattern of the LEDs is determined by a controller board in the shape of a moth body (==the circuit boards that are bodies for the large moths with embroidered wings). I designed the flexible LED trails to take through-hole headers into which 5mm LEDs are inserted. This enables me to replace the LEDs when they burn out. The controller boards are based on the classic Knight Rider circuit and use two 4017 chips for sequencing animation. Artifacts in the lights, such as delayed or repeated blinking, are caused by various astable multivibrators that I use for pseudorandom effects. Parasitic capacitance is also happening... and while most engineers remove it wherever possible, I try to work with it to achieve a more natural effect. As an artist, I think of parasitic capacitance like dripping paint.
The twisted, translucent "moth trails" provide structural integrity for the sculpture. I made these from laser cut acrylic that I sculpted into spirals with a heat gun. The shape of these trails, as well as the flexible circuit boards, was inspired by designs I saw at Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico.