How to Make Pokéball Lights

Any seasoned Pokémon trainer will tell you, “if you wanna be the very best, you’ve gotta catch’em all.” And for that, you’re gonna need poké balls. While these light-up globes don’t hold any pocket monsters, they do make brilliant decorations for current trainers, collectors, or anyone with 90s nostalgia. They’re also surprisingly easy to make!

All you need are:

• 2 starlight globes from 1000Bulbs.com, 1 red and 1 clear, each measuring 7.5 inches in diameter

• 1 white plastic cap (about 1 ¾ inches in diameter)

• 2 wire nuts

• Black electrical tape (about ¾ inches wide)

• Wire stripper

• Dremel drill

• Black Sharpie

• Super glue

So let’s get started.

Steps:

1. Remove all stars on either side of the midline on each ball. It should only require some gentle prying.

2. Remove the bolts connecting the halves using a Dremel drill.

3. Rewire the white halves to the red halves

a. Cut each of the thick green wires about midway between them.

b. Strip about ¼ inch off the ends of each wire.

c. Grab the corresponding wire from each half, line them up next to each other, and push them into the back of a wire nut.

d. Bind the wire nut to the wire with electrical tape.

1. Test the lights to make sure the rewiring was successful.

2. Super glue where the bolts were and further seal the halves together with the electrical tape.

3. Glue your cap onto the midline directly opposite from where the cord is coming out of the ball.

4. Draw a circle just inside the cap with your Sharpie. Color a thick black circle around the outside of the cap, directly on the ball, to complete the button.

5. Replace the stars along the midline.

6. Turn on your Pokéball light!

Check out our DIY video for step by step instructions as we make it for you! 

You can repeat these steps for the remaining halves if you would like a 2nd ball. For more awesome tutorials, check out our blog and DIY playlist. Don’t forget to visit www.1000bulbs.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Instagram!

Credit goes to Jessica Banke for creating this DIY with the assistance of Daniel Michaelree.