Bamboo Trees Light up the Night With Luminous LED Leaves

Who says trees don't know how to party? These complex bamboo sculptures feature a network of nightclub-ready glowing LED leaves. Programmed to light up in a variety of patterns and colors, the "trees" will be features in the upcoming <a title="Lightning In a Bottle" href="http://lightninginabottle.org/art-installations/">Lighting In a Bottle</a> Festival in Silverado, California. Electronics engineer <a title="Bill Watson" href="http://www.lighttrees.com/bio.htm" target="_blank">Bill Watson</a> will bring his creations from <a title="Burning Man" href="http://www.burningman.com">Burning Man</a> around the Bay Area and beyond. Read on to learn more about the structure of trees that love a good dancin'.

Each of the LED-lit leaves is made of laser-etched plexiglass and mounted onto an artistically assembled shaft of bamboo.

Each leaf contains a collection of red, green, blue, and white LEDs mounted on controller boards - the light levels, colors and pattern speed is adjusted with a computer.

Originally conceived by Watson and artist <a title="Sedonne" href="http://www.tinasedonne.com/">Tina Sedonne</a>, the trees are the <a title="Credits" href="http://lighttrees.com/credits.htm">product of a small army of labor. </a>

It's very exciting to see what folks are doing with LEDs these days.

Now if they could do a combined installation with <a title="Solar Ivy" href="http://inhabitat.com/solar-ivy-photovoltaic-leaves-climb-to-new-heights/">Solar Ivy</a>, that would be leaf-tastic.