Prototype

The idea was overly ambitious for a prototype, so the design was cut down to ten tea candles. Additionally, only the physical circuit was modeled. Any additional digital interfacing was purely speculated at. The body was CADded up in Rhino based on caliper measurements. The back was left open to access and maintain the wiring, as fully gluing up a project only to find that you need to fix a loose wire or re-solder a connection is a mistake one only makes once. Soldering the candles proved tricky, as they were incredibly cheap and didn't have much in terms of contact to the battery. All candles were wired in parallel to a single coin cell battery.

Prototyping came with unforeseen challenges.  The length of wire running from the candle and the switch proved critical. If the wire was too short, then the candle would not sit flat. If it was too long, the wire would push the switch to the side. Of the ten candles, only two sat perfectly on the switch in a way that they could be toggled on and off. In the future, the button should probably press against a different part of the candle to ensure that the toggle mechanism works. These small candle offsets also meant that the top lid of the body would not sit nicely. The top could be forced into place and fit, but none of the candles could move. This stress also disconnected weak soldered connections, which needed to be fixed.