I have been experimenting with various ways to actually light the bulbs at alternate moments, and certain lights need to light up more than once. As there are 39 hanging cables to represent the main countries in europe leading to 32 switches which are going to light up where the main languages are spoken. The wiring is very complicated and is taking up a lot of time and testing.

I have also been doing some experiments with various ways to draw europe on the back of the frame.
I have done tests using glue guns and fixing the same wire used to hang the bulbs to outline the map. However this is not giving me the finnished visual i am looking for, with some of the glue overflowing around the edges and the thick cable is not easy to bend so it is difficult to shape the small curves. The thinner cable tends to look messy where there are joins.
So i have been doing more research into light reflective paint.

Reflective paint is a type of paint which contains thousands of little glass spheres, designed to reflect lots of light, even at night. It is most frequently used for signs on highways, but is also used on license plates, fishing lures, on mobile objects to be tracked (like a golf ball), or as an indicator on certain machinery. The beads are sprayed on after paint is applied for the most even possible distribution. The beads are applied over a colored base coat designed to yield maximum reflectivity. A commercially available variety of reflective beads is 3M's Scotchlite product.

I have ordered some of this paint and am going to carry out some experiments with the bulbs. As the bulbs are hanging in front of the paint the light will reflect back and look brighter making the outline appear only when the bulbs are on.



It is the same material used on road signs at night and number plates.


I have also ordered some glow in the dark paint. The bulbs are only on for a few seconds but there will be enough light given to temporarily light the outline of the map.