A little late with the article on this one, but I was away for a bit traveling and I didn't have the time to write it up. This one was quite special! It includes three LEDs for a backlight and it's probably the most complex project I've made to date (took 16 hours to finish).

I started by looking for the best color to fit, but ended up settling with white LEDs, as it was the best at enhancing the background of the card.

Initially I wanted to set the LEDs behind the holo foil of the background, which I stripped off the cardboard, but I didn't really like how it looked.

So after deciding on keeping the LEDs in front of the background, under the 3D figure of the Dragon, I started building the battery mechanism and the circuit.

For the battery I'm building a small drawer that acts both as a battery holder/loader and the circuit switch, in order to save space and reduce the thickness and the materials used.

I installed the LEDs by literally stabbing the card with their contacts, which helped keeping them in place. For the battery contacts, I stripped a cable and simply stretched the copper on the card, and the battery just slides between the two contacts, completing the circuit.

This is how the batter drawer, the bottom and the top contacts look like underneath everything.

And in the back of the card, this is how I soldered the LEDs together in parallel, which also doubles for structural support.

Finally, this is the LEDs background layer assembled and ready to receive the figure on top of it.

Now, onto the regular shadowbox building steps! I used a Platinum Secret Rare card again for the rarity upgrade on the border, which fits this card very nicely.

I love how the exploded view of this card looks! As my friend nahnew says, it's almost like a card dissection. From this I got the idea of actual framed card dissections, which I love and will definitely try in the future.