Another novelty item that has appeared is any type of decoration using fiber optic lighting. The first time I saw anything using fiber optic lighting was a music box that my father bought for my mother. The music box was a rectangle acrylic box that was black in the back and the other three sides were clear. Inside the box were three orchid shaped flowers that had the optic lighting around them. When the box was turned on to play the lights on the flowers turned different colors in time to the music. My children though the box was magical. Today fiber optic lighting is quite common place.
There are many different items that have the lighting in them. You can buy permanent Christmas trees that have the fiber optics at the tips of the branches. When the tree is plugged in it changes color. There are different settings on the base of the tree so you can choose to have the lights change very quickly so they appear to be blinking, or you change set them to change very gradually. In addition to the tress there are ornaments that you can purchase that plug into the light strands in the Christmas tree. The ornaments are trimmed with the fiber optic lighting so they turn colors. They are quite pretty; however you do need to make sure that they fit the strand of lights you use on your tree. Not all lights are interchangeable with all strands. Also make sure you do not plug in the same circuit that your television is on because they have been known to cause some interference with television reception.
This year there is a number of fiber optic lawn ornaments that are solar powered. The solar batteries charge during the day and at dusk the lighting comes on. Depending upon the number of hours of day light that charged the batteries the fiber optics will stay on for three to six hours. They make a nice addition to a flower garden or landscaping around the house.
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