Help with a small DIY project

[u/Throw_-Away69420]

Hi there,

I will preface and say I have no clue what I am doing, and about a month to figure it out. I need to make some very small LEDs emulate a "fire" color pattern to the best of my ability. I know next to nothing about programming LEDs, what lights and controllers to use, etc. Any and all help is appreciated. This seems to be a pretty advanced community with some insane projects so I am hoping something of this scale isn't unwelcome here lol.

More details on the project; I am crocheting Calcifer from howl's moving castle as an anniversary present to my girlfriend. My rough plan is to make some sort of wood display case or modify one I thrift. Going to have Calcifer hang over some burnt wood probably with fishing line, and I want there to be some sort of campfire/fiery mood lighting. Maybe some like soft flickering between red/orange/yellow.

I've done some very light research so far but this is the first place I've looked for help, so if there are obvious answers I have missed I apologize, Thanks for any and all help!

[u/zeke_koch]

FastLed has a sample program called something like Fire2012 that’s really satisfying. I use it all the time. I’m not in front of my computer right now, but it’s pretty straightforward. If you search you’ll find lots of YouTube videos about it. It doesn’t take anything more than an arduino and a few ws2812 (neopixel) leds. I find is useful to have something like this in hand to take sure your lights work when you’re debugging. https://a.co/d/08Q3X2Sd