El Wire (and tape) are composed of two conducting wires separated by a phosphor layer. (Starting to sound like a capacitor?) While the details are, alas, closed for now, ...

If you just try to cut and strip with wire strippers, 9 times out of 10, the corona wires will break off. To add to that, I cannot stress enough how important the copper tape is.

Neon signs are cool, but they can be fragile and expensive if you need a custom design. If you’d rather make your own on the cheap, you can use EL wire, some simple plastic tubing, and a heat ...