Fiber optic lighting

You could try fiber optic light wands, the cheap flash light with all the “strands” coming out the top. These are brittle and cheap, but they do work. But I mail ordered some years ago from Edmund Scientific, which now online is http://scientificsonline.com . You can try there, they have some kits. What I got from them was much better quality but had a larger diameter then the light wand fibers. You could also try small diameter acrylic rod and paint the sides so no light is lost. That should also work.

Welcome to the place and I hope you find someuseful info here. Enjoy your stay.
Not sure where you are but electronics places like Tandy / Radio Shack often have basic kits for this sort of thing. The kit usually has al that is needed and is normally aimed at novice electronics enthusiasts so the instructions are detailed and complete. Also if you are building a kit and for whatever reason it is not going as it should there is usually a help line / numer which you can call to get it sorted.

Good luck, Cheers , Pete.