Anyone ever use glow paints/pigments?

[keeproftheflocks]

[keeproftheflocks]

Hey everybody.

I’m going to begin work on another dragon puppet and wanted to make him light up somehow. The method I was going to use to make him light up won’t work, he’ll be too small for battery packs to be hidden inside, so I have switched tactics and am now thinking about using glow-paint or glow powders to make him light up.

Has anyone ever used the stuff? I see the green paint stuff in the craft store which just sort of looks like cheap junk, and I’m a little dubious of using the low-quality type; I’d probably buy the better types off of an online site who specializes in it. I’m particularly interested in the red color, which they do say doesn’t last as long as the other colors.

Anyone have any experience with it?

[Pegasi1978]

I got some of the green glow paint at the craft store to paint the star-shaped fan pulls in my son’s room. I coated them several times. The pulls do glow in the dark, but very faintly.

[keeproftheflocks]

pegasi1978 wrote:

The pulls do glow in the dark, but very faintly.

Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. 🙁 I really need something that’s going to glow very well, and wondered if the “better quality” (more expensive!) stuff would work better.

I hate to buy the stuff without knowing, especially since Illl need several of their small jars, but I may have to suck it up and go for it. See what happens. Hmm. Thanks for the input. 🙂

[Jennifer]

I have used a variety of glow products, and most will only glow semi-strongly for about 30 seconds-2min after immediately being exposed to strong light. Otherwise, the glow is a faint, ethereal thing… definitely not bright or ‘lighted up’. This is due to the way zinc-sulfide releases the photons.

There are products that glow brighter, and as you’ve discovered they have a much higher price tag.
This site might help!
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/glow.htm

Can you engineer a way to have LEDs inside? Then run the wires down your arm to an external power source?
There are also ways to make very tiny battery packs these days (much smaller than AA batteries), if you know someone that can solder and has some electrical/engineering knowhow.

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[Elena]

Here’s a tip for increasing the length of a ‘glow’ In theatre we use glow tape so that people don’t walk into things in the dark of back stage and to charge them so they will last at least a full show (sometimes more) we use a battery powered flash! Like the ones from old cameras. We’ve had one piece stay glowy for 4+ hours 😀

[twindragonsmum]

Have you considered EL Wire (electro-luminescent wire) It’s very fine, light weight, comes in a multitude of colors runs off a teeny-weeny battery… It bends without breaking or snapping or fraying and it can be sewn into seam lines or patterns of your choice. I’ve seen it used to great effect in costuming.

twindraognsmum

tdm

[keeproftheflocks]

Jennifer wrote:

This site might help!
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/glow.htm

Wow, yes, it did, thank you!

Yes, I was looking at the strontium based type over the other type, I have been told by other people they do last longer, and are more worth the money for most purposes.

I can’t do any sort of wiring in this one anyways, he’s too small, and I don’t have much (any) knowledge of this type of stuff. It’s somethng I need to learn definately.

[keeproftheflocks]

twindragonsmum wrote:

Have you considered EL Wire (electro-luminescent wire) It’s very fine, light weight, comes in a multitude of colors runs off a teeny-weeny battery… It bends without breaking or snapping or fraying and it can be sewn into seam lines or patterns of your choice. I’ve seen it used to great effect in costuming.

twindraognsmum

No, I’ve never even heard of it. I would be interested in finding more out about it. Do you know offhand of a website to order it from? I’ve never seen anything like that here, at least in the craft stores.

[twindragonsmum]

Try here;

http://www.elbestbuy.com/?gclid=CIeEuKjDgpsCFRwDagodGXZ7dg

It’s really neat stuff and fun to work with – one of these days I’m going to use it in the faery wings I make…

twindragonsmum

tdm

[Christine]

COOLEST!! ****!! EVAR!!! OMG WANT

That’s not even something you need a purpose for. You buy it and the “thing” you need it for becomes known later in some sublime moment. Holy carp.

[twindragonsmum]

‘Zactly!!! I love the ‘stick figure’ costumes that were made with it 8)

twindragonsmum 8)

tdm

[lamortefille]

That really is cool, twin. I wish I had a use for it. *thinks* 😀

[twindragonsmum]

There is a version that you can wear in your hair; it clips in like a barrette… I know I’ve seen ’em on e-bay…

twindragonsmum 8)

tdm

[Tina]

Hey they used that stuff in the Blue Man Group show 😀 .

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