Glow Shop Blog

The Night Sky Basic Kit allows anyone to paint realistic looking stars and constellations on any ceiling. The kit contains all the tools and instructions on video, on how to do this correctly, ensuring that you get it done correctly right from the start.

The Sticker Stencil Kit is another product which can be used to enhance your stary ceiling with glow paintings (not stickers) of planets, space ships, comets and other bodies of the cosmos. Looking for other designs or have some ideas of your own! try Stencil Kingdom. With the aid of stencils, anyone can paint detailed designs and images anywhere.

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Glow in the dark products need to be charged by exposure to light in order to work. Once brought to a suitable light source, they begin to absorb this light energy. But the light energy is not stored in it like rechargeable batteries. Instead the light energy is absorbed and released at the same time. This release of light can only be seen in the dark. Hence the term “Glow in the Dark.”

Glow period (in hours) for our glow powders (the raw material), is displayed on our site at darkniteglow.com. This period refers to how long the products can glow in the dark, after a full charge.

This is where the confusion starts. Assuming you leave a glow product with the stated glow time of 8 hours, outdoors in the sun. Obviouslly it is going to get fully charged and glow for the stated period, provided it is brought in a dark place immediately. But if it is left outdoors, it would start discharging if the sun is blocked by clouds or during the time it takes for the sun to set. By the time the sun has completely set and it is dark, the glow product could have discharged half its light energy.

The main thing to take note off is that the glow period starts the moment the glow product is brought into a dark environment. Glow lifespan is a different topic altogether. Lifespan of the glowing effect is over 15 years. Meaning, you can re-charge it over and over again.

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Glow in the dark paint in its simplest form is - the addition of glow in the dark powder to clear paints. It is very easy to produce either water based or solvent based glow in the dark paints in this manner.

The problem lies in finding the right chemical mixture and properties to have a decent product life. Unlike other mixtures, glow in the dark pigment which is made from crystals, do not disolve, but has to stay suspended in order to work. Because of this, the glow particles tend to sink to the bottom when mixed with most paints, solvents or water based.

We have managed to produce a suitable pre-mixed solvent based glow in the dark paint which has a decent shelf life of at least 6 months.

It is easier to work with solvent based than water based because solvent based mixtures are easier to re-mix. Glow Pigments mixed into water based carriers sink to the bottom and harden. Which is why there are no suitable water based glow in the dark paint, which can be pre-mixed and stored for months. It must be used immediately.

We are still working on a suitable water based solution for glow in the dark pigments. Till then, our water based glow in the dark paints will always be packed seperately; (Glow powder and water based solution)

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Thinking back, when I was still a kid, I used to look forward to school holidays as that was the only break we had from our mediocre tasks. Time passed slow and at times almost came top a standstill back then.

Now as an adult, I am still doing mediocre tasks but time just flies by me. Is it me or is it because as an adult! I do those tasks slower. which causes time to fly by me?

I am not a bookworm. I hate librarys. Nothing personal but I am what society considers the opposite of a literate.

Searching for the golden opportunity as an illetrate, I chanced upon glow in the dark material while visiting a friend’s shop.

While my friend was only interested in using Glow in the dark Paint for painting glow in the dark stars, I saw a new glowing future for glow in the dark products.

Details of glow in the dark products have gone beyond just using glow in the dark paints for painting stars with brushes or spraying.

Glow in the dark technology can be used for a lot of other applications like signages and many more and not just painting of stars.

Coming back to my friend who says that selling glow in the dark paint would destroy the Starscape Business, I just have to tell him that if those selling rubber thought like him, we would only have tyres made of rubber and Rubber cannot be used for anything else.

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Glow in the dark is a process in which light energy absorbed by a substance and is released relatively slowly in the form of light, in the form of glow. This glow cannot be compared to electroluminescent products which use some form of electrical charge to generate light. Neon lights appear to glow but these are generated by electrical charges and not by any natural glow process of absorbing and releasing light energy.

Besides Neon, there are other forms of glow but these are made from Radium. Radium is a radioactive chemical element. Its appearance is white, but it oxidizes on exposure to air, turning black. As long as it is kept in a sealed state, normally in glass tubes, it can glow for years. If ever the enclosure were to break, it is a radioactive material and is dangerous.

The last form of chemical glow comes in the form of glow light sticks. These glow when two chemicals are mixed. These products are generally safe as long as the container is not punctured. They do not work on electricity or radioactive radium, but! through a chemical reaction. When the chemical reaction dies, the glow dies.

Now you might be asking as to whether it is still possible to create products which produce any form of luminance or glow in the dark without electricity, radiation or chemical reaction. The answer is Yes. Electrically charged Neon and Radioactive Radium aside, there are also materials made from Strothium aluminate. These materials glow in the normal phospherence process by absorbing light energy and giving out this energy in the dark. However the brightness of the glow cannot be compared to the brightness of Neon or Radium.

The safe and normal Glow in the dark material needs to be charged by exposure to light. Expose it to light and it glows. Glowin the dark products react better if exposed to UV Lights.

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These are the questions that crossed my head, when I saw this website.

http://www.blogmond.com/2007/11/26/demonstration-of-the-blu-ray-laser-phaser/

In the video, the lights are switched off in order to give a demonstration of the glow in the dark effects. Unless different colored glow materials were used in the video, I cannot uderstand how the multicolored glow was achieved.

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How to Paint a Star Ceiling

Came across a site which tries to explain how to do this but never really shows you how. This is what I found and my points below it. Obviously the writer has no experience or has never really done this.

1. Glow-in-the-dark paint
2. A strong, sturdy ladder
3. Latex gloves to protect your hands
4. Cheap craft paintbrushes
5. Small bottle of Elmer’s Glue, twist-top cap – clean out glue, fill with paint
6. Small squeeze bottle with small round hole and tight cap – fill with paint
7. Roll of blue painter’s tape
8. Tarp or old bed sheet – not plastic tarping
9. Blackout curtains to tack over windows (or paint at night)
10. Electric or battery-operated planetarium toy
11. Small pen flashlight or flashlight on head strap
12. Black light bar – not bulb
13. Extension cords
14. Old clothes and shoes you don’t mind glowing in the dark

1. Obviously to paint glow in the dark stars, you need to use glow paint
2. And to reach the ceiling you definitely need a ladder. Good to see that safety is off importance as they recommend a good sturdy one
3. Would it glow better if we use latex gloves when compared with other gloves?
4. Now how does one paint stars using cheap craft paint brushes?
5. So now we have to buy Elmer’s Glue, clean out glue and fill it with paint

and so the list goes on without really explaining or showing how to do this.

OTH, there is The Night Sky Illusion Kit which actually shows you how to paint Glow in the dark stars on any ceiling. You can also paint realistic designs of shooting stars and planets with this kit.

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By using the Night Sky Illusion kit, anyone can paint realistic looking stars, on the ceiling, in any room. This kit contains all the tools needed for this. The main product is the invisible glow in the dark paint that is used. This paint is actually cream in color but when painted on a ceiling which is usually off white or cream, it cannot be seen during the day. But in the night when the lights are off, this paint glows in the dark. By using this paint together with special tools included in the kit, it is possible to paint realistic looking stars, that glow in the dark, on any ceiling.

Next product in line would be the Sticker Stencil kit. This allows anyone to paint planets, space ships, shooting stars and other complex designs. Depending on your creativity, you could use a mix of normal and glow in the dark paints for this. Bear in mind that when using normal paints, the design is visible during the day. More details at Night Sky Illusion.

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Difference between glow in the dark and UV products

This video demonstrates the difference between Glow in the dark products and ultra violet light sensitive (reactive) products.

Glow in the dark products are charged by exposure to light. Charge time is faster if UV lights (black lights) are used. Glow in the dark products absorb surrounding light and give out this light by glowing in the dark.

Ultra violet light sensitive (UV) products on the other hand require a UV light to work. They do not get charged with UV lights but just react to them by reflective UV rays in different colors.

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Ask anyone this question and they would be stumped. Some might even ask what is glow in the dark? I know pigs can’t fly but there are glow in the dark pigs. Besides being making it easier to catch these pigs at night, I see no use for glowing pigs.

Glow in the dark can be useful if it is used in the proper situation. Just like any product, glow in the dark, has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantage is that it needs no electrical power source to work. It still needs to be charged though but this can be done by exposing glow products to light. Again, no consumption of resorurces. Totally environment friendly.

Yamaha recently launched a scooter with a glow in the dark ipod dock. While the idea sounds neat, is it really useful? Not like you would take out your scooter in the dark and the most important thing would be to find out where to dock your ipod instead of starting your scooter first. Couldn’t they make their keys or key holes which are used to start the scooters glow in the dark! Wouldn’t that be more useful and practical.

Glow in the dark can be put to more practical uses and the first thing that comes to mind is in safety, like Glow in the dark signs can help in event of a sudden power failure.

Just like any product, glow in the dark can be useful and even life saving if used correctly to suit the application and not some fashion trend or just to be cool.

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