# Looking for glow in the dark paint that really works!



## DEMON DEAN (Oct 25, 2019)

Hello everyone, I'm Demon Dean I am making a few props and am looking for the best glow in the dark paint that really will glow in the dark very strongly and last.. I have tried a few but they either do not glow in the dark well or do not last long at all. Does anyone know of a brand that really works good.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Demon - I think your two main priorities are going to be somewhat at odds with each other. Many paints which glow strongly don't last very long and many paints which last a long time don't glow strongly. Hard to have a combination of lots of energy storage plus releasing lots of energy for the glow!

With that said, two names usually come to mind for 'the best'...

United Nuclear's Europium based glow paints





Glow-in-the-Dark Items : United Nuclear , Scientific Equipment & Supplies, United Nuclear , Scientific Equipment & Supplies


United Nuclear , Scientific Equipment & Supplies : Glow-in-the-Dark Items - Radiation and Nuclear Lab Equipment Electronic & Electrical Science! Printed Products Chemicals & Metals Neodymium Magnets Area 51 Element Samples Glow In The Dark, UV & IR Lab Glassware & Containers Specials, One-offs...




unitednuclear.com





Wildfire's phosphorescent paints








Phosphorescent Paint


Take your themed entertainment design to a thrilling new level with Wildfire's UV lighting, black light special effects lighting, glow in the dark paints.




store.wildfirelighting.com





Also note that at least in the case of wildfire, they recommend a specific 365nm blacklight to charge the GITD paint. Further saying that the typical 470nm and longer wavelengths don't activate the paint correctly.


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## DEMON DEAN (Oct 25, 2019)

Corey 872 thank you for your information as to the glow in the dark paint. This is something I will look into.


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## kurtkyre (Nov 7, 2021)

corey872 said:


> Demon - I think your two main priorities are going to be somewhat at odds with each other. Many paints which glow strongly don't last very long and many paints which last a long time don't glow strongly. Hard to have a combination of lots of energy storage plus releasing lots of energy for the glow!
> 
> With that said, two names usually come to mind for 'the best'...
> 
> ...


That is one impressive display!


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## Batbuddy (Sep 3, 2014)

I have used wildfire paint and it is cool. You do have to use a (UV) black light though. I have never found any glow in the dark paint that lasts very long without the use of black light. But if you are using a black light, you can use regular fluorescent spray paint from the hardware store and it looks great as well.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Good additional feedback. Yes, that is the thing with those pesky quantum transitions for GITD - you either have the energy to kick electrons up so they emit a glow at a later time, or you don't. So even the slight change in wavelength... 470nm to the higher energy 365nm... can really enhance the performance of the GITD items considerably!


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## DEMON DEAN (Oct 25, 2019)

Batbuddy said:


> I have used wildfire paint and it is cool. You do have to use a (UV) black light though. I have never found any glow in the dark paint that lasts very long without the use of black light. But if you are using a black light, you can use regular fluorescent spray paint from the hardware store and it looks great as well.


Thank you for the information


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## Batbuddy (Sep 3, 2014)

Thanks Corey. I decided to order some samples of United Nuclear Europium I'll report back what they are like.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

Agree with everything that has been said. This is what I use and it’s pretty potent stuff with regards to glowing. It’s the only GITD paint I’ve ever used that legit glows enough to see. It doesn’t take long to charge but you have to do several coats or it looks streaky. If it’s even the size of a craft pumpkin, doing multiple coats is a pain, guess how I know…. The other potential downside, as mentioned, is while it would charge up in the sun, I am not convinced it would last the 3-4 hours we usually run on Halloween. I have a tiny jack o lantern that glows across the room with it, I’ll try to do a longevity test to see.









Yellow FolkArt Glow In The Dark Acrylic Paint | Hobby Lobby | 1940428


Get Yellow FolkArt Glow In The Dark Acrylic Paint online or find other Mediums & Finishes products from HobbyLobby.com




www.hobbylobby.com





Update: using a very non scientific test, I charged it under a metal halide light then checked it immediately in the dark followed by several checks that ran up to 2 hours. While it’s amazing initially, it still glows at 2 hours but significantly less so. It recharged within a couple seconds under a UV light. I would recommend going with UV reactive paint and UV lights to maintain a bright result because 2 hours in this case was not impressive and we usually run twice that time.


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## DEMON DEAN (Oct 25, 2019)

Daphne said:


> Agree with everything that has been said. This is what I use and it’s pretty potent stuff with regards to glowing. It’s the only GITD paint I’ve ever used that legit glows enough to see. It doesn’t take long to charge but you have to do several coats or it looks streaky. If it’s even the size of a craft pumpkin, doing multiple coats is a pain, guess how I know…. The other potential downside, as mentioned, is while it would charge up in the sun, I am not convinced it would last the 3-4 hours we usually run on Halloween. I have a tiny jack o lantern that glows across the room with it, I’ll try to do a longevity test to see.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info. I will try the uv reactive paint and the uv lights.


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## SouthBayJT (Oct 10, 2010)

By pure chance, I work within walking distance of the Wildfire Paint warehouse in Torrance, and I go there every Halloween to pick up some jars of paint for my display. They have a demonstration room that shows the various paint colors and how they look under UV light. They have this impressive UV spotlight that shoots a beam all the way across a room to the wall with the paint. Imagine a theatre stage spotlight, but a UV version. Up to that point I had only used T8 fluorescent tube UV bulbs; I didn't know other types existed, let alone something as impressive as a UV stage light. If your budget allows, I would think a throw light like that could be mounted unobtrusively far away to light up the paint. Those are out of my price range, but I've had good luck in the last couple of years with large LED floodlights that I got from Amazon for about $40 each. They can't cast a beam across a room, but they're still powerful enough to mount 3 feet below the prop and thus out of view. I could never accomplish that with the old T8 bulbs; with those, I just had to mount them immediately underneath the prop and do my best to hide them.
I agree that Wildfire paint performs far better than any fluorescent paint from Home Depot or Michael's. It's expensive, but a pint goes quite a long way.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

SouthBayJT said:


> By pure chance, I work within walking distance of the Wildfire Paint warehouse in Torrance, and I go there every Halloween to pick up some jars of paint for my display. They have a demonstration room that shows the various paint colors and how they look under UV light. They have this impressive UV spotlight that shoots a beam all the way across a room to the wall with the paint. Imagine a theatre stage spotlight, but a UV version. Up to that point I had only used T8 fluorescent tube UV bulbs; I didn't know other types existed, let alone something as impressive as a UV stage light. If your budget allows, I would think a throw light like that could be mounted unobtrusively far away to light up the paint. Those are out of my price range, but I've had good luck in the last couple of years with large LED floodlights that I got from Amazon for about $40 each. They can't cast a beam across a room, but they're still powerful enough to mount 3 feet below the prop and thus out of view. I could never accomplish that with the old T8 bulbs; with those, I just had to mount them immediately underneath the prop and do my best to hide them.
> I agree that Wildfire paint performs far better than any fluorescent paint from Home Depot or Michael's. It's expensive, but a pint goes quite a long way.


That sounds like an amazing light. T8’s were my go to forever but I found some UV spots years ago at Minions Web that were $50-$60 a bulb and did a good job although the T8’s were stronger IMO. I think Cory only carried them a few years though. I priced a new upgraded light a year or so ago and think it was hundreds of dollars for one which was out of budget but what you describe sounds amazing. Black lights can’t complete with the bright blue, red and orange spots though so it’s sometimes hard to find a dark place for them but they do a fantastic job.
I’m almost finished with a new animatronic build based on Johnny’s Ghost and it is going to be black light lit. Man I love his work AND that lighting!


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## SouthBayJT (Oct 10, 2010)

Daphne said:


> That sounds like an amazing light. T8’s were my go to forever but I found some UV spots years ago at Minions Web that were $50-$60 a bulb and did a good job although the T8’s were stronger IMO. I think Cory only carried them a few years though. I priced a new upgraded light a year or so ago and think it was hundreds of dollars for one which was out of budget but what you describe sounds amazing. Black lights can’t complete with the bright blue, red and orange spots though so it’s sometimes hard to find a dark place for them but they do a fantastic job.
> I’m almost finished with a new animatronic build based on Johnny’s Ghost and it is going to be black light lit. Man I love his work AND that lighting!


Yeah the spotlight was kind of scary-powerful. I accidentally glanced at it and it hurt my eyes; didn't seem like a good thing to have in a display unless you could be sure nobody could accidentally look into the beam.
What's a Johnny's Ghost? I googled it and it looks similar to a Flying Crank Ghost? Or a different mechanism maybe? I love the idea of using a black light on it, that will look really good! The ghostly light you get on cloth from blacklight is perfect for ethereal beings.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

SouthBayJT said:


> What's a Johnny's Ghost? I googled it and it looks similar to a Flying Crank Ghost? Or a different mechanism maybe? I love the idea of using a black light on it, that will look really good! The ghostly light you get on cloth from blacklight is perfect for ethereal beings.


The reference is to the animated ghost’s created by Hauntforum member heresjohnny. Here’s a link to one of his props, and you should definitely check out the others he’s made. He’s a true master.









Leer Ghost v4


My house does not have a front door suitable for a leer ghost emerging from the ceiling, so I created version 4 which will appear to be emerging the eaves. Also went back to the pulley system I used in version 2.




www.hauntforum.com


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## SouthBayJT (Oct 10, 2010)

RoxyBlue said:


> The reference is to the animated ghost’s created by Hauntforum member heresjohnny. Here’s a link to one of his props, and you should definitely check out the others he’s made. He’s a true master.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh my gosh, I am loving this--this is amazing! Thanks for the link--it's like the dementors from Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban. I need to check out his other props too...


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

HeresJohnny is one of my many heroes. His black light ghosts are the stuff of legend. He made a FCG as well as wall breakers and a greeter but the one in the link below is what I based mine on. I’ve been wanting to build one ever since he posted it. Yeah, the pics have been in several phones, it’s been awhile…. Mine does not have all the movement his does and I will never figure out how the man got all that from ONE motor. 

Mine looks side to side but stops randomly and holds so it’s more organic since that’s all that moves and I gave him a crystal ball that I created and an owl to keep him occupied since his hands are stationary. Johnny’s has the arms and head moving and let’s just be honest here, his are incredible. As soon as we get the seconds timer integrated I’ll post it. I was out of town then got sick so I’ve been down and everything has stopped. Not good this time of year. 








Animated Cloaked Ghost


Here is my Animated Cloaked Ghost, my first ghost build in quite a while. Based on PumpkinRot's Cloaked Ghost (and Grim's version). Hope you like it.




www.hauntforum.com





Forgive my hijacking the thread. It is black light related so maybe I can beg forgiveness?


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