HOW TO MAKE STUFF GLOW IN THE DARK - PAINTS, POWDER etc...

In order to get an idea how how you can make stuff glow in the dark I will be looking into ways in which you can create glow in the dark items, prints, and paintings etc. This will give me an idea of the kind of things that are possible when it comes to making my final products. As my project is on glow in the dark Living organisms, I think it will be stupid to not make things glow.

There are a few different ways of achieving a strong glow, once would be to use UV reacting paints etc. All though this does not naturally glow in the dark I feel that it doesn't matter as it still creates the same effect just with the aid of black light.

http://www.darkniteglow.com/glow-shop/

GLOW IN THE DARK POWDER.

Glow in the Dark Powder or photo luminous Glow Pigment as it is sometimes called, is the raw material used in the manufacture of all glow in the dark products. There is a full range of glow in the dark powder pigments. This range is divided into different grades according to glowing brightness, length of glow and color of glow. Our range starts from the lowest grade (20 minutes), to the highest grade, which can glow for more than 15 hours. There are no higher grades than this, at present. This glow in the dark powder pigment works by absorbing and releasing light energy, in a continuous cycle. When the surrounding is bright, it absorbs light energy and releases this light energy when it is dark.

Glow in the dark Powder can be re-charged many times over just by exposing it to any light source, preferably those with Ultra Violet rays like sunlight or UV (black lights). Glow Powder on its own, has a shelf life of more than 10 years.

Glow powder is used for the production of other raw materials or products like:

Glow Paint and Inks for brush painting, spray painting, printing, etc...

Luminous Sticker for signage, decoration, path markers, etc.. 

Plastic Masterbatch Pellets for the production of glow in the dark plastic products

Luminous Thread and Fibre for the production of glow cloth, ropes, carpets, etc..

The most common use of glow powder is to produce glow in the dark paint. This is pretty straight forward as you just have to mix the powder and paint and start painting. As easy as it may sound, some experience and know how is required. The Twilight Glow Paint kit was created for this purpose. It contains the tools and instructions to guide you in the correct method of glow painting.

As mentioned above, glow powder can be used in a wide spectrum of other applications like plastic, glass, thread, etc...

We will now proceed to explain the differences between the various types of glow powder we carry. This section only deals with the raw material (glow powder). If you are interested in glow inks, paints, stickers or other material, please click on the appropriate link above.

Glow in the Dark Powder Particle Size

5-10 um 500 mesh	Smallest particle size with the lowest intensity. This particle size is suitable for the production of glow thread and fibre, offset inks and other products which require very fine particle grains.
10-40 um 300 - 400 mesh	This particle size is suitable for spray painting and silk screen printing.
50-85 um 200 mesh	Largest particle size with the highest intensity. Suitable for brush painting, dipping, glass and plastic molding.

GLOW IN THE DARK PAINT

Glow in the Dark Paint is produced by mixing Glow in the Dark Powder with suitable Clear binders, inks or chemicals to form glow in the dark paint. This glow paint can then be applied by using a variety of application methods like silk screen printing, offset printing, brush painting, spray painting, dipping and more.

Actual type of Clear Ink or Paint used would depend on your application requirements. 

*Point to note is that once we mix Glow Powder into Clear Inks or Paints, the mixture is no longer clear but takes on the color of the powder which in most cases is cream.

 For printing purposes like silk screen printing and offset printing, you would require glow in the dark inks.

Glow in the dark painting with brush or rollers is unlike normal painting, using normal colored paint. Normal painting can be done under normal light, but Glow in the Dark painting requires a special UV light in order to be able to see where you are painting. For those who are new to Glow Painting, we recommend taking a look at this product. The Twilight Glow Painting Kit.

GLOW IN THE DARK INKS

Glow in the dark inks work by absorbing surrounding light and giving out this light in the dark. Glow in the dark printing inks come in the standard color which is cream under normal light - and glows light green once it is charged and brought in the dark.

Glow in the dark printing inks come in the standard color which is cream under normal light - and glows light green once it is charged and brought in the dark.

Pre-mixed Glow in the dark inks which can be used straight from the container are now available for the following printing methods:

Silk Screen Printing 

Offset Printing

Flexo Printing

RotoGravure Printing 

Metal Decoration Printing