Thread: "Hot" Lab -- GID questions

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One of the themed haunts I've been contemplating for a while now and still working on the idea is a walk-thru laboratory that had some kind of radiation accident--I'm thinking of a chamber like that in The Fly maybe--wherein something was experimented on and it went horribly wrong and the "experiment" escaped and was on the loose. In the "accident room" I was thinking it might look best if the room was very dimly lit and you could see things glowing in the dark from exposure to some sort of radiation from the creature. So glow in the dark hand and footprints and items that were touched along the way. I've never worked with GID paint before and was wondering if you could just paint some on your hand and transfer the paint to items and have them glow (after being exposed to enough light of course). Has anyone done something like this before? How long does the effect last? If the room is not pitch dark would you notice it? Is it safe to paint your hand or would you want to use a stamping surface of some sort or rubber gloves to make the prints?

I think I could get a dark enough space for this to work by making the walk-thru haunt go through our garage (we have a side door to the outside for another exit also). Somehow during dinner tonight we got on the subject of Chernobyl and food items from there...I think my DH said he had bought some chocolate from a European grocery store and it was from Russia and I was joking how do you know it didn't come from Chernobyl and didn't glow in the dark...amazing how halloween ideas develop; LOL. Anyway I thought it could be a cool effect to add to my laboratory scene layout if it would work. I figure the room had to have some small amount of light in it so that the ToTers wouldn't be wandering around in total darkness and maybe getting hurt trying to navigate the room. What do you guys think?

Id go with uv reactive stuff such as tide or your other favorite laundry soap its usually cheaper and easier to clean up

If it's UV then doesn't it require to be lit by black light? My husband is really against the use of black light.

Yes it requires black light if I may askwhy is he against it?

well you could use black lights but maybe wrap them in black cellophane (hopefully it wont block the uv rays) to help diffuse it and dim it some. regular glow in the dark paint wont work unless the room is bright for a while cuz you have to "charge" it.

I asked my husband about the black light objection again today and he said that even if you don't look directly at black light you are still absorbing some of the reflected UV into your eyes and UV kills cells. He said that you already get some of it when outside in the sun and that's why you want to always wear UV protected sunglasses.

He pretty much gives in to my other halloween project and decorating ideas so I'm not fighting him on this one, ie. figured I'd try the GID paint route on this idea. BTW I only set up for one night and I could easily flood the garage space that day with light in anticipation of a dark garage lab that night.

This is from wikipedia
"Black light"Main article: Black light
A black light, or Wood's light, is a lamp that emits long wave UV radiation and very little visible light. They are sometimes referred to as a "UV light". Fluorescent black lights are typically made in the same fashion as normal fluorescent lights except that only one phosphor is used, and the clear glass envelope of the bulb may be replaced by a deep-bluish-purple glass called Wood's glass, a nickel-oxide–doped glass, which blocks almost all visible light above 400 nanometres. The color of such lamps is often referred to in the trade as "blacklight blue" or "BLB." This is to distinguish these lamps from "bug zapper" blacklight ("BL") lamps that do not have the blue Wood's glass. The phosphor typically used for a near 368 to 371 nanometre emission peak is either europium-doped strontium fluoroborate (SrB4O7F:Eu2+) or europium-doped strontium borate (SrB4O7:Eu2+) while the phosphor used to produce a peak around 350 to 353 nanometres is lead-doped barium silicate (BaSi2O5:Pb+). "Blacklight Blue" lamps peak at 365 nm.

While "black lights" do produce light in the UV range, their spectrum is confined to the longwave UVA region. Unlike UVB and UVC, which are responsible for the direct DNA damage that leads to skin cancer, black light is limited to lower-energy, longer waves and does not cause sunburn. However, UVA is capable of causing damage to collagen fibers and destroying vitamins A and D in skin.[citation needed]

A black light may also be formed by simply using Wood's glass instead of clear glass as the envelope for a common incandescent bulb. This was the method used to create the very first black light sources. Though it remains a cheaper alternative to the fluorescent method, it is exceptionally inefficient at producing UV light (less than 0.1% of the input power), owing to the black body nature of the incandescent light source. Incandescent UV bulbs, due to their inefficiency, may also become dangerously hot during use. More rarely still, high-power (hundreds of watts) mercury-vapor black lights that use a UV-emitting phosphor and an envelope of Wood's glass can be found. These lamps are used mainly for theatrical and concert displays, and also become very hot during normal use.

Some UV fluorescent bulbs specifically designed to attract insects use the same near-UV emitting phosphor as normal blacklights, but use plain glass instead of the more expensive Wood's glass. Plain glass blocks less of the visible mercury emission spectrum, making them appear light-blue to the naked eye. These lamps are referred to as "blacklight" or "BL" in most lighting catalogs.

Ultraviolet light can also be generated by some light-emitting diodes

An accident at a Cub Scout camp fire resulted in an exploding glow stick. The 2 boys were showered and they looked cool as hell! Though there may be health risks with wearing it long term, I don't believe there would be any harm in placing around assorted hand or foot prints on items then washing your piggies soon after.

I have yet to find GID paint or clay that lasts an appreciable amount of time, though it would probably work well in a pitch black room. I'd use it more for secondary effects, but since you can't use blacklight that limits your options. Really though, even if there was some minor question of health hazards - which there isn't - you're only using it a little bit out of the year. I'm sure you get 100x as much UV being outside for an hour. Maybe you could use something like EL sheeting and EL tape or something backlit with LEDs. Look up the "glowing coals" tutorial here - maybe do something like that with green lights and lightly paint the foam green. You may also want to search online for "glow powder" to make paint from, it's generally brighter than craft store paint, but remember that online retailers really overhype its brightness. Also if you're doing a pitch black room, try some kind of LED spotlights on shapes like handprints cut out of a reflective material. Maybe he'll agree to blacklight spotlights as long as they're not pointed where people can look directly at them? Make sure it's completely surrounded by black paint or fabric so only the shape shows. Paint the spotlights black too so they're less noticeable.

Im sorry this post bothers me I have been haunting and using blacklight for years hell I turn a blacklight on when im listening to music sometimes how about all the other haunters out there no one is dead yet or has cancer or is a zombie or,,,,,, Using a blacklight is just about as dangerous as standing outside