[dawnski]

Next year I want to paint a scene using fluorescent black light paint. Up until now I've just been using fluorescent spray paint when I need it. But now I want to do finer details. I saw this 6 pack wildfire premium blacklight reactive paints http://www.blacklight.com/items/WF161PINT-6PK Does anyone know if this is a good brand or if there is a cheaper way for me to make colored fluorescent paint? The price is high but I'm willing to pay if I know it works well. I'd also love to see photos of what fellow HFers have done and share their technique.

 

[Diabolik]

Dawnski, I'd suggest talking to Terra and checking out her page/YouTube videos. I know she has made a ton of detailed black light wall panels. I am sure she would be a wealth of knowledge on the subject.

 

[Diabolik]

http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/terra/1254-improved-painting-3d-haunt-panels-tutorial.html

 

[dawnski]

Thanks for the link Diabolik, I'll check it out.

 

[BobbyA]

Also go search sucbapook1, he tested several kinds and came up with some good recommendations.

 

[Dr. Jitters]

I'm thinking about doing some blacklight effects for next year too. Thanks for sharing the topic and links. Wow, that's some detailed tutorial, and some expensive paint, too. I was just searching and found some less expensive options --
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=blacklight+paint

Might be worth experimenting with. I'd like to recreate some of those gags/stunts in the old carnival dark rides.
http://www.laffinthedark.com Those were pretty crudely done in the first place and that's up my alley.

 

[UnOrthodOx]

Next year I want to paint a scene using fluorescent black light paint. Up until now I've just been using fluorescent spray paint when I need it. But now I want to do finer details. I saw this 6 pack wildfire premium blacklight reactive paints http://www.blacklight.com/items/WF161PINT-6PK Does anyone know if this is a good brand or if there is a cheaper way for me to make colored fluorescent paint? The price is high but I'm willing to pay if I know it works well. I'd also love to see photos of what fellow HFers have done and share their technique.

As already mentioned Terra's tutorial is pretty much the gold standard.

I'll happily back wildfire as a great paint.

Depending on the specific look you are going for, it might not be as expensive as you think, either. This was all made with a wash made with about 3 parts water to 1 part paint.

(work in progress, this guy got destroyed.)

 

[Pumpkin5]

I love Wildfire...it's expensive, but it's well worth the money....Made my jack's positively GLOW!!!!

The regular Wildfire is not as expensive as the invisibles....but the invisibles are quite incredible!!!

 

[annamarykahn]

yeah, the wild fire is supposed to be one of, if not, the best ... unfortunately, it has a price to match, so i haven't used any, yet, although i've been severely tempted and will likely get some eventually

i've used pretty much everything that you can get a walmart, dollar stores, hobby lobby ... and it is my opinion that the Daler-Rowney fluorescent paints have the best "bang-for-the-buck" ... hobby lobby carries Daler-Rowney

here are some old dollar store stones from several years back

on these stones i only used an extremely small amount of paint and only tried to highlight the high points on the foam giving it more of an "organic" look
of course, you can always more paint if you're looking for a "brighter" effect

amk

 

[TheMonsterSquad]

For small paint jobs, I've had great luck using the blacklight reactive acrylic paint set they sell at Spirit Halloween. I've picked up multiple sets now at day-after sales, and they glow very strongly under blacklight.

http://www.spirithalloween.com/product/black-light-paint-set/55585.uts?keyword=blacklight paint&thumbnailIndex=2

 

[billappleton]

these guys are great:

http://www.clearneon.com/

but not cheap. this is acrylic, so you can cut it with water if needed

 

[jbaum]

I'm going to try Wildfire paint this year. I tried some paint from Michaels and Hobby Lobby and wasn't impressed with the results. I airbrushed a clown over black background and it was dull. I saw a 3D painting by Stuart Smith painted on a black background and it was awesome. He uses Dayglo but they only sell it in the gallon size. I need smaller samples to start with. I think they are about the same quality.

 

[annamarykahn]

jbaum,

the clown was black and you painted over black? if so, then yes, the results won't be as good if you were painting over white ... the white reflects any light that has gone through the paint back out through again ... so the paint is brighter because its like almost double the amount of uv light ... yeah, i know this isn't strictly true, but its a good analogy

personally, i don't like airbrushing uv reactive paints because the result is too "perfect", too "clean" ... i like some variation in color as that tends to look more "realistic" and less like a "cartoon" ... after all, everyone's skin, and hair color isn't the same color in every location ... that's not to say that there isn't a place for "cartoon" props ... its just not my thing

have you tried Daler-Rowney fluorescent paints? unfortunately, they don't have as large a color palate as wild fire

i airbrushed a nbc "oogie-boogie" fluorescent green and it turned out better than i expected ... this prop was available @ walgreen's last year, i believe ... didn't see him anywhere this year

amk

 

[slcjeeper]

Wildfire is a great product! Rosco also makes UV and super saturated paints. They're both usually carried by theater/stage supply stores.

 

[Screaming Demons]

Dayglo is supposed to be the only paint that you can put directly on black. Pretty much everything else should go on a base coat of white.

 

[jbaum]

AMK,
Just the background was black. The clown was red, green, yellow and blue. I will have research daler-rowney to see where I can get them. I saw Stuart Smith painting and he was painting over black. I originally had the foam painted white but didn't want to paint a lot of black. I guess that wasn't the best way to go. Does anybody know if dayglo sells smaller quantity of paint other than the gallon size.

 

[bobzilla]

Thumbs up for me on the Wildfire!

 

[dawnski]

Bobzilla, fantastic work. The whale scene is truly inspiring.

 

[Castart]

If DevilsChariot is still around he also did some amazing blacklight work.

 

[Terra]

There is one drawback to WildFire paint (well, other than the price). It works too good!

My haunt was filled with WildFire panels and it fluoresced so well that the room almost looked like a fully lit room. Hard to hide in corners and it cuts down on the dark, scary vibe you want in a haunt. I used the best type of fluorescent lighting (twin T8 bulbs) all over the place and the combo of the two (great paint and great lighting) was overkill. But, that's good news for you. You can use this knowledge to help you balance things out. Cheaper paint with great lighting. Great paint with not-so-good lighting. Not as many painted things in the room and so on. Here's a picture of one of my haunt rooms and you could get a sense of how vivid the room was and this is in 100% black light: