How to make Glow in the Dark Paint
- Choose a Glow Powder – These come in a variety of colours and particle sizes. Some colours glow brighter and longer than others. Particle size does not matter if you are painting with brush or roller. But if you are spray painting, use the smallest particle size of 5 to 15 microns.
l - Choose a clear paint to mix the powder with – Choice of clear paint depends on the surface you would be painting. Water based paints are meant for concrete walls, leather and plastic. Solvent based paints are meant for wood and anything metal.
Other factors to consider when attempting to make glow in the dark paint would be:
3. Stabilising Agent – Adding this into your mix is recommended if you intend to store the paints for more than a week. If this is not added, the glow powder particles, will sink and lump up at the bottom, due to their weignt. This process is called sedimentation. More info on this process and anti settling agents 
that can be used to prevent this is
4. Paint Stirrer – When clumping occurs, it is best to ensure that the paint is stirred well until all clumps are removed, before your next glow in the dark painting project. Failure to do this will result with a surface with bright lumps. Easiest way to remix clumpy paints would be with a Paint Stirrer attached to a drill.
Other facters to consider when attempting to make glow in the dark paint would be:
3. Stabilising Agent – Adding this into your mix is recommended if you intend to store the paints for more than a week. If this is not added, the glow powder particles, will sink and lump up at the bottom, due to their weignt. You would have a hard time re-mixing when that happens.
4. Paint Stirrer – When clumping occurs, it is best to ensure that the paint is stirred well until all clumps are removed, before your next glow in the dark painting project. Failure to do this will result with a surface with bright lumps. Easiest way to remix clumpy paints would be with a Paint Stirrer attached to a drill.
Glow in the Dark Painting Instructions
- Surface to be painted should be clean
- Background color should be light colored or white. If not, apply a white layer prior to painting.
- Glow Painting should be done in the dark, under a UV Black light.
- Apply at least 2 to 3 coats of paint with a drying time of at least 20 minutes per coat.
- After every coat, charge up the painted surface with the UV light and check for uneven areas.
- It is better to apply more layers of thin coats than less layers of thick coats. Controlling the evenness of the glow paint is not easy with thick coats.
- If you want it even brighter you can add another coat or two for maximum brightness. Additional coats after the first 3 will not make much of a difference in the brightness of the glow.
- Depending on the glow powder used in the mixture, the finished surface might be rough to the touch. This can be overcome by applying a layer of Gloss Epoxy over it.
- Gloss Epoxy Protector can be applied by brush but results would be better if it was sprayed on.
General Info on Glow in the Dark Paint
Glow Paints are energized by surrounding light (preferably those with UV rays) e.g.
- Sunlight (5 to 10 minutes charge time)
- UV black light (5 to 10 minutes charge time)
- Normal Fluorescent / Tungsten lights (25 to 40 minutes charge time)
Glow time depends on the grade of the product. Glow in the dark paint can be recharged thousands of times and last for many years.
Glow in the Dark Painting can be done by brush or spray gun. If spraying, it would be better to select pigments with a lower particle size (10~30) microns. The paint mixture should be thinned down with thinner.Go here to learn more about Spray Painting techniques.
Make Glow in the Dark Paint for Outdoors
If you would be painting outdoors, we recommend getting the Epoxy Gloss Protector. This product can be applied onto your painted glow surface to give it a gloss look with industrial standard protection. Only drawback is that it takes around 24 hours to cure. But the end result is a weather proof, traffic proof solid finished glow in the dark surface.
Paint in the Dark and under a UV light
Glow in the Dark painting is the opposite of normal painting. Normal painting is done under light because the effects would be seen under light.Since the effects of Glow in the Dark would be seen in the dark, it only makes sense to paint in the dark.
But we can’t paint in the dark. We need light to see where we paint. We cannot use normal lights for glow painting. We need to use lights strong in UVB rays, in order to bring out the glow effects while painting.
With this said, Glow in the Dark painting is best done in the dark, under a UV light. UV Black Light activates the glowing effect of the paint, thus enabling you to see exactly where you are painting.
We sell mini 6″ battery operated UV light here. If you would be painting large areas, we would recommend getting an Electrical 2″ or 4″ UV Black Florescent Light.
Making glow paint might sound easy, but it still needs trial and error it getting the finished product at the right consistency. End of the day, if you prefer to buy, rather than to make glow in the dark paint yourself….