# Blacklight Photos, Ideas and Tips Please!



## star_girl_mag (Aug 5, 2008)

I have not incorporated blacklights very much in the past up til now save for a small window display and our FCG but nothing a cheap 24 in won't light. 

Last year I scored a whole bunch of high power, tube blacklights, ranging from 18" to 48", at a church rummage sale, after a local night club closed down... It's a long story how the lighting equipment of a local gay club ended up being sold at a church. LOL! I also scored a ton of other cool stuff including "Southern Comfort" logo pumpkins  Anyway back on task here... 

I am wanting to use some of these to light an entire large room to create a psychedelic looking forest. I was going to drape the walls in light-wieght, black painters plastic, then fill the walls using non-reactive fishing line, with thin branches that I have spray painted with fluorescent paint. I'm thinking this would be a good, cheap way to utilize my blacklights and to decorate a very large, difficult to cover, room. Opinions?

I should note my theme is "Twisted Fairy Tales." 

I would love to hear thoughts, tips and tricks on working with black light and uv-reactive paints, dyes, fabrics etc. Also I would LOVE to see some photos of heavy black light usage in decorations or scenes.


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## Maxiboots (Aug 31, 2010)

*Black light party help*

The haunted forest is a great idea. I have used black lights in the past. I have read that if you spray a thick mixture of Tide and water on any fabric it will fluoresce. I just used white tulle and it fluoresced pretty well. Tonic water fluoresces blue. I used it for this skull head sculpted out of an apple. I used it in drinks as well. 

Good luck with your haunting!


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## Maxiboots (Aug 31, 2010)

<img>/Users/sharonshieh/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2009/Halloween 2009/CIMG7804.JPG</img>


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## chartreusechaos (Jul 7, 2009)

Star, while I don't have pictures, I have been using blacklights for 3 years now in a garage haunt. I get my fluorescent paint from dick blick art supplies - it is very reasonable and is true fluorescent. Neon paint is not neccessarily fluorescent! Check out the glow in the dark slime on about.com. Made with borax, GITD paint and clear Elmer's glue, it is really cool stuff! BTW, anything glow-in-the-dark will be very bright under blacklights. I have also used fluorescent mineral makeup, which would be really cool on some twisted fairies! Check out rave supplies, too. White cheesecloth looks cool in blacklight, especially if you treat it with RIT whitener. Here's a tip - be sure not to wash anything you want to "disappear" in the blacklight room, like black clothes. Lint and the phosphorus in detergents both glow under blacklight. Fluorescent hightlighters glow like crazy, so you can use them to write or to tint fluids. I used a ghillie suit last year that I added splotches of fluorescent paint to. My actor looked like a freaky walking tree! Working with blacklights is really fun. Test out fabrics, wigs, anything you're thinking of using. You'd be suprised at the kinds of things that are blacklight reactive.


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## star_girl_mag (Aug 5, 2008)

Thanks for the tips guys that gives me a TON of good ideas!



chartreusechaos said:


> Neon paint is not neccessarily fluorescent!


So I am curious. Have you ever used street marking paint? It says fluorescent on the can. I am just thinking I will probably need a lot of it to cover all my branches but many of the craft spray paints are expensive. I was planning on using something like that, but it won't save me money if I have to turn around and buy more paint that actually works. 

Maxiboots-- I never thought to spray is directly on the fabric. We washed cheesecloth and it fluoresced very well but your lace looks BRIGHT! Wonder if this would work on darker fabrics, not as well I bet but if your not washing it off. I ask cause I'm trying to buy as little as possible this year and I have piles of "creepy cloth" I got at the Dollar Tree last year. 

I am considering mixing tide into some bubble mixture to make fluorescent bubbles.


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## Maxiboots (Aug 31, 2010)

Star girl, I didn't use any detergent on the ghost costume at all. Anything bright white will look even brighter under black light. I think the tulle looks brighter because it's a tighter weave than cheesecloth. But you can use the Tide mixture to make darker fabrics fluoresce.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Love your idea of the fluorescing forest. Here's some tips on blacklight/fluorescing:

I have used the street marking fluorescing spray paint. It glowed fairly well but it will glow better and you'd need less paint if you white painted the trees first. Fluorescing paint needs a white background to fully pop.

Go to a fabric store with a portable blacklight. You would be amazed at what already fluoresces. Some swimsuit materials, hunter orange fleece, some neon yarns, and of course tulle. 

I use WildFire paints because they are very concentrated and fluoresces like crazy... but, you get to pay for that  This is where you can get it. They also have lots of other stuff that glows. The string and ribbon looks cool: http://www.blacklight.com/



The blacklight and fluorescing paint is used for 3D ChromaDepth in the haunt. So, the paint schemes may look a little weird in the but perhaps you can still get some ideas:
































































Here's a walk-through from last year:


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## walk7856 (Mar 21, 2011)

Hey star, I use blacklights in my haunt every year. A couple ideas that I'm thinking might work for you are as followed:

1. Extract highlighter fluid from florescening highlighters and mix with water to create glowing liquid! One tube from the inside of a highlighter makes a lot of this liquid when adding water. I use the liquid in flasks and such in a laboratory scene, but maybe a evil witch, or an Alice in wonderland "Drink Me" potion or something in this glowing haunted forest? Just an idea

2. I have recently came across this invisible blacklight paint. Invisible in normal light, and glowing when exposed to blacklight. I"m thinking of switching from dimmly lit forest to a psychadelic wonderland! Some of this paint can be pricey, but search google if you are interested and bargain shop.


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## HeatherEve1234 (Sep 5, 2008)

Wow, these are incredible. I don't have much experience on the scale of these other posters, but FWIW I found that plain white paper glows AWESOMELY, and for my Mad Tea Party scene a couple years ago (wicked wonderland party) I printed out a bunch of quotes from the movie/book and put them all over the walls (I feel like a literary themed party needs quotes!)

http://www.heatherscreativelife.com/2009/10/blacklight-experiments-continued.html

The Tulip blacklight fabric paint was just OK, and while my melamine plates looked awesome the ceramic stuff didn't flouresce at all. 

Good luck!


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## karasel (Jun 21, 2011)

I haven't tried this, but I read washing items in fabric softener will make them glow under black lights


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## killerhaunts (Jan 6, 2010)

*Do you wanna know how to make stuff glow, or how to take pics of it. I'm a bit confused. If you wanna take pics ... you MUST have a tripod or set your camera on something solid and sturdy. Next you have to have a longer exposure. Anything not staying put will be ghost-like. See the pic of a ghost t-shirt and also the movie screen at the blacklight mini golf I went to:

















































































*


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Wow, those are some great photos, Killerhaunts!, Thanks. I'm a huge Black Light fan and use thevery year. The kids love it, it lends a nice touch of unrealty to a haunt. Dot Rooms are also a lot of fun. Cheap and easy, too.


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

You can get 2x3 foot blacklight posters on ebay for as little as $2.95. Buy them all from one seller and you can get a much better deal on shipping.


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## scottfamily5 (Feb 3, 2009)

Here is a video on youtube of a haunted house we went to that has a black light smaller haunted house. I love the entrance with all the flourescent skulls. (this is not my video) FYI


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## nicknack918 (Jun 17, 2010)

I'm using black cloth as a back drop in my haunt this year and wanted to light it up with some black lights. I wanted to write some creepy messages on it and I know a lot of people use neon and flourescent paint, but I'm curious if flat white spray paint would do the trick?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!


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## wicKED weeKEnD (Aug 27, 2011)

nicknack918 said:


> I'm using black cloth as a back drop in my haunt this year and wanted to light it up with some black lights. I wanted to write some creepy messages on it and I know a lot of people use neon and flourescent paint, but I'm curious if flat white spray paint would do the trick?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!


Some white paints will, some... not so much. I fear it will be trial and error for you. 

Here is a picture of my 2011 Bar area.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

nicknack918 said:


> I'm using black cloth as a back drop in my haunt this year and wanted to light it up with some black lights. I wanted to write some creepy messages on it and I know a lot of people use neon and flourescent paint, but I'm curious if flat white spray paint would do the trick?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!


No, it won't. It needs to be flourescent.


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## HauntedHorror (Aug 8, 2006)

I would suggest using black cloth rather than plastic.

One thing I have found useful to have is a UV flashlight, to test whether and how well things glow under UV light.

These posters are a neat idea, take a regular poster and add an "invisible" message that only shows up in blacklight:
http://zarkseven.com/2010/02/25/bioshock-2-blacklight-posters/


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## nicknack918 (Jun 17, 2010)

wicKED weeKEnD said:


> Some white paints will, some... not so much. I fear it will be trial and error for you.
> 
> Here is a picture of my 2011 Bar area.
> View attachment 89727


Thanks for the advice, I thought that might be the case  I'd rather not spend so much time messing around with such a small project so I think I'll just skip a head and take Terra's advice and go with the flourescent. Thanks for the help guys! Btw, ur bar looks awesome!!


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## star_girl_mag (Aug 5, 2008)

If I could have found more affordable fabric I would have done fabric instead of plastic because the room is about 15 ftX 25X with vaulted ceilings!!! I'm hoping it looks okay though with lots of layers of branches, UV reactive cobwebs, and painted vines and moss. I am also going to spray on some eyes and some creepy fairy tale quotes on the plastic behind the branches for more of a layered effect.


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## meatball (Jul 31, 2009)

green spider web, and kite string realy stand out in black light.


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## GodOfThunder (Aug 26, 2011)

wicKED weeKEnD said:


> Some white paints will, some... not so much. I fear it will be trial and error for you.
> 
> Here is a picture of my 2011 Bar area.
> View attachment 89727


Now THAT is awesome. I'm trying to do this too. I'm dedicating a section of the kitchen for the bar area and we have under-cabinet T5 fluorescent lights, one of which I'm replacing with a black light to get the liquids to light up. 

Can I ask what all those are and how you labeled them (I mean, so people knew the real contents)?


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## Haunt Brewing (Sep 26, 2010)

*Black lights*

I love using black lights. I found a cheap way to make things glow is glow in the dark hairspray. Highlighter fluid in bottles also glows really nicely. The cheap ones where you can actually see the fluid in them and not the felt tube filled with fluid work the best. Anything you bleach fabric wise tends to glow nicely too. Feel free to check out my page for more black light pictures.


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## Haunt Brewing (Sep 26, 2010)

nicknack918 said:


> I'm using black cloth as a back drop in my haunt this year and wanted to light it up with some black lights. I wanted to write some creepy messages on it and I know a lot of people use neon and flourescent paint, but I'm curious if flat white spray paint would do the trick?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!


Hey Nicknack918 glow in the dark hair spray from any Halloween costume store is cheap and does the trick.


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## nicknack918 (Jun 17, 2010)

Thanks I might try that too. I wanted to use the white spray paint so you could see it during the daytime. I got this cheap stuff from Target called "Black light glow in the dark spray" (it was next to the black lights!) but I'm not sure how great it's gonna work. I'm gonna test it out like everyone suggested, and see if maybe I can spray the glow stuff over the the spray paint once it's dry. But I like the idea of using the glow in the dark hair spray! Thanks for letting me know it works, lol I'm glad I have a back up plan if this stuff fails!!


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## korigirl (Aug 28, 2010)

wicKED weeKEnD said:


> Some white paints will, some... not so much. I fear it will be trial and error for you.
> 
> Here is a picture of my 2011 Bar area.
> View attachment 89727


Agreed... fantastic! I am also curious as to how you made these glow - because I assume they are still okay to drink, right?? I wouldn't want to drink something that had highlighter liquid in them, hehe.


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## wicKED weeKEnD (Aug 27, 2011)

GodOfThunder said:


> Now THAT is awesome. I'm trying to do this too. I'm dedicating a section of the kitchen for the bar area and we have under-cabinet T5 fluorescent lights, one of which I'm replacing with a black light to get the liquids to light up.
> 
> Can I ask what all those are and how you labeled them (I mean, so people knew the real contents)?


The labels are a collection of store bought and printed. I keep the ones that are for drinking on a separate tier in the original bottles that are marked as drinkable. 



korigirl said:


> Agreed... fantastic! I am also curious as to how you made these glow - because I assume they are still okay to drink, right?? I wouldn't want to drink something that had highlighter liquid in them, hehe.


The ones that are safe to drink have quinine, tonic water or vitamin b to give them the glow.


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## joshspiderman (Sep 20, 2011)

My attempt at black light photo, just have like a sony digi cam, 12 megapixel, just used night mode with a mini tri-pod meant for your desk


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## SPOOK-ELLA (Aug 11, 2010)

I have a question for the experts. I cant afford the glow in the dark bubbles but would love to give them to the kids for my party. Can I put highlighter fluid in dollar store bubble solution? Would it mix and show up under blacklights? Has anyone tried this?


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## Xane (Oct 13, 2010)

My tests with highlighters revealed that only Yellow, Orange, Green, and Pink are fluorescent, blue, purple, and red were not. I know they do _*make*_ UV reactive dye in these colors, but apparently they're too cheap to put them in highlighter ink. So make sure you test the highlighters before you make bubble fluid out of them.

General consensus online is that yes, this does work. Just pull the tube out and soak it in the bubble fluid for a bit, shake it up. You could also make your own bubble fluid with Dawn (original blue) and glycerin.

I just bought a Billion Bubbles generator at Walgreens on clearance for $5. It works great, but the fluid chamber is so small it only lasts for about 20 minutes or less! I'm looking into easy ways to keep the fluid topped up with a big jar/bucket, maybe with some kind of siphon hose.

No guarantees that the bubbles aren't going to stain everything they go near. Maybe make bubble fluid out of tonic water...


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## korigirl (Aug 28, 2010)

*Mixing RIT with paint*

I read online somewhere that mixing the RIT- whitener and brightener with a water-based paint would make that paint fluoresce under blacklights. Does anyone have any experience with that??


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## SPOOK-ELLA (Aug 11, 2010)

Xane, thank you so much for the info. I think I will be playing around with them this weekend.


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