Creating A Brighter Future

Introduction

Since cave men walked this earth, we have continued to find ways to light up our surrounds. Cavemen used fires for comfort and to ward off predatory animals. Today we use light for many purposes, from making our streets safe to walk and drive at night, to underground coal miners using lights in their hard hats so they can navigate safely 200 feet below the earth’s surface. Light has also been used to attract and lure annoying insects so they can be eliminated by electrocution.

One new area of light, uses a rare earth material, that is non toxic, non radioactive and not flammable. This rare earth material is treated to make “Glow in the dark Pigments” an environmentally friendly product.    
Glow in the dark pigments, also known as  photo luminescent pigment can be used with Acrylic and solvent based paints, resins, ceramics, glass, and many more items to numerous to mention in this article.

Their uses are near infinite. Businesses can make great use of glow in the dark paint, for OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety).  High rise buildings have used glow pigments to mark out escape routes in the event of fires or other dangerous situations. They are also a great choice for using in Arts and crafts projects.

  

Yellow Glow In The Dark Chalk                           3 colours of Glow In The Dark Chalk

These glow in the dark pigments can absorb and store the energy of various light sources (sunlight, fluorescent, incandescent) and release the energy as visible light, and will continually charge and discharge as needed, over many years.

There have been major advances in the quality of glow pigments in recent years.

Photo luminescent pigment supersedes the older types of glow pigments that were primarily made of   Zinc Sulphide and were know as Phosphorescent Powder.

Glow in the Dark Pigments need about 15 minutes to fully charge, but most will discharge (illuminate) for over ten hours.

When I was a child I received a small bottle of Glow in the dark ink as a Christmas present. I remember throughout my teenage years looking at night, at the letters I had painted on my bedroom door many years earlier.

Normally larger glow pigments illuminate brighter and longer than smaller pigments.

Green Glow in the dark pigments glow brightest and longest. Other glow pigments have various illumination strengths and times. Aqua and Blue pigments normally have good illumination characteristics. 

A new range of glow pigments have been released recently, that glow the same colour in both day and nighttime conditions. These pigments are named flouro or day colour, Glow in the Dark pigments, because of there bright pigment colour. This avoids the need to add coloured dyes to the Pigment/Paint mix to get the desired colour.

When we first look at the price of Glow in the Dark pigments, we may consider them to be expensive. This is untrue as these versatile products will charge and discharge thousands of times over many years.

Another benefit of using glow pigments is they help to reduce electricity bills. This fact also makes them cost efficient.

Artists, crafters, and hobbyists have found glow pigments have many uses, and are discovering new ways to incorporate them in their projects. Glow pigments have been used to make, Halloween masks, glow in the dark fingernails, and face paint, glowing Christmas decorations, Glow candles, glowing camping equipment, and glow in the dark shoes.

      

 Glow In The Dark Pigments Glowing in a dark situation

Conclusion
As you will see from this article Glow in the Dark Pigments and Paints have near infinite uses. Thousands of Artists, Crafter’s and Hobbyists believe Glow Pigment uses are limited only by our imagination. As we move further into the twenty first century, newer Glow in the dark pigments will be discovered, and many more uses for this valuable product will be found.
Their future is bright in more than one way.

Author
Paul Housego
Research and Development
Glow Paint Industries
NSW Australia
https://www.glowpaint.com.au

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