How to make glow in the dark objects

Painting an object with a glow coating will give you a reasonable result however if you are trying to achieve outstanding after glow performance you will never match a casted glow object. The purpose of this article is to provide a very basic understanding on using clear casting resin that has been mixed with glow in the dark pigment, this mixture will produce a casting liquid that can be poured into moulds to produce glow in the dark objects with very powerful after glow properties.

Firstly you will need to have a concept of the product you are wanting to produce and for this article I will be referring to a glow light panel as seen below. Knowing what you are after before you start is critical to achieving the desired result, you will need to know the size of the object as well as the volume it displaces so that you can correctly work out your casting requirements. If you already have a mould then you can simply fill the mould with water and then poor the water into a marked measure container to give you the volume and then add 10% for loss in transfer from the mixed container to the mould.

The amount of mixed glow liquid that you are going to cast inside this mould is not the same as the amount of raw resin to make the mix. The reason for this is that for every percent of glow pigment added you are increasing the volume of glow liquid available for the casting. For this casting I have established a casting requirement of 120mls (4oz) however the raw resin input is only 75grams + 100grams of glow pigment. This mixture will give me a total 132mls allowing for loss in the mixing container.

Ok you have established what you will be casting and the amount of volume it will consume you need to now make your mould or prep your existing one. I will not go in to details here as it is a whole other subject on it's own, what ever you do use for your mould you will need to make sure that it compatible for use with your resin otherwise you will not separate the two on cure. In the case of a flat panel you could simply lay down a film of aluminium foil or baking paper on a flat board and place some thin pieces of wood around the perimeter to create the square all of which can be cut away on cure leaving you with a clean glow panel.

Mix your resin and hardener at the correct ratio as directed from your supplier, it is very important that you mix the two before adding your pigment or you could end up with uncured liquid. If you are using a polyester clear casting resin you should not exceed 1% hardener by weight to the resin or you will risk overheating of the material due to high exotherm. When fully mixed add your pigment and mix again until uniform then cast the liquid into the mould. At this point you can tip the mould in all directions to get the liquid to flow out into all corners and then leave on a level surface to cure, make sure it is away from direct sunlight.

In the case of using polyester resin you will be able to already handle and trim the product after 90 minutes to three hours after casting depending on ambient temperature and resin to catalyst ratio. When you have trimmed and cleaned the product leave it on a flat surface to cure for 24 hours before using it.

There are many casting resins available for making glow in the dark objects however you will need to always wear eye and skin protection to avoid any contact. Gloves, full length clothing and safety glasses should be warn at all times and you will need to be familiar with the emergency information on the containers before handling these products.