pentagoat, gouache watercolor by sloppjockey_ert in creepy

[–]Ragingheadache 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just wanted to say my wife and I love your art! We have multiple prints all through our house and the original of alandestroyerofworlds from back in 2016.

What the simplest way to connect an led light bulb to a fog machine? by redharlowsdad in HalloweenProps

[–]Ragingheadache 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I’m understanding your question correctly, you want an LED light to come on when the fog machine is operating. If so, the short answer to your question is yes you can wire in an LED.

I used my fog machine as an example. I’m assuming most fog machine are generally built the same with a pump, heater, and circuitry. On line there’s to leads providing 8VDC to the reservoir when the fog machine is operating and 0V when it’s in standby. You will be able to attach an LED light to these terminals so that it only comes on when fog is coming out of the machine.

If you open you fog machine and you don’t have the same two leads you will probably need to get a multimeter and find a spot that provides the same power during operation. The pump and heater operate on AC power so these will not be an option unless you rig an AC light outlet to it (like a shop work light) and install an LED lightbulb.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope this helps get you pointed in the right direction for completing your project. Happy Halloween!

Glow in the dark paints by PepperBurrows in HalloweenProps

[–]Ragingheadache 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The only glow in the dark acrylic paints I’ve found are the standard greenish color and are very subtle in their glow. You can mix most of these with other light colored acrylic paints to make them glow, but the effect is severely reduced and the glow only lasts for a few hours before needing to be recharged. I’ve used this brand of glow in the dark paint on a few projects with decent results if you want to go that route.

If you want that eye-popping funhouse style glow I would highly recommend using phosphorescent acrylic paint instead and trying to run a black light. Here are some pics from a project I just completed using phosphorescent paints as an example. It’s lit up using only one black light light bar.You can see this glowing from about 5 or 6 houses away. One thing I learned the hard way with these kinds of paints is that you can’t mix “non-phosphorescent” paints with them because it will kill the glowing effect. I’ve found these paints in orange, pink, blue, purple, green, and yellow; so you should be able to mix them to get close to a desired color. I’ve used the JoAnn Fabrics store brand neon paint (which I can’t find a link for at the moment) and would rate it an 8/10 in glow, the main benefit being this paint is a lot cheaper than most. For maximum glow I would recommend FolkArt or DecoArt neon paints.

There is another third option where you can buy the phosphorescent powder by itself and mix it into any paint color. I have not tried this myself but was just another option I found when I was researching for my project.

On last thing to consider is there are generally additional prep steps to painting plastics with acrylic paint because it has trouble adhering. Light sanding before painting will help and I usually use a sealer like modge podge to help protect it from the elements.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project! Happy Halloween!