greenlight
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here's a fun project that you can do in your home. I just bought some Ultra green glow paint from GLOWinc, maybe I'll try it on a project like this. Could be fun to do with a friend so you don't get bored and can actually finish the project.
Here's a photo of the starfield in my living room.. It's not the best picture, but you get the idea. I left the UV light on to exaggerate the effect for the camera. The glow in the right corner is from the UV light, but it does show off the milky way that was airbrushed in.:
It's a really nice starfield that you want to show off to your guests. The artist had a projector to get the stars right, and he spent 6 hours hand painting them. I think he even used a compass to line up the constellations for N/S. He did have a special tool to apply the dots, but I never saw it, and for all I know it was just a chopstick. I think it's a special tool that applies the paint to the ceiling without it dripping down on you.
It was during the 80s, so the GID isn't very bright. And I have cracks from earthquakes or settling and I haven't painted the room yet partially because I don't want to paint over the starfield!
For the really compulsive, this could be a fun project. Here are some planetarium items on Ebay. There are different products, likely one of them will project a nice starfield to copy. Maybe someone has one that they can review?
The one drawback with the stars is that you have to charge them to show them off, but you also need to get your guest(s) to prepare for the viewing. This usually means leaving them in a dark room while the stars are charging so their eyes become dark adapted. Then you turn off all the lights and lead them into the viewing room thru the darkened house. It's kind of awkward
, but the results are worth it. Another way is to go for a walk at night. When you return home, quickly turn out the lights before your guests enter.
Here's a link to the company that does this.. I think the guy in the video is actually the person who did our living room. Here's the full package.
The artists are secretive about their technique (they paid enough for it)
. My guess is that the first few hundred stars and some galaxies are accurately represented, and then the artist just goes and fills in the rest of the area with a random application of dots. When the room is done and you get to preview your new 'planetarium', the artist will take a laser pointer and point out some constellations that you recognise. There is no way to accurately verify what's there, but it all looks good.
SKYWLKR wanted some better pics, so I took some that show the texture in the ceiling to give some reference:
Here's the same shot, no flash:
This is a closeup of the wall.
You can see the border where the stars stop:
The dots are small, like the size of a smilie. The larger ones are around 5cm apart. There is some spatter that results in much smaller dots. They're almost invisible, yet the eye picks them out and they look like more distant stars. Having different sized dots adds to the realism of the project.
Here's a photo of the starfield in my living room.. It's not the best picture, but you get the idea. I left the UV light on to exaggerate the effect for the camera. The glow in the right corner is from the UV light, but it does show off the milky way that was airbrushed in.:
It's a really nice starfield that you want to show off to your guests. The artist had a projector to get the stars right, and he spent 6 hours hand painting them. I think he even used a compass to line up the constellations for N/S. He did have a special tool to apply the dots, but I never saw it, and for all I know it was just a chopstick. I think it's a special tool that applies the paint to the ceiling without it dripping down on you.
It was during the 80s, so the GID isn't very bright. And I have cracks from earthquakes or settling and I haven't painted the room yet partially because I don't want to paint over the starfield!
For the really compulsive, this could be a fun project. Here are some planetarium items on Ebay. There are different products, likely one of them will project a nice starfield to copy. Maybe someone has one that they can review?
The one drawback with the stars is that you have to charge them to show them off, but you also need to get your guest(s) to prepare for the viewing. This usually means leaving them in a dark room while the stars are charging so their eyes become dark adapted. Then you turn off all the lights and lead them into the viewing room thru the darkened house. It's kind of awkward
, but the results are worth it. Another way is to go for a walk at night. When you return home, quickly turn out the lights before your guests enter. Here's a link to the company that does this.. I think the guy in the video is actually the person who did our living room. Here's the full package.
The artists are secretive about their technique (they paid enough for it)
. My guess is that the first few hundred stars and some galaxies are accurately represented, and then the artist just goes and fills in the rest of the area with a random application of dots. When the room is done and you get to preview your new 'planetarium', the artist will take a laser pointer and point out some constellations that you recognise. There is no way to accurately verify what's there, but it all looks good.SKYWLKR wanted some better pics, so I took some that show the texture in the ceiling to give some reference:
Here's the same shot, no flash:
This is a closeup of the wall.
You can see the border where the stars stop:
The dots are small, like the size of a smilie. The larger ones are around 5cm apart. There is some spatter that results in much smaller dots. They're almost invisible, yet the eye picks them out and they look like more distant stars. Having different sized dots adds to the realism of the project.
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