Star Ceilings... Painted or Fiber optics? - Page 6

OK, I just got your email and answered it. Hopefully it will help.

You know... instead of a bright day-sky.... you could always have a darker sky with dark stormy clouds, or even a dark night sky that it visible in the light. Then, have your stars painted on top of that too for the double mural. I have painted on similar murals and they all look really nice. And, if it is darker, then it wouldn't become the center of attention.

Either way... I think that everyone needs a night sky to escape to. :-)

Good luck!

If you have a year to go... and are considering a painted night sky, then this is a great time to plan a few things into your build to make it very user friendly.

For example... if you have the room and can add some soffits around the outside edges, then I would plan for that. Check out the picture at the beginning of this thread. They had 3 foot deep soffits built, and on an angle, with a 5 inch lip around the edge to hide the black lights. And, the angle allowed the black light to go further out into the center of the ceiling... which is important to charge up the paint. Then, he had it wired to just flip a switch and have his 13- 4' black lights turn on and off. That is the easiest way to go.... but there are many other ways to make the mural work.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to help in any way that I can.

Jeff

Jody...

The bedroom is the second most popular place to have a Night Sky Mural. I started out years ago doing mainly kids rooms. Then, the parents saw how real they looked and decided to have their rooms done instead. :-)

Now, I think that Home Theaters have taken over the "most popular area for a mural" title. But, there is nothing like falling asleep under a night sky. It's very cool.

A couple of years ago, I had taken my daughter with me to California on a painting trip... and I had taken her to the beach. On the way back to my dad's house in Bakersfield... we were again in the middle of nowhere late at night on another moonless night. Well, I can't pass up one of those opportunities, so I pulled over, woke up my daughter, got out and we just leaned against the car looking up into the night sky. I had to laugh at my daughter when she said, excitedly... "Daddy, this looks just like the mural you painted in my room! I didn't know that the real sky looked like that." She has always lived close to a city and a good amount of light pollution so she had not seen many real night skies.

So, that was funny... but I also took it as a real compliment when she told me that.

One last thing... You mentioned how you show your friends the mural in your HT by lowering the lights slowly. When I used to do home shows around the country... I would do that very thing. It's really fun to listen to everyone as they start to see the first stars... and then a few more... until BAM, they are surrounded by thousands of them. Then, instead of hearing things like, "Oh, look at that one" or "Hey, there's the Big Dipper", once the lights were totally out... it seemed like all I could hear was, "Wow!" or "Oooh!"

Glad you're having fun with yours. I didn't mean to write this much... but you got me thinking with your comments.

Jeff

Thanks Tom, you are very nice! Actually.... extremely nice. Both of you!

And you brought up the "Twinkling" effect. That is so funny because people always ask me how I make it happen. I think that it is partially a property of the paint, but a lot has to do with the rods and cones in their eyes. Whatever it is... I love how it imitates the real sky.

Can't wait to get back up your way again.

Jeff

I've had a few emails asking me what lights are good to charge the paint in the murals... so I thought it would be good to add the info here again.

The owner of the theater room at the beginning of this thread was using a pretty powerful panel, black light in his room before he went with the black lights in his soffit. I bought the panel light from him and brought it home to try out. This thing is great for charging up the glow-in-the-dark night sky! It, or something similar, would be great for someone who didn't want to have a soffit built (like he did) to hide fluorescent lights in.

Here is a link to a site that sells them... http://www.blacklight.com/items/UVPANELHP

Also, a good 'ole 4 foot shop light with black lights in it will work too. (I like black lights because the light doesn't interfere with your eyes adapting to the dark... so you can see the mural quicker.

Hi Pete...

I get out to the East Coast a few times a year and am actually trying to put together a trip out there now to paint a mural for a sick little girl who is getting a wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation. The problem is that the rest of the wish has taken up most of the money (they were going to cover the travel) so I am trying to set up a few jobs out there to cover the travel myself... and then will go and paint it for her.

Why don't you email me and I can price out a mural for you... and/or talk to you about the paint if you decide to DIY. I think that the email is in my profile. If not... then just email me at NightSkyMurals AT gmail DOT com.

I have to paint in California first, but could make the East Coast after a few weeks.

Jeff

I saw another thread where the home owner, who is building his home theater, didn't want a painted ceiling... but wanted fiber optics instead. For anyone else dead set on fiber optics... then I found a site that seems to be one that is out in front of innovations.

The site is http://www.fosi.com/

If there is a big demand for fiber optics... I can do a little more research into it and post links here.

Again, I am biased to the painted ceilings... but there are a lot of people who might want fiber optics... so I will be happy to help out if I can.

The pictures were taken for me, but I'm thinking that there was either a black light on in the room, though turned away from the ceiling, or they needed to brighten the picture up a little to bring the stars out more. These murals are very hard to photograph and they need a little boost most of the time.

I also have a few pictures that I've had photoshopped to look like the murals that I paint. And, one of the requests that I made when they were done was to make the pictures look not quite as good as the murals. And, that has been the case. Almost every one of my customers has told me that the real thing is better than the pictures.

If you look at the picture in the beginning of the thread, that is untouched because the black lights are on and the stars are bright enough... but there is a tint to the picture too. I think that this one has a light on, just not aiming at the ceiling.

The actual ceiling, with no black light on in the room, is black and the stars are an aqua color. I do have some blue paint that I use too.

Hi Tom...

I hope all is well with you guys!

You are correct... the planets don't twinkle like the stars do. I have explained that to my kids too, but I really haven't looked up as to why. Many people have said that stars twinkle because of the atmosphere and your eyes playing tricks... but the light from planets pass through the same atmosphere, so I'm not sure as to why. I guess that I will now look that question up. I should already have done that.

But, having said that... I do know that the paint that is in the murals does do a little flickering as it changes it's brightness. And, your eyes play tricks on your as you either stare and the stars, or even move from one to another. Something about the rods and cones.

Maybe that would be a good place to put fiber optics. They would make good planets. They are a lot brighter and more steady. Other than that... I really don't know how I might put in a planet that wouldn't twinkle. I could possibly put more paint in a planet... which might cause the paint to be more steady. I'll try that. I can also send you some paint if you want to try it. Let me know.

I like the idea though.... and will do some experimenting. Thanks Tom

Oh, watch out for the bears.

Jeff

Thanks Fuzzy Cliff! :-)

That makes sense... and I will go with that. So, it sounds like it is not just our atmosphere that make them twinkle... but maybe other space dust too. Is that right? Or, did you mean just our atmosphere? It's an interesting subject. Thanks for your input.

Jeff

Hey Xzener....

Thanks for that comment. That sounds like the perfect place to see the night sky. It must have been amazing.

I did a mural for a guy who was a Navy Seal and he said the same thing that you did.... that the sky out there is like no other night sky anywhere. Very cool. Thanks again for adding to this thread!

Jeff

Hi Tom!

I have to tell you and every other vet on here... that I sure appreciate the service that you guys have given to this great country. And, I love it when I get to meet you guys through my work. Thank you for your service!

I guess that in the military you not only get to "see the world"... but you get to see some pretty nice night skies too. Every time I hear stories from those who have served in the military... I always get to hear about how incredible the night sky is out in the middle of the ocean... or remote location. In fact, I was just talking with a marine a week ago who had similar stories. I really don't know anyone who isn't in awe of a real, dark, night sky. And, that's what makes my job fun... and why I try hard to recreate it.

I do a lot of traveling and get to some pretty remote locations in Texas or Wyoming... but the middle of the ocean??? Wow!

I hope that you think your mural is close to what you enjoyed on your destroyer.

Thanks for the comment.

Jeff

Hi Tom,

I'll tell you... I sure love the winter sky, but it sure is getting cold out here to stay out too long to view it. I love seeing Orion again and last night I was showing the kids the Andromeda galaxy. That is really cool. It's weird how you can see it with your naked eye, but you wonder if it's really there or not. I can see a little color, but it is so slight that you can't really focus on it. Then we got out the binoculars. They had a blast.

I did a quick search on your twinkling planets and it seems that they can actually twinkle, but it has to do with atmospheric conditions. Here is a link that you might find interesting... http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/twinkle.html

So, since we know that they can twinkle.... just pick out a few bright stars in your mural and call them planets. :-) I mean, you have the constellations, Milky Way and moon I believe (did I put in the moon?)... so why not a few planets.

Well, you have a great place to stargaze and these past few days have been great with very little moon.

I am either going to fly to California in the next day or two to paint... or I may drive drive. If I drive, I love to stop along the way in Southern Utah or also in parts of Nevada and California to stargaze. Not looking forward to the drive, but I am to the stargazing. Nothing like it. Then, next week I'll be out in New Jersey. I'll have to see how the two sides of the country differ.

Anyway, I found that article informative. I hope that it gives you a little more insite.

I still loved that sign you put up for me on your theater billboard! :-)

Jeff

For those who have had a painted night sky mural (or anything similar) painted... I met a guy on a flight to either New Jersey or California (sometimes the locations all become a blurr) who has a LED lighting company and they have many different types of LED lighting products. He was telling me about one that they are either working on, or have now, that work as "grow lights" and one that is similar to "sun" light. I'm thinking that both of those should work as well as black light to charge the glow paint. I am supposed to meet with him later this week to test out different lights with my paint. If something works out better than black lights (which I still like because they are easy on the eyes) I will let you know.

Now, I have seen other people asking questions about LED lights on the forum. Does anyone have any questions that I should bring up to him about anything else? If so... then please get your questions to me so that I can ask him. If they come in late.. i can always email him. But, I had no idea that there were so many different types of LED lights. So, let me know if there are any questions.