Star Ceilings... Painted or Fiber optics? - Page 3

Thank you very much for the comments! And, great questions. Actually, you all have good questions here.

The ceiling color does not matter as far as the glow is concerned. I heard way back in the day... that the background needed to be white for the paint to glow, but my experience is that, while it may make a slight difference, even dark ceilings will work out great.

Now, having said that... there is a difference with a dark ceiling that is important to know, and that is that you might see some of the stars in the light. The murals are pretty darn invisible on a light ceiling color, but some of the larger stars will probably be visible the darker the color gets.

I have painted many, many ceilings in theater rooms that had dark ceilings... and I have explained the visibility to the customers prior to painting. They said to go for it and then loved it when I finished.

On a really dark ceiling, one that has some texture to it, you would probably see 20 to 100 stars out of the thousands that are up there. And, they are usually the larger constellation stars that are visible. So, you would probably see the Big and Little Dippers and some of the other constellations (BTW, for those who are astronomy buffs, I know that the Big and Little Dippers are not constellations :-)

And, since I paint my background stars (stars that are not constellation stars) with many different sized stars.. you might see a handful of the larger of those too.

Out of the many ceilings that I have painted that were dark... non of the customers had a problem with the visible stars. They actually liked seeing some of the constellations. Now, that is of those that had me paint the mural after knowing that some would show up. There were a few customers who decided against the mural after I told them.

Hope that explains things.

Jeff

No problem.... and yes, it is pretty simple, but it does wear on your back and neck. And, you need to remember which hole you already painted in. I don't have that problem because I paint in the dark... but with the stencil you paint in the light.

From what I have seen from all of the other stencils... it looks like someone sits down at a table and drills holes without much thought as to where to drill them. The Night Sky Stencil kit (though very basic) is still done with some thought.

Good luck and email or call me when you decide to go for it and you want a few pointers.

Sure... get in touch when you are ready to do this. I can give you some pointers and tell you where to get some good paint (the red and orange might not be the best :-) or I can sell you some too.

I hope that I can offer something of value. Everyone here has had great questions... so I am happy to help out.




I can probably put something together. I used to sell them to my customers who couldn't afford to have me paint one for them... so it would be easy to put one together for you guys here. I could put the good paint into the kit and then some tips that would make the stencil kit turn out even better. LEt me give it some thought.

How much interest do you think there would be?

I will try. Haven't done one before... but willing to give it a shot. Thanks for the idea.

Thanks for the nice comment. But, there are some really nice fiber optic night skies out there and don't want to come across as against them. But, with a good, dark room and UV light (fluorescents are best)... then there is nothing as real as a painted night sky mural. Again, fiber optics are better than painted murals when there is a lot of light. Just sayin'.

OK, about the velvet. Sure, it can be done. I have painted on different types of material before and velvet shouldn't be a problem. Do you have a piece of the sample so I can paint a few stars on it for you?

Like any dark ceiling color... you would see some stars in the light. But, unlike the painted surfaces... this would be a little more difficult for you to replace if you don't like the amount of stars visible in the light.

I will start working on things that might be helpful in a kit. The kit will be fairly similar to what you would get with a Fiber Optic star ceiling... only with stars that aren't quite as bright and that you need to charge up to see. Also, realize that you will not be able to see much when the movie is playing like you could with a fiber optic system. But, I could offer the special home theater paint that will also glow better under a black light. Is that the kind of paint that you'd want?



Similar. The older plastic stars used pigments that would only last for about 20 minutes before the glow was gone. These days you can get some stickers that use better pigments that last longer. The pigments that I use will glow for up to 12 hours under right circumstances... ie... dark room and a good initial charge.

The samples on paper are pretty good... but whoever did them is using a medium that is not very clear. The pigments have a slight beige color to them, but the medium should dry clear. Then, even on a medium color most of the paint should be hard to see.

I am attaching a few pictures of different ceiling textures that I have painted on. You would have to look really hard to see any of the stars. Granted, this is a white ceiling, but it will at least give you a look at a painted ceiling up close...

Then your music will never have sounded better than while looking out into space... from the comfort of your home.

I have many customers who do just what you suggest. It's nice!

I have one only of the popcorn ceiling right now because it is here in California and my father's house where I am staying while I am painting out here. The other ones are at my house... which I can post once I get back home.

Here are two pictures of the same area of ceiling... one with the black light on and one with it off. Both pictures only show a portion of the stars that are in the mural. There are about 50% more than the black light picture shows.

I used to not sell the paint... but I have started selling some to non-competitors.

As for the airbrush... no, I paint each star on the ceiling one at a time. I know that some people flick paint onto the ceiling... but I like the look that I get by placing them where I want them to go. But, that's just what I do.

LOL... It's probably the way I should be painting them these days too. WHenever I paint a ceiling... I have the hardest time moving for about a week afterwards. Aging is sometimes not so graceful. :-)

After a lot of trial and error... I have found that the Aqua and Blue are the best two colors to use. The white is very similar to the aqua but doesn't glow for as long or as bright. The Aqua is brighter than the blue, so I use mostly Aqua in my murals. Plus the pigments are lighter (in the light) and make my paint more invisible on the ceiling when there is light on.

I add a lot more pigments to my paint than normal and my medium is pretty thick. But, it is water based so you could just add water to it to thin it down to work in your airbrush. I have sold it to airbrush painters in the past... and they didn't seem to have any problems.




Sure, I paint on 8' ceilings all the time. Higher ceilings are obviously a little better, but once you are sitting down an 8' ceiling works fine. I have painted 7 foot ceilings too.

Great point! That is very true... and I am sorry that I neglected to mention that. Some stars will be easy to see on a dark ceiling, in the light... but if you aren't looking up at the ceiling specifically... they won't jump out and grab your attention. And, when you are actually looking up at the ceiling, what you would see would just look like a few constellations on a dark background.