Star Ceilings... Painted or Fiber optics? - Page 21

Absolutely. But, do you want fabric or a painted ceiling in the light? But, yes, it's possible.

Sorry, I haven't been around to answer these questions in a timely manner.

Jeff

Thanks Spaceman!!! I am not much better with emails these days. I am totally inundated and very far behind. So, I appreciate you stepping in and helping answer some questions. I know that you are busy and I appreciate it.

I hope your ceiling is working out!

Jeff

Hi.. if you want to email me I will try to help you to do a Night Sky Mural yourself, if you want. There might be someone near you too who could do something similar, and I cold check out there work for you to see if it is any good. But, there are some things that you would want to do to make the star mural work the best it can. One thing would be to put in a soffit for black lights... with two outlets up there. One outlet should be for a switch that is just on and off (for black lights) and another that can be put on a dimmer if you want rope lights.

Please feel free to email me and I will try to help you out as much as I can.

JEff

Not too impressed with what they offer. I still think that the NightSky stencil from Ursa Major is the way to go if you want to DIY. There are so many people who come up with different ideas to cut corners and who think that they have the best way to cut corners. The Ursa Major stencil is very basic, but it will give yo ua nice star field right of the bat. The stencils used to have perfect holes to paint through (I have seen some that had a few holes that weren't pretty, but most were). And, then if you want a more realistic mural than what they stencil gives you... I can help you with that too. I put something together for DIY'ers who want a nice sky and don't mind putting in a little extra work. All of the stencils are basic. Let me know with an email if you'd like to have a really nice DIY mural, but starting with the Ursa Major stencil. The instructions that I wrote are meant to go with that stencil because I think that it is the best value for what you get.

Jeff

I just answered another post about the stencils that I would recommend. As for having an artist do the night sky... there might be some. I know that I get calls from muralists who have no idea what to do for painting in the dark... but that doesn't mean that there aren't some who can't do it. Maybe, like yo unsaid, have them do a small area, or at least a sample for you.

I am going to put together a booklet that will answer a lot of these questions that I can attach to an email (which will cut my time down and hopefully allow me to answer more emails)... so I am always happy and willing to answer questions for you guys if you want to write. I am seriously behind at the moment, but am talking with someone who might help to get me caught up... and get me back to answering emails in hours instead of months.

I will also try to get back here to answer questions quicker too. So sorry!

Jeff

Spaceman is correct... there isn't a good source for LED rope lights YET. But, I am determined to find one. I did find a source in china, but they just made it very difficult to work with them. From what I could tell, the wavelength was right and they were the "Chip" type LED lights, but they wanted to sell me about $800 worth of rope (I think is was that much). instead of just selling me a small 3 foot strip to test out. When they wouldn't budge on that... I moved on.

Besides the source that Spaceman linked to, there is WildfireFX that has great, low profile black lights that are powerful and work great. The only deal they would make with anyone I sent to them was a 10% discount... but, I had to be the one to order them. So, I collect the money, put in the order, they get shipped to the customer and I lose my mind. I told them that I didn't want any finder's fee or to be compensated in any way... but that I just wanted my customers to be able to order lights and get a discount. They just couldn't figure out how to do that.

Then, I had a recent customer almost order lights from them, but at $85 each, he did a little more research and found another source of low profile lights at www.slimfluorescent.com . He said that he'd go ahead and be the Guinea Pig and order lights from them to see how they worked out. Here's an email that I got from him las week...

This past week we installed the crown molding and the black lights from
slimfluorescent.com. All I have to say is holy crap!

Mike (his contractor) and I were blown away. We initially installed the lights
with the covers on, to keep them from getting dusty while construction still
taking place, and lights were not that impressive. They didn’t reach the
center of the ceiling. But Mike told me have to fear that taking the covers
off would make a huge difference. So I crossed my fingers, and wham it
light up like the night sky! Very impressive. I absolutely love it.

The lights at slimfluorescent.com are much cheaper than wildfire and seem
to more than do the job. I took a quick photo with my phone and have attached
it. You can't see the stars with this photo, but just showing you the lights.
The ceiling is all lit up although the photo doesn't look like it.

Hope all is well and hope to get you better photos once everything
complete.

Here's a the picture:



I talked with a sales rep today and he said that he would get back to me on Wednesday about the possibility of some type of discount for people that I refer to them.... without having to jump through hoops myself. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Jeff

Hi XM... My mind is like Jello lately, so if I should know this already, then I am sorry. So, are you wanting to paint a DIY star ceiling? If so, then I can recommend Glow Inc, over Glonation... only because I have seen Glow Inc's paints, and they are good quality paints. They are a little thin, for what I like, when painting a mural, but they seem to glow just as brightly as the paint that I mix does too. So, I am sure that you will get a good paint if you go with them. I have also told people from AVS that I will sell the same paint that I use for my murals to them if they want to send me an email. It is thicker and works well for me. So, the offer still stands. I also have some basic instructions that you can get from me that will help you to create an awesome DIY mural, when used along with a basic stencil that you can find on the Internet. Obviously, it won't be AS awesome as mine :-) but it will be better than what most other companies would do for you.

As for black lights... you can have a gap between the lights, and a foot or possibly even two would probably be OK. You might notice a difference in the brightness of stars right between the lights themselves for about 10 minutes, until the initial brightness of the paint mellows, but it would probably even out after that. I think that you would notice it more when the lights are on while the room is dark. The closer the lights are, the more even the glow will be and it will create a nice glow around the room. The black lights look great when they are on around the ceiling. So, I would suggest a short connecting cord between lights that connect... but it is your call.

Color: Black will show some stars during the times when light is on in the room. If you have texture on your ceiling, some of the stars won't be as obvious, but you'd still have some show. Lights also factor into the equation too, though. I have painted ceilings that were very dark, but because there were can lights in the ceiling that were shining down... the stars were almost impossible to see. Kind of like the old detective movies when the detectives shined lights in the bad guys eyes so that the bad guy couldn't see them. Same principle. If there are no can lights in the ceiling... then count on seeing some of the larger stars. But, out of the many ceilings that I have painted, that had dark colors on them, I would say that everyone was OK with it. They got the color ceiling they liked, a Night Sky Mural on it... and it only showed a handful of stars in the light, but they were usually the Big Dipper, Orion or other constellation stars.

One other thing that I would mention about paint (that might get me into trouble on here) is this. After painting on many different ceilings, and talking with many homeowners, I have found that the flat paint marks up very easily. I was about to paint a ceiling when the homeowner was asking some cleaning people how the ceiling got marked up. They had recently run a dust rag over the ceiling to get some of the dust off (from the construction) and it had gotten marked up. I also discovered that in part of my painting process, I need to paint, wipe, paint and wipe some more... and it is very obvious when the lights are on. I've since adjusted how I paint on ceilings with flat paint. And, if people aren't set on flat paint on their ceilings... then I suggest getting the next level up from flat, that still has the lowest sheen to it. So, if they ever want to clean their ceiling... it won't leave streaks on it. Plus, it makes my painting much easier too. :-)

Hope that helps...

Jeff

Good for you for doing it yourself! You'll love it. I just painted another one today and I never get tired of looking t them. tired, and sore, from painting them, but not looking at them.

We just had the same flu bug go through our house too. Hey, wait a dog gone minute.... let's see... you wrote about a week ago (with the flu) and now we're sick here. Hmmmmmm? Hope you guys feel better soon. I'm hiding out in my office as much as I can to not catch it. No time for that!

Good luck...

Jeff

Hey, for those who are trying to black out windows... I just saw this in another post and I think it has potential for those not wanting to board up a window, or spray the window with black paint. Here's the site. http://www.blackoutez.com/

Maybe it'll help someone out. I have some friends who work nights and need to sleep in the day... so this'll be great for them.

Jeff

Hi MJ... Sorry, but I totally thought that I had replied to this post a couple weeks ago. I think that I tried from my iPad... and it possibly went out to space instead. Yes, I did get some information and I've had people order from
him with god results so far. I still think, from a gut feeling, that WildfireFX lights may be slightly better (and supposedly you can connect a lot more to each other)... but the lights from Slim Fluorescent are working fine, and at
at least half the price.... sounds like a good deal.

So, check out the lights at www.SlimFluorescent.com first, then once you've found what you like... either email, or call, Steve and tell him that Jeff from Night Sky Murals referred you. He should then give you a 5% discount
off of the price. Since a few people have already ordered lights, he should be close to offering 10% off soon. Ask him that too. I will follow up as well.

Here's his info...

Steve Winrow
www.SlimFluorescent.com
SWinrow@SavioLighting.com
(508) 875-8818

By the way, I guess that Slim Lighting is part of Savio Lighting.

Please let us know how it goes with them.

Jeff

Hi Tnedator and Autox320... and TOM HILTON.

Isn't Tom great? He is always there to jump in with an answer... and I really appreciate it. ThanksTom!!!!

Tom pretty much answered what I would have... but let me answer it too, just for the record.

As for brightness... I really doubt that if you were to close your eyes that you would notice any light. I know that I have an LED light on a bluetooth speaker that is near my bed that I have to cover with tape because it is so bright. But, with that covered, and when I have my eyes closed... the thousands of stars over my head are not noticed. As Tom mentioned, the brightness depends on the time since the lights had been off... with the first 10 to 15 minutes being the brightest, but I still think that even during those first few minutes, if your eyes were closed, it wouldn't be noticed.

Bedrooms used to be where I would do most of my murals and even the lightest sleepers, that hated light, have never let me know that it's been a problem.

As for seeing in the dark... If the call of nature comes during the night... I will stick my hand into the bathroom (where I have a mural painted too) and flip on the lights (CFL) for about 10 seconds. Then, I turn the lights out, and,with my eyes used to the dark already, the super-charged stars will light the bathroom enough for me to see, so i don't have to be blinded by the light (sounds like a song). But, even still.... I doubt I would notice the stars if I were to close my eyes.

Incandescent lights do almost nothing to charge the paint. And sunlight, is great if you have direct sunlight into a large window as it sets. I would still think that you'd want to boost the paint with a black light or CFL.

Autox320... So you're the one in NC, eh? I'm excited to get out there. Bedrooms are great places for the murals. Theater rooms are usually a perfect match for them, because they are built to be dark, and they are great in a HT to relax under and show off to your friends, but there's nothing like climbing into bed and falling asleep under the stars. It never gets old for me, and I've been doing this forever. Reminds me of my childhood camping in the redwoods. I hope that Chris has been helpful. She has saved me so much stress. I've needed someone to help out for a while now. :-)

I hope that answers!

Jeff

Sorry about my answer if it seemed that I didn't understand your question... I totally did. Most people, who have read enough of my answers know that I can't give a quick, to the point, answer. Instead, I seem to be all over the place when answering (its an ADD thing) :-)

I think that you'll see that I did really understand, but then again... maybe not. Sorry! :-)



You know, most of the theater rooms that, with soffits in them, where I paint a mural, don't usually have a slanted inside. That, in my opinion, would me a plus, but isn't necessary. As long as the top of the light can peak it's head up over the trim that is in the front of the soffit, it should work fine. The only advantage to a slanted inside is that it points the light (with the reflectors) out into the room, which seems to increase the reach slightly.

By the way, I built an office last summer that I put a soffit in... and it isn't slanted on the inside either. The inside is still unfinished, so I may still put something under the lights to angle them, but the ceiling still charged up just fine.

You brought up a great idea, and one that I hadn't thought of. Putting can lights in the verticle inside might work great. You can buy CFL black lights, or just use white CFL lights... and I'll bet that would work great... if placed right. Thanks for the idea! That may help others too, when they are trying to figure out what to do.

Be careful though, with the circuit for those lights. Most black lights, and CFL lights can't have, or don't do well on a dimmer.


When did you email me with that ceiling size? Has Chris, my new assistant gotten back with you? I can ask her tonight or tomorrow.

I can't quote ceilings in here (supposed to just answer general questions)... so I will try to find your email. I am, with Christine's help, starting to finally get caught up. But, ill try and get you answered right away. Sorry if you've been waiting a while.

Great, that is good to hear after being so far behind with everything. Now, while I am only guessing that the recessed can lights in the vertical sides of your soffit will work, I really think that if you have enough of them, and they have good strong lights in them (I'd look for powerful, screw-in black lights), you should have no problems. And, the light should be able to reach across the ceiling to charge up the soffit area on the opposite side of the room. I doubt that the lights, inside of your cans will do much to charge the inside of your soffits, since the paint needs direct light hitting it, but you should be good to go, IMO.

Jeff