Why are my glow in the dark stars not glowing?

Why are my glow in the dark stars not glowing?


Trouble shooting ~ If you're using high quality glow in the dark stars, charging them with daylight/sunlight and a quick top up at night with a bright room light is usually enough for a bright glow.
Here are a few extra tips if you run into trouble:

☀️  DARKEN THE ROOM

Make sure the room is dark for viewing, moon light or street light flooding in from the windows can wash out the glow.

☀️  USE EXTRA LIGHT IN DIM ROOMS

Basements/darker rooms will need a bright room light to compensate, use a bright room light and get direct light on the mural. Use lights like UV tubes, CFLs, Fluorescent tubes or floor lamps angled at the ceiling. You can also use 2000 - 3000 lumen flashlights. Avoid using incandescent bulbs, they don't charge well. Recessed or 'down' lighting can make some ceilings darker and prevent direct light from charging the stars well.

☀️  MAKE SURE YOUR EYES ARE ADJUSTED TO THE DARK

Glow in the dark decals or stars in kids rooms can seem to stop working. If the decals or murals are glowing brightly at first but when you go back in to check on your child a little later and you don't see a glow, don’t be concerned. Your eyes are no longer adjusted to the darkness and the stars are no longer at full charge. Either stay in the dark room for 20 minutes, or test a few stars out on your own ceiling, you’ll see them glowing again and all through the night on your own ceiling. They fade to a very dim glow before dawn.


☀️  CHOOSE A LIGHT WALL COLOUR

White surfaces reflect the light, charging and glow are both optimised. Dark surfaces absorb light, decals and small glow stars can be minimally less bright on these surfaces. Many people have dark blue ceilings though and with well lit areas are still able to view the murals glowing brightly. 

☀️  CHARGE WITH A BRIGHT ROOM LIGHT

Brightness of different room lights vary widely but generally the brighter the room light and more direct the light, the brighter the glow. Charging is more about light quality and less about the length of time you charge it for. The paint is constantly discharging light even during the day, (you’ll see it as a bright yellow or bluey colour). For this reason charging it up all day isn't going to make it brighter at night if the room light is too dim. Use the brightest fluorescent type room bulbs and get direct light onto your mural to give you a bright glow. You’ll only need 10 minutes of charging with a bright light at most. Daylight alone is often enough.

☀️  SPOT CHARGE WITH A BRIGHT FLASHLIGHT

Use a bright 2000-3000 lumen torch to super charge the mural fast. This really makes the colours pop and it's definitely worth seeing glow in the dark murals with the large nebulous clouds charged this way.

lights for charging glow in the dark art

How to Make a Realistic Starry Night Sky with Star Stickers

 

bright glow in the dark stars
 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Love these in my son’s room and he loves them too! They’re bright all night long into the morning."

"as always, they are perfect! it's soo magical to look up at my ceiling and walls at night, and see the stars. They are still showing at 3-4:30am, when I wake up😍"

"This moon makes me so happy every night! I love it and it glows so well. Definitely recommend buying and black light so you can see the full colors she used. The blue is incredible and so tastefully blended."

"These are perfect! The glow is bright, especially after a good charge in the daylight or a black light, after which they glow a nice blue-y color. I plan on putting these up in a dark blue painted room for some calmness and space-swimming vibes - I cant wait to have my own personal planetarium :)"

"These stars are absolutely gorgeous!! The paint job is well done, the sizes are perfect, and best of all the glow in the dark actually glows super brightly and for a very long time! I don’t even need to do anything but leave my lights on for a bit and it’ll glow all night practically. Thank you seller!"

"Simply love these !!! There are more than enough for a decent size room and they are unbelievably effective, the longer you gaze up at them the more seem to appear and while not all hold their light for hours, even waking in the middle of the night you'll see plenty of them glowing quietly up there."

"I have no complaints whatsoever - the shipping time was fine and I am sort of blown away by the quality of these stickers! I have only put up maybe 25% of what I have, but the realism is incredible. The 3 dimensional appearance continues to amaze me - it was surprising the first night I saw them. Also, I have to say that the length of time that these decals glow blows away (by far!) all other star decals I have ever had. And we're talking a fair number, as I have had these in all of my residences. Occasionally, I wake up 6 or so hours after I go to bed and when I open my eyes, I am somewhat startled! They are STILL bright! That is amazing. And the crescent moon and shooting stars are breathtakingly lovely. Thank you for a truly exceptional set of glow in the dark stickers! I will undoubtedly buy more"

"They are the best glow stars I’ve ever purchased!"

Comments (3):

Esther on

Hi there!

CFL’s are compact fluorescent light bulbs, the twisty looking energy saving ones. I use CFL’s to charge my art the most, here in New Zealand they are easy to buy.
I’ve also used bright LED’s and other bright lights and they have all worked well.

If you have a basement just make sure the area is well lit and not dim, shadowed etc. A floor lamp is an easy fix if you need more light.

Esther :)

HMH on
My apologies- I misunderstood what the CFL bulb actually is and realize now that it’s the same thing as what we call fluorescent tubes.. I will look for a ‘cold’ unit for charging I guess as there is no natural light in this room..
hMh on

U keep saying a “bright light” but dont specify what that means exactly….from reading reviews on Amazon I understand that LED does not work that well… can you please explain what CFL is and what type of bulbs work best to charge? Do u recommend a fluorescent bright stick over bedroom lamp light (not incandescent but newer household bulbs ). Should I buy a black light bulb? Many thanks! Your artwork is lovely.

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