I recently acquired some transparent pink acrylic energy cubes and was pondering how I might go about giving them a soft glow. One notion I had, besides LEDs, was to paint them with glow in the dark paint; I'd imagine that a transparent paint which glows pink or orange would be most realistic, though I don't know if a product like that exists or if it would adhere properly to an acrylic surface.

Anyone have experience with these sorts of materials or who's done something similar who might have helpful suggestions to offer? Also, if anyone has a better notion of how to make acrylic glow I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

 

It does exist, but it's HARD to find anything but the yellow-green stuff without serious hunting.

It's not going to adhere very well, it'll go on, but it will easily scratch off. Which if you handle them gently might be fine.

I'm not familiar with the design of the cubes, but painting the "inside" might give you the best compormise between glow and lights-on appearance (depending on how they're tinted, that might not work either as the paint might not be able to "charge")

If you end up painting the outside surface, I'd suggest a soft-edged drybrushed application, maybe along the edges, so you don't much up the main surfaces too badly.

Honestly though, a little LED back lighting (don't need to illuminate the cubes per se, just get a nice LED striking them from below or behind) might be easier and more effective.

 

The cubes are from Atomic Laser's (scroll to the bottom) and are solid acrylic; so no painting on the inside without some serious work. Painting on the edges is an interesting idea I hadn't considered.

The only problem I see with lighting them with LEDs (my original notion) was that they're essentially transparent and LEDs too bright; once lit the LEDs and wiring is all plainly visible through the cubes. What I'd need would be a virtually flat glowing surface with diffuse lighting to stack the cubes atop. Still pondering...