Glowing Inspiration
Let’s face it, you don’t have to be a child of the 80’s to think glow in the dark is cool. Those bright neon colors are eye-catching and fun. I am immediately taken away to the days of big hair and breakdancing. I recently stumbled across a movie on Amazon Prime, they made a musical version of Valley Girl. Yes, it is as cheesy as it sounds, but I am a sucker for a decent soundtrack that I can sing along to. So you can just picture me working on these rocks with “Material Girl” on full blast in the background. My kids think I am nuts, and it’s OK if you do too.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks – Paint
I am going to be honest, I struggled with this one a bit. I love the idea of glow in the dark painted rocks. I tried a few different kinds of glow in the dark paint and I had trouble finding some that actually glowed. I found this set on Amazon that claimed to be both glow in the dark and UV light sensitive. It was affordable and arrived quickly. I had the best results with these and used them for this article.
If you’d like some more tips on using glow in the dark paint, check out the Specialty Paint section in Rock Painting Supplies
The bottles were smaller than what I normally buy at the craft store, but I still feel like I got a great bargain at less than $1.00 per bottle. I found this set on sale for about $7.00. At the time of this article, the set was running $12.00 on Amazon. A little bit will go a long way. I also liked that it came in a set and I got a variety of colors.
The other brands that I tried out were Antia’s and Folk Art. Normally, I am very happy with these brands of acrylic paint, but the glow factor was a bit disappointing. Please feel free to try other brands of glow in the dark paint. I would love to hear about your results and try them for myself.
The texture of glow in the dark paint seems a little thin compared to regular acrylic paint. I ended up going over my projects with a few coats of paint to get it to show up and not look streaky. I do not recommend trying a “fine art masterpiece” with this paint as it is harder to control. Be prepared, it does not dry as quickly as regular acrylic.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks – Choosing and Priming Your Rocks
When choosing a rock for a project, keep in mind that the size and shape matter. I would not want to paint The Empire State Building on a tiny pebble. I normally purchase rocks at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. Purchased rocks tend to be flatter and bigger than what I find out on a stroll in the park. But I live in Oklahoma, we are not exactly known for having an abundance of rocks.
The rocks I chose were about 2 to 3 inches long and had a flat surface. I will often put a primer coat of paint on the rock before painting the design. A primer coat helps to fill in holes, it provides coverage when your rock is a darker color and will help the paint for your design adhere to the rock better. I chose not to use a primer coat on these. I am using some dark gray rocks that were not porous, so I did not feel it was necessary.
Here is some more information on priming rocks if you would like to read further – How to Prepare Rocks for Painting?
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks Design 1: Dragonfly
For the first rock, I am going to use dotting or Mandala tools to create the design. If you are new to dotting, please see my beginners guide to Mandala here – Easy Beginner Mandala Painted Rocks. The important thing to take away is the dip and dot technique. As mentioned, glow in the dark paint is thinner so you may have to dip and dot a couple of times for the color to show up nice and bold on your rock.
I began by taking a dotter and blue glow paint and making four dots in a row on a slightly curved line. Then I switched to a slightly smaller dotter and added three more dots. This is the body of the dragonfly.
Then, I used a thin brush and purple glow paint to create the wings. Remember, put a few coats down.
Finally, I added antennae with a thin brush and white glow paint. Simple and cute. I am trying not to overload the rock with paint so we can see it glow later.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks Design 2: Moon Profile
When I was thinking of ideas for glow in the dark paint, I immediately thought of a moon. I decided to do a crescent moon with a nose profile. I really liked the idea of a glowing moon on the dark gray rock.
I started by drawing my moon shape with a pencil. I also added a few dots for stars. I filled in the moon with a yellow glow in the dark paint. I had to add several layers of paint to completely cover the area. The thinness of the paint is a little more difficult to work with, so be ready to go over this larger area a couple of times.
Then, I used a fine pointed dotter and white glow paint to add the stars.
Very nice. Looks just like the night sky.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks Design 3: Cheshire Cat Smile
I wanted to do a slightly creepy rock for the final Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks design. I choose the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. This cat disappears in a puff of smoke leaving only glowing eyes and an eerie smile behind.
I started by drawing the mouth and eyes on a dark gray rock with a pencil. Using a fine-tipped brush, I colored in the eyes with blue glow paint.
Then I started on the mouth by just painting a top and a bottom line with green glow paint.
I filled in jagged teeth with the same green glow paint.
Finally, I outlined the blue eyes with white glow paint. I gave the eyes little wings for accents.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks – The Finished Product
I think it is hard to capture the glow-ie-ness of the paint in a picture, but to my surprise, this paint actually glowed. I found that blues glowed the best for this particular paint. These rocks were all fun and easy. I enjoyed using this paint and I hope you have fun too.
And to test the glow factor…
Not bad. I can definitely see some colors better than others, but this paint is the best that I have found so far.
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks – Sealing the Rocks
I decided to seal the glowing rocks using a spray acrylic sealer from ModPodge. I made sure to do this step outside. Spray sealer can give off some strong fumes and you don’t want to have that linger inside the house. I set the rocks on a protective surface so I didn’t get the sealer everywhere. Using a paper plate or plastic table cloth works perfectly for this step. I sprayed a light coat of sealer and let it dry. Be sure to follow the package instructions on your sealer.
More Inspiration for Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks
These spooky monster rocks were painted by Amanda at Crafts by Amanda. They are a great Halloween project.
Glow in the Dark Monster Rocks: a fun glowing Halloween craft (craftsbyamanda.com)
Randi at Dukes & Duchesses made some fun glow in the dark kindness rocks. In her technique, she paints with regular acrylic and then coats with a glow in the dark spray. I can’t wait to try out this idea.
Glow in the Dark Kindness Rocks – Dukes and Duchesses
I also enjoyed this article from Vikalpah, they created glow rocks using glow in the dark Tulip paint, which is not acrylic but a fabric paint. What a neat idea!
Glow in the Dark Painted Rocks – Top Take-Aways
1. Glow in the dark acrylic paint is thinner and harder to control than regular acrylic paint. Be prepared to put down several coats of paint.
2. “Charge” your glow in the painted rock by placing it under a light for several minutes before putting the light in total darkness.
3. What other ideas do you have for glow in the dark painted rocks? I think the next time I use them I will try painting on white rocks. I am also excited to try some glow in dark paint markers.
Happy painting!