Westend's Toolbox

[Westend]

Hi,

I've posted various articles on my trials and tribulations. Here I plan to divulge as much information as I can muster. Please feel free to link to this page. Please give me credit if you post this elsewhere. If you have nothing usefull to say then shutup! If you feel brave then please add to this post. I have no intention of belittling the professionals out there, some have skills that are exceptional. My plan here is to document my own findings along with how-to's, shortcuts and tools that I have discovered.

Note: This is a living document. I'll be adding and editing the content continually.

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Design
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I'm an engineer by nature so I like to design and redesign before I start on any project. To help me with organizing my thoughts I use a graphical package called GIMP, (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It is free and has more power than superman on steroids. Get it here at http://www.gimp.org.

Now take a tape measure and measure out the room in feet. Open GIMP and create a layer with a grid of the dimensions of the room. Now we can start dropping in constellations, scaling and moving them around until we are happy.

Once you are happy with the design invert it. If you do not then when you mark the stars on the ceiling, prior to painting you will inadvertently create a mirror image. Believe me I did this the first time and kicked myself for not realizing it beforehand.



By playing with the colors you can also create a virtual image of the glow stars in place.



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Laying out the design
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So now you have your great design and you're wondering how to apply it to the ceiling. There are basically four methods for doing this:

• Freehand
• Freehand using a grid
• Stencil
• Stencil over a grid

I'm no freehand expert with laying out the constellations so I use the freehand grid and stencil methods.

Laying out the Grid
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This method will save you a ton of time when it comes to painting the stars. However, it will take a while to set it up. Although given time you can get this method down and have it done in less than an hour.

There are two options here. If you have a textured ceiling you can get away with using push pins. Just make sure that they don't have very think pins. I used pins in my second room, must have used over 200 pins and it's extremely hard to see the holes. In fact it's easier to see the paint.

If you have a plastered ceiling or concrete then you should substitute painters tape for the pins that hold up the grid. And you can use Blutak to mark the stars.

What you will need:

• 1 or more rolls of colored builders string. The really bright stuff found in Home Depot or Lowes.
• 50+ push pins. The ones that have something to grab, not the flat pins.
• 100+ Large round push pins for large stars.
• 100+ Smaller push pins for small stars.
• 1 ladder....duh
• 1 12" ruler.

Now starting in one corner. On the ceiling as near to the wall as possible place push pins halfway in at 1' intervals. Repeat this around all for walls. Now take one end of the string and loop once around the first pin and push it in to secure it. Run the string to the pin on the opposite side of the room. Loop around the pin and push it in. Then run the string to next pin, on the same wall, push it in. Take the string back across the room to the opposite pin. Continue this back and forth until you come to the end. When you reach the other side just loop the string around the first pin on the adjacent wall and repeat the process. When finished let the string roll to the floor and secure against the wall with tape. No cutting, so we can reuse the string again and again.

I'll post a picture of a completed ceiling soon.

Mapping out the stars
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Now get up on your ladder. Using the inverted layout push the large and small pins into the ceiling at the points indicated on the printout. Now you don't have to be exact but obviously the more accurate your placement the better the result. Take you time here. Looking down at the paper then looking up at the ceiling can get confusing.

Note you do not have to push the pins for the stars in very hard. They only need to be in hard enough to stay put. The gentler you are with this step the less chance there is in leaving a spot that you can see. Also you can substitute painters tape to hold the grid on the ceiling and use BluTak to represent the stars.

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[Westend]

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Painting
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Ok now this is what we've been getting ready for.

What you'll need:

• New water based GlowInc paint.
• Floor coverings. Either plastic or linen.
• Old heavy curtains or suitable material to cover the windows.
• The ladder.
• UV lamp. (24" $10 at Walmart.)
• Medical Syringes. (Free at most pharmacy's)

This part is so simple you'll wonder why you were ever worried about trying this out.

• Remove all large pieces of furniture. I take down beds.
• Cover the floor and tape the cover to the walls.
• Attach the UV lamp to the top of the ladder. Tape the flex to the ladder and ensure your extension lead is long enough.
• Fill the syringe with paint. Fill a couple if you want.
• Get up on the ladder.
• Get down from the ladder and now place it where you need to paint.
• Get back up on the ladder and turn on the UV lamp.
• Get back down and turn out the main light and get back up on the ladder. Ok enough of the funny stuff.
• Ok for the small stars. Squeeze out a small bead, not enough to run down the side of the syringe, it should look like a little bead. Now place the bead to the ceiling to the side of the small star push pin. (If you always go to the same side of every push pin then you can leave them in and not worry about the constellation looking odd.) Squeeze out a little more and pull away. You should end up with a cone shape between 1/8" and 1/4" in size.
• For the larger stars start by creating a small star then create another small star almost at the edge of the first one. Squeeze out some more and give a little swirl. You should end up merging both stars together and creating a lager cone shape.
• Rinse and repeat.

Here's a syringe before and after squeezing the correct amount ready for application.



Here's an image of the correct cone shape for the large and small stars. Note I'm using one of my stencils here to position the stars.






Ok so now you have painted your first ceiling.

Background Stars
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Ok so you have your main stars up. They look great but somewhat alone. So here's where we spice it up a notch.

What you'll need:

Any of the following. Experiment to find your favorites.

• Stencil Brushes of various sizes. ( I use 1/8" and 1/4" )
• Toothpick
• Felt tipped dowel rods.

Ok before we get started let me explain how to make your felt tipped dowel rods.

Go to your local hobby store and purchase:

• Several 3' or 4' 1/8" and 1/4" dowel rods.
• A sheet of white felt. (Make sure you get the stiff type not the fluffy stuff)
• Optionally get "pom poms" about 1/4" in size.
• Crafting glue. I used a fast setting multi-purpose glue.

Ok the assembly:

• If using felt cut out 1/4" and 1/8" circles. They don't have to be perfect. (This is where the pom-poms cut down time).
• Squeeze a dab of glue onto the dowel and place either a piece of felt or a pom-pom on it.
• Repeat on the other end. (trust me on this one. )

Application:

Ok first let me point out that this only really works well with the water based paints. You see the solvent base paints will break down the glue. (If anyone can tell me of a good glue to use with solvents then I'm all ears. )

We'll be painting faint stars to give contrast to the main stars. Therefore I suggest painting with no lights. Even when painting under a black light some of the faint stars will not shine and you won't notice when you are applying stars or have run out of paint.

• Poor a small amount of paint into a small paint jar. Excite the paint under black light and turn it off.
• Lightly dab one end of the dowel or stencil brush into the paint. You're not looking for a lot of paint. (Experiment and you'll find the right amount. Don't worry if your first few are bright.)
• Randomly dab the dowel or stencil brush to the ceiling/wall whatever. (You'll notice that you can get more than one star before having to redip. )
• When it gets hard to see the stars when you apply the paint reenergize the paint with the black light and continue.

Ok about the tip at the other end of the dowel. You probably noticed by now that the tip gets fouled up after a while. When it does just reverse the dowel and use the other end. Tada......Mind Freak....lol. Which is also why I make up at least two dowel rods for a 12x10 room.

After each job just rip off the pompoms or felt and replace before the next job.

When finished charge up the room with the UV light. Turn off and stand amazed at your great new achievement.

[Westend]

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Special Effects
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Effect: Nebula or Galaxy
Ceiling Type: Textured, white.
Paint: Solvent based. Ultra Blue
Applicator: Large sea sponge

Method:

Poor some paint into a small paint tray. Dab the sponge lightly into the paint. Check the coverage on the sponge. It's best to err on the light side than get too much on the sponge. Now lightly dab the ceiling with the sponge. Create the general outline of the effect first. don't worry about the density of the paint yet, you just want to start light. After you have the general outline of the effect you can keep dabbing over and over to create denser and brighter parts of the effect.

Notes:

Have plenty of sponges available. The paint dries fast and reduces the usability of the sponge. I've not managed to successfully clean sponges with acetone. You can cut down the lager sponges but I just dump the one's that I can't.

Personally I think sponging takes too long and is wasteful in both paint and sponges.


Effect: Nebula or Galaxy
Ceiling Type: Textured, white.
Paint: Solvent based. Ultra Blue
Applicator: Large stippling brush (The brush I use has about a 3"x5" head)

Method:

Poor some paint into a small paint tray. Dab the brush into the paint and drag against the tray to remove excess. Just like with the sponge we do not want a lot of paint on the brush. Now brush the outline of the effect you want. Do not push too hard, you can apply more layers to brighten up the effect later. After you have made out the general outline go back over areas with the brush again to create areas of different brightness.

Notes:

Ensure that you have the entire floor covered. Painting with this brush will cause more mess than a cat 5 hurricane. Some paint will dry on the brush and as you brush against the ceiling the dry paint pigment will flake off the brush. Oh so also make sure that you're wearing clothes that you don't mind getting covered in paint pigment!

As you get comfortable with the amount of paint you put on the brush you can actually brush over large areas without putting on too much paint.

I actually prefer this method to sponging. Yes it is more messy but faster and easier to control the amount of paint that you apply to the ceiling. It's also not as wasteful.


General Notes:

I work in the dark, no black light, when applying the effect. This sounds odd but if you work under a black light your eyes will not pickup the very faint layer of paint and you'll think that you're not applying enough and then put too much on. When you subsequently turn off the black light to admire your work you'll be blinded by an over bright effect. So use the black light to charge up the paint on the sponge and apply in the dark.

Wear gloves!!!! Otherwise you're hands will end up glowing like a binary star system! Not forgetting the hours you'll spend trying to clean them.

Surf the web for pictures of nebula and the milky way. Practice using Photshop or other paint programs to learn the art of creating the effect. Once you understand how to make the effect using a program then all you are changing is the medium and the applicator. I use Gimp2. It's freeware and is more comparable to Photoshop than MS paint.


So what have you done? I'm looking for information on using spray bottles. What brand of glitter spray did you use? How much acetone did you thin the paint with? How do you apply it etc. Also has anyone actually used an airbrush for the ceiling? It looks like too much work but could be useful for detail work.

I've not done anything with the new paint so if anyone can post on that then great.

I'll add some pictures soon.

[Skylighter]

Speaking for the group, thank you so much for the detailed instructions and photographs.

I was looking at the photo and at first, I thought "Is that a giant black octopus over the stars?". Then I realized it was a ceiling fan.

[Abbeytoo]

Originally Posted by Skylighter

Speaking for the group, thank you so much for the detailed instructions and photographs.

Danny, just so you don't think we are a bunch of ungrateful slobs, I DID thank him as soon as I read his post, but it was in a pm. I assumed he wanted to keep this thread just for his instructions... which I might add, are the most thorough and easy to follow I have come across . Thank you Peter.

[Westend]

Update: 2/05/08

I've found a better method than using the dowel rods or stencil brushes for background effects

Ok until I find a way of thickening up the solvent based paint this can only be done with the new water based paint.

What you'll need:

• New water based paint.
• 1 small Elmers Glue bottle with the round screw top and not the bottle with the pull/push slit applicator.
• Ladder with UV lamp fixed to the top.

Preparation:

• Ok dump out the glue and wash the bottle out. Regular dish soap works well.
• Using a syringe fill the bottle with paint. Make sure to fill it to the top. It will make it easier to use.
• Now practice squeezing the bottle until you get comfortable with the pressure required to expel the paint. (You can adjust the applicator to control the flow but I prefer to leave it fairly wide open and control the flow by squeezing it.)

Application:

Ok this is the easy part but getting used to it will take a couple minutes. The main problem is that it's hard to see the paint coming out of the bottle. If you work with the lights on against a white ceiling you might make your stars too large. If you work using a UV lamp the paint will not be charged as it leaves the bottle and will charge after you apply it to the ceiling, and again you might apply too much. What I do is hold the bottle near the IV lamp to charge up as much as possible and then also then squeeze a bulb of paint out and charge that with the lamp too.

Ok to save time I usually do this after working on a constellation. After painting the constellation grab the Elmers bottle and squeeze a small amount out of the bottle. Dab it to the ceiling and create a cone, just like you did with the syringe. By controlling the pressure you can create tiny cones or larger cones to vary the effect. You can dab 40-60 stars per minute using this technique. After a while you'll just be dab-dab-dab happy.

Another method is to use the syringe. I have a 10ml syringe that I use for my small constellation stars. I found that I can just tap the tip against the ceiling with my thumb against the plunger. The impact causes my thumb to squeeze out a tiny amount of paint that creates tiny cones.

Remember don't go too crazy. Be random but leave areas unpainted. Mix small and larger cones but keep the larger cones away from your constellations. If you apply many small cones close to each other then it is hard to see them individually but they will create a cloud/dust effect which is very cool.

Also if you have the time you can use this technique to create star clusters and other cool effects.

[Westend]

Update 2/5/08

Ok so after much messing around I'm dialing in on the most time efficient, tidy and ecconomic methods for painting a ceiling.

My current faves are:

• New water based paint. It doesn't give off fumes, doesn't drip and can be applied almost like toothpaste.
• Well made stencils. No more having to grid the ceiling.
• 3D stars using freely available syringes.
• Background stars using syringes and Elmers Glue bottles.

To paint a 15x15 ceiling I used:

• 5ml Ultra Blue
• Between 15 - 25ml of V10. ( Hard to say beacuse the Elmers bottle still has a fair amout in it).
• Wastage: 0. All unused paint in the syringes can be squeezed back into the paint jars.
• Look on your wife's face....Priceless.

From setup to tear down I took about 2 1/2 hours. That included messing around with a tripod on top of the ladder to macro photgraph the cones and other photos for your benefit which I'll post later. So it probably took me just under two hours to do the entire room.

Not that I recommend it, the last room I painted was our master bedroom, but using only the above methods I did not drop any paint and got away without having to lay a drop cloth.

The dowel, stencil brush method of laying down the background stars is fine but is hard to create stars with the size and definition that the above method creates. Although if you do not wan't to move the bed you can use this technique to fill in the space above the bed. Just make sure you put a drop cloth over the bed.

Enjoy.

[Gareth]

Yes, of all the instructions i have read, this is the one that could give me the confidence to do it myself.

Thank you so much!

[Westend]

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Using Stencils
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Ok I'm not a big fan of using stencils but if you take your time you can create some very useful stencils that you can reuse again and again. Using a stencil can reduce the overall time by at least an hour.

Firstly one must create the stencil. Choosing the medium and scaling the constellations are important for both looks and reusability. For the stencil I prefer to use a thin card stock. If you use paper then the stencil will just not last. Sizing the constellation is really dependent on the size of the room but most the constellations I use are between 2'x3' and 4'x3'.

The easiest way to create the stencils is to create them full size using GIMP and to print them out on tracing paper and then transfer it to the card stock. This is not practical for most so using the grid method works well. It also enables us to scale up or down relatively easilly.

So start with creating the constellation templates. ( You can download the stencil templates at the bottom of this entry.)

What You'll Need:

• Card Stock of the size that you want to create.
• Ruler and long straight edge.
• Pencil and eraser.
• Highlighters.
• Circle Cutter. You could used a stencil and Xacto blade here too.
• Stencil templates.

Ok So here's an image of your starting tools.



The scale I usually use is one large square = 1 foot. The grids you see on these images are drawn using a 1/2 foot resolution. So there are four smaller squares in each larger square.

The card stock I used for these stencils were 19X24". So i decided to make 8" squares.

So with your card stock. Draw out the grid and then carefully transfer the image. I used 10mm holes for the small stars and 15mm holes for the large stars. Cut the holes out with a circle cutter or a crafting knife. Now these are not the size of the stars you will create. They are just a hole large enough to enable you to pop a 3D star into the hole and not get paint on the stencil.

Here's a partially completed stencil.



When finished use an eraser to remove the pencil marks and a highlighter and color the large and small holes different colors. This will help you identify the star locations and sizes when painting.

Here's a finished product.



I actually then draw in the constellation lines between stars but you don't have to.

Now the major benefit in using the stencils is that you can place them on the ceiling using tape and then just move them around until you have them where you want. Once they are where you want them just paint stars into the exposed holes.

Now preferably I'd make these out of 10mill plastic sheets but I'm still looking for a distributor to obtain sheets in the size I need.

So when you're finished using your stencil DO NOT attempt to remove the tape. Just fold it over the edge and cut through any holes that get covered by the tape. If you try and remove the tape you will probably tear your stencil. The tape will also add some strength to the edges of your stencil.

Note: I'll be adding more stencils templates here as I make them up. These images are fullsize and ready to print so just save the images and follow my instructions. I'm also working on a more durable product that I will offer, ready made up for an appropriate fee. However, if you're just desperate to go I and am more than useless crafting up the stencils I can make them up as I currently use them:

Happy painting.

[Westend]

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My Experiments.

This is the first room I ever did. I made the classic mistake of making all the stars the same size. Also no background stars and a simple attempt at using sponging to create a milkyway effect. I've not painted over it yet because my kid still loves it. I only used Ultra Blue here. I took about 4 hours to do this room and I used a toy planetarium to mark the stars locations.



This was my second room. I used the freehand grid method to layout the main stars. It took about 90 mins to grid and layout, 20 mins to paint the main stars and 20 mins to fill in the backgorund and effects. I used the new V10 for the large stars and the new Ultra Blue for the smaller stars. I used the older solvent Ultra Blue and a small 1/4" stencil brush for the background stars. I used a 5x3" stippling brush for the galaxy effects. The was still a learning experience. Too many stars. I should have used a smaller stencil brush for the background stars. Some of the milkyway effects came out too heavy. Although these pictures were taken using a 20 second exposure F6.3 so they are much brighter than they appear to the naked eye. Note the clear difference between the V10 and Ultra Blue. This is hard to perceive with the naked eye in this room.



This room was done entirely using the water based paint. Using my stencils for the constellations and the syringe and Elmers bottle for all the stars. I used V10 for the large stars and Ultra Blue for the small, and a combination of both for the background stars. The room is 15x15 with a boxed ceiling so there were plenty surface to cover. I also came 3 ft down every wall. End to end this took 3 hours, no mess and I used a total of about 2oz of paint. Photos taken on manual focus, 20 sec exp, F 4.5. There was some stray light from the garden causing the red streaks.

Here I shutdown the local powerstation and lopped the roof of my bedroom. Nice view of the stars from the hallway.





Notice the galaxy effect at the other side of the room. This was created using nothing but the Elmers bottle and about 300 individually placed stars.




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You can find these images and more as they appear on my gallery at:

http://www.***************.net/html/gallery.html

Best regards,