How to Make a Colored Light Bulb
How to make a colored light bulb
Introduction
Light bulbs are one of the widely used sources of lighting throughout the world. They are used for a variety of purposes like decorating purposes, creating a beautiful ambiance to attract people and interior decoration purposes. The colored light bulbs are one of the easiest ways to decorate a place and to make it look more appealing than ever without a lot of effort.
The colored light bulbs are mostly used in tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. The colored light bulbs can be bought from stores, or one can make colored light bulbs on their own by painting them or with the use of films.
Painting transparent light bulbs are one of the most effective and efficient ways as it takes much lesser time than one could ever imagine and does not need a person to separate the bulb portion from the socket portion.
The colored light bulb that is sold in the market costs quite a lot; hence, it is a prudent option to paint the bulbs rather than buying a colored bulb in the market for an unreasonable price. The following are some of the ways to make colored light bulbs at a reasonable price.
Methods to color a light bulb
One of the first and most used methods to color a light bulb is by painting them with paint. The bulb that should be used for making a colored light bulb is transparent. The clear or transparent bulb is used so that the light that is emitted remains vibrant.
The frosted bulbs won’t give out a vibrant colored light once they are colored. The frosting feature on them acts as a hindrance for the light to pass through easily. So, it is always highly recommended to use a clear or transparent bulb for this purpose.
One can use a 40 watts bulb or a bulb with lesser watts; this is because a bulb with more watts would produce way more heat and this might result in the paint not being able to withstand the heat.
This, in turn, will result in the explosion of the bulb. Once the bulb explodes, the whole purpose of painting the bulb will be defeated. It is also advised to use appropriate paint to color the bulb because not all paints can withstand the heat produced by the bulb.
Before starting to paint the bulb, one needs to make sure that the bulb is dry and clean. If not, use a clean wet paper towel to clean the surface of the bulb. Once the bulb is thoroughly clean, set the bulb in a stationary place where it is easier to paint the bulb.
Things like blue tack and play-doh can be used to hold the bulb in place. Once the light bulb is planted on the tack or play-doh, one can start painting the bulb with the paint. To have a uniform coating of the paint, one can dip the bulb in the paint than hand paint it.
A good idea to paint a light bulb is by using spray paint. Spray painting a light bulb is a much easier method and it is less messy than all other painting methods. The spray paint is easy to dry than the paint used in the above painting method. Spray painting is also the only way to cover the bulb with a thin coating of paint.
Another method to color a light bulb is by using color films to cover the light bulb. Color films are transparent but colored sheets that are used for emitting different colors when placed in front of a light source.
These are used in studios, film sets, photoshoots etc to create an ambient atmosphere. The films are thin and come in all colors, which give the user a variety of options to pick from.
Reasons why coloring a light bulb is better than buying a colored bulb
The coloring of the light bulb gives the flexibility to the users to have their own choice of colors to choose from. Another major advantage is that one can customize the colors and make the bulb as creativity as one’s creativity allows them.
This customization option is not available with the store-bought color bulb. Simple drawings can be painted in bulbs with the help of stencils or freehand drawing which will make the lights look more attractive than what one ever imagined.
The person coloring the bulb can also make a gradient effect while painting the bulb, which will make it more unique and stylish. The coloring of light bulbs with the help of color films makes it easier to change the color more often as the films can be easily removed from the bulbs without much effort.
Precautions to be kept in mind while coloring a light bulb
- Use a bulb with less power because a powerful bulb can ruin the paint.
- Make sure the light bulbs are clean and dry before coloring them.
- Make sure the appropriate paint is used for coloring the bulb. A paint that has a low resistance to heat will damage the light bulb, thereby making the whole process a waste of time and money.
- Make sure the paint is dry before putting the colored bulbs to use.
Specific paints that should be used to color light bulbs
Glass paint is the paint that should be used to color a light bulb as it has a very high resistance to heat. The glass paint can be bought from craft stores. Oil and acrylic paints should never be used to paint light bulbs, as they have no resistance to heat and using them would result in an explosion of the bulb.
Conclusion
One of the best and effective ways to color a light bulb is by coloring it with paints and color films because it helps to have a color of the user’s choice.
This will not be possible in the case of store-bought colored lights as they come in only specific colors and won’t give users any room for customizations. By coloring the lights themselves, they can choose different blends of hues based on their preferences.
