Chris H Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I'm looking for ideas to achieve the following: the director wants to fly in a pendant light with what looks like a normal (white pearl) bulb in it, but when the bulb comes on it produces a green colour. The stage will be quite dark (but not actual blackout) when the pendant comes in, but I'm worried that using a dipped green bulb will still be a bit obvious. Has anyone got any experience of double painting a bulb so that the colour is hidden under a coat of white? I don't need the green light to actually illuminate anything, we just need to see the green light hanging in the darkness. It needs to be dimmable, and ideally to fit in a standard es pendant socket (which I think rules out any sneaky leds hidden in a fake bulb?). Thanks all, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingwalker Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Don't know if it will help but Rosco do a scenec canvas paint called Invisible blue which looks clear when you paint it onto back cloths but shows up blue when light is shone onto it. It may be worth giving them a call to see if they do anything that you are after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 There's a wide range of "consumer" LED based bulbs (that look like a "normal" bulb) that have built in, remote controlled colour changing. £10 should buy you something that looks like a traditional lightbulb, plugs in to a normal mains supply but which can be made in to any colour you want and the click of a button. for example (and simply the first supplier that appears on google) http://www.aurabuy.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/31734/s/e27-3w-rgb-led-light-bulb-with-remote-controller-85-265v.html?cury=GBP&gclid=CICvtvj1mb0CFWjKtAodqCoA_w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I'm pretty sure these look white until illuminated. Only golf ball sized, though. Cheap as chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Not dimmable though unfortunately. I've not yet seen a dimmable LED golfball... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Yes, that's true. I'd forgotten dimmable was a requirement (although at 15W equivalent, it's not exactly that bright anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The consumer type I've mentioned have inbuilt / remote control dimming and if you really don't want them manually operated another quick google and you'll discover that the control protocol is relatively open source with a wide range of off-the-shelf and home-made interfaces that enable them to be controlled by DMX, artnet and a whole host of home automation protocols, again at a cost of just a few pounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Take a small, clear tungsten or TH lamp and dip that in green. Then put it inside a real pearlescent GLS lamp. - Small double-skinned d0mestic TH lamps are easy to find, small and very bright. If you can't find one that'll go down the neck of a GLS, instead mould an over-size fake.Depending on the rest of the set you can probably oversize it by quite a long way, I'd be pretty sure that 150% 'real size' would look the part, probably even bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I think I'm going to explore putting a small bulb inside a gls, just need to explore how to get the two things securely fixed together. Will post an update as things progress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Update: It's possible to fit a GL5.3 lampholder inside a normal BC pendant if you remove the contacts from the pendant and use the resulting holes to bring the cables through. It's also possible to hollow out a BC bulb and fit the shell over a halogen bulb into the pendant. The 'bulb' needs to be glued into the pendant as the normal fixing pins are destroyed when you take the insides out. The result is a 12v bulb hidden inside what looks like a standard bulb and pendant. However, I haven't found a method of colouring the halogen bulb that actually copes with the heat. Everything I've tried fades or burns in under a minute. So in the end, I've gone for a standard 40w bulb painted in green glass paint (it needs about three dippings to get a good thick coat) and then sprayed white with matt spray paint. The result is a bit blotchy looking but it works ok in the context I need it for. Thanks for all the other suggestions and comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LampTramp Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Don't know if it will help but Rosco do a scenec canvas paint called Invisible blue which looks clear when you paint it onto back cloths but shows up blue when light is shone onto it. It may be worth giving them a call to see if they do anything that you are after. This only works with U.V light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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