Micador Dark Arts. Activities and materials that glow in the dark!


Micador Dark Arts is the world’s first comprehensive collection of glow in the dark art and craft activities and materials. Featuring phosphorescent and fluorescent products, they’re exciting fun on their own, plus you can maximise the glow with the Magic Black Light!


This innovative, exciting and fascinating category is awesome fun and wickedly educational! Glow in the dark is a category with thousands of Pinterest boards and blogs dedicated to all sorts of fun art and craft activities using products with phosphorescent and fluorescent properties.


With Micador Dark Arts, there is finally a product range that brings it all together.


Our Magic Black Light shines invisible Ultraviolet (UV) light. This makes our Fluoro Glow products glow brightly and energises our Glow in the Dark products so they glow brighter for longer.


Try our Dark Arts products with our Magic Black Light for full effect. See our FEATURED PRODUCTS.


Read on for some SPOOKY SCIENCE and awesome GLOW FACTS AND IDEAS!

Spooky Science





A “particle” of light is a photon. It has no mass, just energy. When the photon encounters an electron (on the outside of an atom), the electron absorbs the energy and jumps to a higher energy state, or becomes energised. It then releases the energy as another photon of light, but with slightly lower energy. Usually we won’t see this, as it is outside our spectrum of sight, or there is too much ambient light. 


The colour spectrum

The colours we see are determined by the wavelength of light energy. Unlike some insects, humans can only view the spectrum from red to violet. Other invisible “colours” exist above and below this spectrum. The “colour” above red is called infra-red and the colour below violet is called ultraviolet. ultraviolet (UV) light will cause fluorescent or phosphorescent pigments to fluoresce, emitting visible light.


The glow

What glows are “phosphors”. A phosphor is any substance that emits visible light in response to being energised. A phosphor converts the energy in the UV radiation from a black light into visible light. If the photon is in the UV range and the atom emits a visible photon (longer wavelength), it is UV sensitive. What phosphors are in our products? Zinc sulfide is “traditional” and doesn’t glow for a long time. Strontium Aluminate has much longer persistence.


Black Light

Black lights emit long wave ultraviolet light (UVA). This is relatively safe on the eyes. An incandescent black light bulb is similar to a normal household light bulb, but it uses light filters or a coating to absorb the light from the heated filament. It absorbs everything except the infrared and UV-A light (and a little bit of visible light).



Fluorescent substances absorb the ultraviolet light and then re--emit it almost instantaneously. Some energy gets lost in the process, so the emitted light has a longer wavelength than the absorbed radiation, which makes this light visible and causes the material to appear to glow.



In phosphorescent products, the electrons are able to store the energy received from photons and release it slowly. Glow paints do not contain light, have a pigments that are phosphors that makes them glow in the dark. Phosphors have a tendency to accumulate light energy like that from the sun and when it's dark, they glow. When phosphors comes in contact with sun or any other form of light it absorbs the photons and later in the dark, the paint emits these photons. The photons thus released emit a phosphorescent glow. This process is known as photoluminescence.



Bulbs needs filters or coatings to absorb UVB and UVC. Nothing below 320nm should emit.


Glow Facts and Ideas


Why is my T Shirt Glowing?

White T-shirts glow under a black light because modern detergents contain phosphors that convert UV light into white light. In sunlight, what you are seeing is the normal reflection of visible white light from the cloth, as well as the emission of white light that the phosphors create from UV light. The T-shirt really is whiter than white!


Fun with veggies?

Chlorophyll makes plants green, but glows blood red under Black light. With your parents’ help, grind some spinach a small amount of vodka and pour it through a coffee filter to extract the chlorophyll (the part that stays on the filter, not the liquid). It glows bright red under a black light.


A healthy glow!

Some Vitamins, such as A and B are very fluorescent! Try crushing a vitamin B-12 tablet and dissolving it in vinegar, it will glow bright yellow under a black light!


Zombie Scorpions?

Emperor Scorpions are black or brown, but glow bright blue / green under a black light. Careful though, long exposure to UV light can damage them.


Drink in the dark!

If you freeze tonic water, the quinine makes ice blocks that glow under a black light.


Night flying!

Make a paper airplane with white paper and fly it through a black light’s beam in a dark room. It glows a brilliant blue! The spookiest Jack O’ Lantern! Paint a pumpkin with Dark Arts Glow paint, except for the eyes and spooky mouth. Charge it with our Magic Black Light, then turn out the lights! Blue like a banana? Did you know the spots on ripe bananas glow an intense blue under a blacklight? This occurs as the chlorophyll breaks down as they ripen.


Featured Products