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Glowtubbing - Glow in the dark hot tubbing

video Glowtubbing - Glow in the dark hot tubbing
One cool Boston night tEps set up a kiddie pool filled with nice warm water. A small spoonful of UV reactive dye and it was transformed into a radioactive pit of joy. I will not suggest you do this yourselves. But it is easy to do, get some nontoxic UV dye that they use for flow monitoring in rivers and add it to a pool of your choosing. Bring out your UV bulbs and have fun. Remember to keep it out of your eyes and mouth.

This was a bad idea done by professional bad idea handlers. Please enjoy our mistakes and never do what we did.

As an aside, this type of dye can be used to make invisible spy ink either for silkscreening / pen type applications. Simply find the right binder (clear waterbased/acrylic gel) and write. To see it put it under any UV light source, a bill checking flashlight for instance.
12 comments
Mar 28, 2012. 12:19 PMRobbie Wilson says:
Very interesting and unique way to have fun if you can do it without hurting yourself :)
Dec 2, 2011. 6:29 PMCamping_DIY_Chick says:
Putting a few non toxic highlighter ink wells in a mesh bag and letting them soak in the hot tub for half an hour or so would probably work without a significant risk of adverse reactions. How many it would take to how much water to make it glow well is the real question.
Jun 10, 2009. 4:40 PMwestfw says:
The usual "tracker" dye is disodium Fluorescein, which is D&C 8. It's used medically (eyedrops to detect corneal abrasions, injected for assorted other purposes. Presumably in rather dilute solutions (Fluorescein is apparently detectable by fluorometer at concentrations down below 0.01 parts per billion!)) So it's pretty "non-toxic." Wikipedia's article implies that allergic-style reactions are pretty common, though.

There are usually people selling Fluorescein on eBay...
Jun 11, 2009. 11:35 AMdarwin says:
I don't think it was fluorescein. Last time I got fluorescein in my eye, it didn't burn, but I blacked out within seconds. This time it burned and I didn't black out, and I was splashing around in this tub for over an hour.
Jun 11, 2009. 12:09 PMwestfw says:
I just said that it was particularly common. If *I* had blacked out after getting fluorescein in my eye, *I* wouldn't be splashing around in glowing hot-tubs!
Jun 11, 2009. 1:07 PMdarwin says:
Good point. I guess I earned my nickname for that one . . . and I just wanted to point out that it's easy to get non-fluorescein stuff.
Jun 10, 2009. 9:06 AMxboxteen01 says:
The show Time Warp used a dye that was safe to have in your mouth. Not sure what made it safe though
Jun 10, 2009. 3:49 AMOroka says:
So, what bad things can happen if I get this in my eyes or mouth?
Jun 10, 2009. 9:56 AMimpulse94 says:
I believe there is a makeup that comes in different colors that should be safe. It's probably available at a costume shop or somewhere like Spencer Gifts.
Jun 10, 2009. 5:50 AMcrapflinger says:
that's ridiculously disorienting trying to figure out what way the guy is pointing in the video hehe

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Author:lamedust
Bilal Ghalib is interested in doing things that surprise him and inspire others. Let's create a future we want to live in together. I still sorta run the design and imprint company modati.com. I make...
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