How to Make Glow-in-the-Dark Ping-Pong Balls
LED ping-pong tables are popping up in homes, arcades and indoor amusement parks around the country, offering players an intense, fast-paced version of the game played in the dark. But even if you still have a standard, old-fashioned ping-pong table, you can transform this favorite recreational pastime into an extreme, play-in-the-dark game with a black light and a little glow-in-the-dark paint. Learn how to make ping-pong balls glow in the dark with easy-to-use, lightweight spray paint, and give your old ping-pong table a nighttime makeover with colorless paint that glows in the dark or under black light while you’re at it.
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Instructions
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Push a straight pin one-third of the way through a plain ping pong ball.
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Hold the ping-pong ball by the pin you inserted with one hand, and spray a light coat of the paint onto the ball with the other.
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Tie a piece of thin string around the base of the pin. Tie the other end of the string from a show curtain rod, overhead pipe or other area where the ball can hang to air dry.
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Remove the string and the pin once the ball is dry. Your ping-pong ball will now glow in the dark or underneath a black light.
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Tips & Warnings
Add a drop of glue to the tip of the pin if necessary to keep the ball in place during painting and drying.
Use glow-in-the-dark paint to decorate paddles, the edges and netting of your ping pong table for glowing colors during black light play.
Color your ping-pong balls with highlighter instead of spray paint to achieve the same effect under a black light.
Hold painted ping-pong balls underneath a UV-A lamp for 30 seconds to 1 minute to intensify the glowing effect in the dark or black light.
Never play ping pong in total darkness, as accidents or injury can occur.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Siri Stafford/Photodisc/Getty Images
