Colored water/other liquids

[OdetteDespairr]

Looking to find out what kinds of dye you use for water, tubes, neat medical looking stuff. I was thinking about using club soda in like test tubes because of the UV effect or gatorade. Any suggestions?

Jackie

[Allen H]

I use anti freeze and mineral oil tinted with food coloring it never goes rancid. I will also mix UV paint with mineral oil to get UV fluids.

[jakprintsHAUNT]

if you are doing the blacklight thing, there are a lot of options, even just getting a battery operated light and going into your pantry or a store can produce some really surprising results. Some detergents glow VERY brightly. Even suspending stuff like neon acrylic paints in materials like methylcellulose (aka super slime or monster slime) can produce some neat looking results. You can always mix in the paints with water and other liquids, but it will likely eventually separate.

Even painting insides of jars with a glow in the dark or translucent fluorescent paint can mimic the liquid look as well.


Mike "Pogo" Hach

[SinisterControls]

Highlighter

For UV blacklight applications you can pop a Highlighter apart and soak the guts in water. I think green looks the best. Just two or three highlighter pens is enough to tint an entire 55 gallon drum. Under blacklight it really glows.
Toss in some bleach to your water solution to keep the bug count down.

[Matt Marich]

I don't think the Anti-freeze thing is too safe, better weigh caution on that one. There are better quality food colrs at Pro decorating stores, more than the four you get at the store. These are also very concentrated. Try using fabric dyes, they are intense, add a driop or two of water conditioner for a WATER BED, THIS WILL KEEP THE SMELL AND BACTERIA DOWN.

[SpookywoodsFX.com]

Jackie, something you can experiment with now would be "hiliter" or "highlighter" markers, not sure the spelling on those.... Open them up and drop the ink sponge into some water with a little mineral oil for awhile. They have some cool colors (yellow, green, blue, pink, etc.) that look like they glow in the right light. The markers you can get at Office Depot and the mineral oil at Home Depot or an art supply.
Another cool trick is to drill small holes in the table, underneath the beakers and add a light below that.

*EDIT* LOL Sinister beat me to it while I was typing.