If you've been hankering for a project that would take the already awesome nature of handheld lasers and kick it up a notch, this one's for you. Turn a hand-held laser and some glow-in-the-dark paint into a glowing canvas.


All you need to build a really cool UV-reactive drawing board is some glow-in-the-dark paint—you can find it everywhere from sporting goods stores to specialty science shops—and a source of intense UV light. In the video above, laser-hobbyist Jo0ngle uses both a blue laser and a small UV light to "paint" with light on a wall prepped with glow-in-the-dark paint. If you're having trouble finding a UV flashlight, consider buying a currency pen—the UV-penlights used to detect counterfeit currency.

Watch the video above to see the laser pen and UV flashlight in action. If you have any experience with fun applications of lasers or other flashy party tricks, let's hear about it in the comments.


UV-Laser Painting [YouTube via Hack A Day]