its in the tank already and looks perfect in every respect. took me about 1 hour and $0.25 of sculpey. i couldnt get the glow in the dark in town, so i used a transparent glow in the dark paint. both however will glow after being exposed to light and not continuously emit light (they need to be recharged) another option is using blacklight retentive clay, and putting a single UV LED in the tank which would give them the appearance of continuous glowing.
gotta get some pics, but as i said, the clay model is identical both in daylight and glowing, to a real boomer.
blacklight retentive clay, i can't seem to find any on the net. i did order the sculpey glow in the dark clay. did you use a mold to make the shrooms, or did you just wing it?
i just "winged" it. but im very familiar with the structure of mushrooms, and have experience with sculpture.
its pretty easy though. and a decent replica can be made by anyone with some patience. i will say that, while its difficult to wrap around, a toothpick or straightened paperclip will give you a nice armature and allow you to make nice natural looking stems.
would the paper clip eventually rust out if not completely surrounded by the clay? or is that not an issue. what is a good way to get the cap/head of the mushroom shaped to a consistent basis for repetitive molds?
it shouldnt matter if it rusts out as long as its completely surrounded, so there arent holes in the sides. i prefer the really cheap toothpicks though.
and i just shape the cap by hand nd use a razor to cut tiny gills in the bottom.
looking good. with a little more practice and using some small tools (namely an x-acto blade) you can get truly natural looking mushrooms that are nearly identical to living ones.
one thing that helps a lot is making a sculpey base that will hold the peice as you work it. this makes it possible to avoid bending or manipulating the clay while working a different area. the base can simply be cut away when your done baking.
JAMES67:any chance you have some pics of yours in action yet?, my UV lights will be here in the mail today, hopefully that aids in them appearing to glow longer.
the lights will only work if theres no significant light in the visible range, and im unsure about its ability to work if passed through glass. this is why i was suggesting a small single LED bulb. let us know how it works.
if this LED purple doesn't work I'll try a single one. I'm hoping this will provide a moonlight effect in the tank providing a night vision type of light, as well the light strips are completely waterproof-the only reason why i went with them. once i get them in the mail and get them installed i will post the results. I'm guessing that with this one LED you are referring too it would be white?
yep, they are UV LED's 9 in a strip. I mounted 2 of them equally apart on the top glass inside. I briefly turned all the lights off and turned them on and I'm pretty sure i solved the problem. i ordered some more of the LED's once i saw how well they were with ambient white light from the windows and day sun. I did notice some other glowing ares where no mushrooms were, is the clay leaching? i know others use clay all the time, but with the GLOW factor is there any ill effects to be concerned of? Once all the daylight is gone here in another hour or two i will post some sweet pics.
Neat! but you gotta make them into clusters. Mycenas almost always grow as cluster or tight grouping....Im assumingthe Mycenas are the genus whose form you are wanting to imitate
oh yeah, the clusters will grow, just wanted to give a few a try to see what they looked like,,if anyone has links on how to shape them better let me know.
its all about patience and attention to detail. just get a good picture of the mushroom you want to reproduce (from as many angles as possible) you can use a mushroom key like: Rogers Mushrooms | Mushroom Pictures & Mushroom Reference to find one you like.
get yourself a toothpick and an x-acto. make a glob of clay this will be the base. then take a SMALL amount of clay and make a long flat strip. wrap that around the toothpick. then take some clay and try to shape out a basic cap (using the pics as reference) use the sides of the x-acto to smooth out the stem and cap top. take the blade of the x-acto and cut outwards from the enter of the cap to make gills (remember detail is realism in this case) carefully connect the cap and stem and make sure to mix the clay ate the joints to create a good bond. now dont forget the veil (small band around the stem where the cap opened from) you can make a tiny roll and affix it to the stem and use the point of the blade to create some detail and properly attach it. then make some pin heads and or a smaller cap (unopened) next to the big one. dont rush it. it took me over an hour of very detailed work to get a truly convincing mushroom.
i ordered some of this to get some colors and possible more realistic looking mushrooms, as well my daughter wanted to get in on the action of
making the clay mushrooms, so there will be some not so realistic looking, couldn't tell her no because they wouldn't look real. she has been very helpful in decorating and culturing the flies--pretty cool when your only 7years old.
here's the link to the glow clay sampler pack: Sculpey® Glow in the Dark Clay Set 6 Colors - eBay (item 160496873767 end time Jul-19-11 09:08:36 PDT)
I had some old Sculpey II laying around so I made some mushrooms after checking out this post. I snipped off the the tip of some wood shish-kabobs and formed clusters around them with glow in the dark clay. I then stabbed the wood into the cork bark on my background and that's it.
The white clay looked more natural than the neon green or orange colors I also have but it doesn't glow nearly as bright. I may try it in green or orange next to see how they turn out.
dude, sweet clusters. any chance you have a step by step on how you formed those, or a link to follow. i did order the glow sampler pack from Sculpey. i bought 2 of them in case some colors really glow more than others, as they don't offer them individually to my searching on ebay and different sellers.
First you want to cut off about 3-4 inches from the end of a wood skewer, then wrap it with clay.
Next, roll out a "worm" with the clay and chop it into around 1/4" pieces.
Smoosh the pieces into little pancakes, then cut about 8 pizza criss-crosses along the backs of them for realism of the underbelly of real mushroom caps.
Next, place the biggest disc on the top and build down from there by squishing the discs into the side of the stem.
Once you have placed all of the discs, roll a thinner "worm" and attach the strings from the bottom of the base to the underside of the caps using an exact-o knife.
Finally, bake at 275 for 12-15 minutes.
I also built an orange "bell" shaped cluster without stems along the same principals.
I would also recommend piloting a small drill hole into whatever you will be placing this into- I did not do that and had a few pieces break off when I tried to press it in.
Well you know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words, your pics put 2and2 together for me. now i get what your are saying completely. greatly appreciated on Thursday i will give what you have shown a try. I hate to say it i have been using about 2 inches of paper clip to mount mine, about 1 1/4 inches in the stem and the remainder 3/4 inches mounted in my driftwood or in the cork tile. granted i am pushing all the exposed paper clip all the way flush into the driftwood and into the cork tile so none is exposed.
wjesse
Junior Member
wjesse:, thanks for the pics here is my first stab at a cluster. I will try again once i get the glow clay color sampler in the mail in a few days, thanks again.
You should really check out GRIMM's thread on how he makes his "avatar mushrooms" (in case you haven't that is), which might help you make more realistic-looking mushrooms. Also hit up google images for more natural inspiration
I did a video walkthrough on mine in my thread here not all that complex but they look great imo and also if you use a black light they flouresce great.
I did a video walkthrough on mine in my thread here not all that complex but they look great imo and also if you use a black light they flouresce great.
I added the other 2 UV LED's light strips to make a square in the canopy, now there are 4 as opposed to the previous 2. i will post pics later once it darkens as there are windows in the basement and create alot of ambient light with the blinds closed.
having the 4 installed, spread the light out more making it more even. my colored glow clay will be here on saturday so i will post some pics this weekend.
You guys did a great job finding an alternative solution here. Still though, I can't help but consider setting up one of my 20 longs to try to grow these mushrooms. All of my other setups have springtail cultures. The biggest problem I can think of would be other fungi competing for resources and there's just no way I'll be able to keep a completely sterile environment with other terrariums around.
You know, I wonder if that bioluminescent algae I posted about earlier could be used to make a waterfall/water feature that glows at night, as it glows when agitated...
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Re: REAL GLOW MUSHROOMS! Panellus Stipticus
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