Blackening materials

[JValaVIDI@xxxxxxx]

   Krylon Flat Black (or any other paint with carbon black as the pigment) is
the material you are looking for.  It's about as flat as anything is going to
get without a lot of $$ and blacker than the inside of..... well it's really
black (and durable too).  You can usually find it at K-Mart for the best
price.  I've done a lot of work identifying a flat black material like that
for a manufactured product and actually found the Krylon to perform as good
as a $200.00 a gallon material from a high tech "paint shop".

   One other material which is very, very black is the soot given off from
burning camphor.  If you can find a piece of this waxy stuff, light it with a
match and pass the item you want blackened back and forth through the black
smoke of the flame.  This again, makes for a very black, flat surface but it
is very delicate.  Unlike the Krylon surface, if this is touched it will
easily transfer the black soot to what ever touched it.


John Vala
Virtual Imaging Devices, Inc.
Plymouth, MI  USA


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