How to Make DIY Black Light Neon Paint Splatter Leggings

If you’re also a child of the 80s as I am, I think you can relate to this.

I will always have an affinity for neon and especially neon paint splatter.

One of my all time favorite items of clothing from my childhood were my acid washed, neon paint splattered denim shorts.

So when DecoArt gave me these Black Light Neon Paints to play with, I instantly new what I wanted to do with them.

This is a super quick and easy tutorial that your kids would probably love to be involved in! Especially if they like to get their hands messy 🙂

Don’t worry, the paint cleans up with soap and water (just make sure it doesn’t dry on clothing you don’t want to get paint on).

Black Light Neon Paint Splatter Leggings

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

• DecoArt Black Light Neon Acrylic Paints
• Article of clothing (in this case, leggings)
• Newspaper or other material to protect your surface

TOOLS NEEDED:

Depending on the method… either your hands or a stiff bristle paint brush

Step One: Protect your surface

Put down a layer of newspaper or other covering to protect the surface you’re working on.

We’re going to be flinging paint, so you can’t be too careful! You’ll need to protect more space than you probably think you do.

Step Two: Apply the paint in a splatter effect

After some experimentation, I found two techniques to make the paint splatter look that I think worked the best:

1. Stiff Bristle Paint Brush Method
2. By Hand Method

Either way, your hands will get messy. Good thing Black Light Neon paint cleans up easily with soap and water 😉

From my trials, I have found that the stiff bristle paint brush method creates more thin, subtle splatters whereas the by hand method makes more “loud” and vibrant splatters.

If you want to use the stiff bristle paint brush method:

1. Load up the end of the paint brush with a generous amount of paint
2. Hold the paint brush a few inches above the article of clothing
3. Use your fingers to flick the paint brush bristles towards the clothes
4. You can also try loading up the end of the paint brush with paint and flicking the entire paint brush towards the clothes

If you want to use the by hand method:

1. Load up the ends of your fingers with a bit of paint (you could wear gloves if you wanted)
2. Hold your hand a few inches above the article of clothing
3. Use your thumb to flick the paint off your finger tips towards the clothes

These Black Light Neons went on so bright and vivid thanks to their intense pigments!

Step Three: Repeat until you’re happy

Repeat the above method with each paint color until you’re happy with the results on that side of the clothing.

Let it dry thoroughly. Then, flip over and repeat the same process on the opposite side.

PRO TIP: If you’re using the paint brush method, your paint brush will need to be pretty close to dry between colors or it will be harder to “flick” and the paint will be more watered down.

These paints also look SUPER COOL under a black light!

DecoArt Black Light Neons come in 6 brilliant colors, now available at Michaels!

This post was sponsored by DecoArt, all opinions are my own.