Yes, but only when “attacking” them with UV light.
But that’s kinda what I expected - my silicone implants are visible at day as “normal” silicone implants, so they have that nice three-dimensional effect, and they glow subtly at night or in very dark rooms.
For the tattoos, I aim for something similar - a discreet glow at night, and maybe, if I’m really lucky, the pigments will look similar to white ink at day. But if they are fully invisible at day, I’m fine with that, too 
Hmm… I just had an idea on what could make this pigment work better for tattooing. Adding some shear thinning agent might help keep the pigment suspended. It would be more like tattoo gel until the tattoo gun picks it up. i’m not sure about it though. hyaluronic acid might work for thickening but i’m really not sure. would need more tests
The 5 micrometer pigments arrived a few days ago, so I was able to do another test. The powder itself really feels much finer, to the point that I was actually afraid of inhaling it while handling it. It mixed better with my usual carrier fluid (that is, 1/3 alcohol, 1/3 glycerine, 1/3 immortelle water), and by now I’d say it really ends up under the skin. I’ll take some pictures tomorrow or so (not much time today, sorry!), but last night, I saw my leg faintly glow underneath my bedspread.
Like, in a pitch black room, it glows without “artificial” charging - not as much as my silicone implants, but it’s only a thin line, so that was to be expected
I’m really happy with the results, and I’m curious to try out the other colours soon!
I’ve got some hyaluronic acid around here (skincare, so in a gel already), might be worth trying it… though I’m not really unhappy with my current solution
So you want it inside of you but in your lungs…
Now where is that “not like this” gif when you need it?
Joking aside, how dangerous is it of inhaled?
I’m sure my lungs are black from years of smoking, would be cool to add some glow powder to surprise the unlucky person who does my autopsy. XD
It’s a fine powder, so, definitely not healthy. For rats, the LD50 is >2000 mg / kg when taken orally versus 5,09 mg when inhaled. I am strongly against animal testing, but it was obviously done…
I think it’s similar to all very finely powdered things - they all cause irritation and, worst case, lung cancer when inhaled to much or too often. And that even applies to stuff like flour, so, the substance itself can be very safe, but inhaling it will still cause problems.
I handled the powder once when putting it from the boxes it came in into the glasses I used for “sterilizing” it, and there was a little bit of pigment-stuff in the air. Other than that, it was easy enough to handle it without too much stuff flying around, so I guess it’s okay. If I would work with it every day, I’d consider wearing a mask though
Okay, now that’s a cool idea on the other hand… 
edit: okay, made some pictures - I expect it to fade a bit more, I’m not sure if all the pigments are settled or if it will “bleed out” a bit, but… well, I glow. 
And yes, I suck at tattooing
But hey, it’s the first line I ever tattooed onto anything, so I guess it’s okay-ish… and I’ll rework it a bit more, obviously.
That is A.W.E.S.O.M.E ! 
Looks like that worked super well. As I was reading through this thread, I remember this article about strontium aluminate.
But also worth noting about the potential risk associated with strontium aluminate is that despite it being biologically inert, it readily hydrolyzes in water to form nonluminescent aluminum hydroxide precipitate (Seizures, osteomalacia, and encephalopathy are well-documented toxic effects of aluminum hydroxide) and soluble strontium hydroxide.
But that aside, I think this is very exciting progress here, and I hope it remains body safe long-term. Super cool pictures btw.
(Also, hope it’s not weird to comment all this in a reply since most of it I mean just in general for the whole thread.)
Thanks for your thoughts! Yeah, I know strontium aluminate is losing its luminosity when exposed to water or moisture in general… that was one of the things that made me hestitate most in this project.
But the manufacturer (or seller, at least^^) of the pigments I finally bought claims that they can be used in liquids as well, and I think I read somewhere that the pigments are actually encapsulated - to be honest, I can’t find that again, and maybe I misunderstood things.
I know that aluminium in several forms is seriously unhealthy, so… well, I keep my fingers crossed that everything goes fine
I’m pretty hypocritical on that one, though… I’d never install a firefly implant or anything containing tritium, because I’m freakin’ afraid of radioactivity, but for all the other stuff, I’m a bit fatalistic. So much stuff in our environment that’s carcinogenic, toxic or just generally dangerous - I try to avoid it the best I can, but I know myself well enough to know that I will ignore some risks when it comes to “improving” my own body. It’s a risk I’m personally willing to take, but I don’t generally recommend what I’m doing here To each his own risk assessment
Thank you! I’m actually pretty overwhelmed by the positive reactions here - I mean, the line isn’t even tattoed well, it’s all quite work in progress still… I have this thing with bioluminescence, so I know how happy it makes me to see a faintly glowing line on my body, and I’m really touched how y’all somehow celebrate that with me
Lol, there’s maybe 5 gallons worth of Tritium vials that are no longer any good maybe 15 feet from my desk lol… tritium gets a pretty bad rap because “radioactive”
The radiation it puts out is so weak almost anything will stop it
Don’t snort or huff it… and I think nutshell sound byte was 1 Tritium vial if broken is like smoking a pack of cigarettes
Yeah, I was a bit spooked when I saw the suggestion of grinding it down with a pestle and mortar because I doubt the silicone encapsulation would self-heal, but you’d already tried it with unencapsulated strontium aluminate, so I’m wondering if the adverse side-effects are more of a problem with ingestion rather than with being in the skin.
Idk if you did this or not when you were tattooing yourself, but tattooists will rub ink onto the skin first, in addition to putting it onto the needles, and my understanding is that the way the tattoo works is that the skin “sucks” the ink in after the needles exit the holes, so that might help increase your brightness too.
And regarding the first link I sent, it has occurred to me that I ought to have shared it this way instead, since you probably don’t have a subscription to that journal, and they’re kinda spendy, and sci-hub makes it accessible for everyone.
I feel that. I’m not good at bio stuff, but I’m trying to figure out a way to turn myself into a gmo so my hair can be bioluminesce red. Ever since I saw this video from The Thought Emporium on YouTube, it’s seemed a lot more attainable than I’d previously thought (though also because I saw how he temporarily cured himself of lactose intolerance via gene therapy). But it’s certainly beyond my current level of understanding of genetics, and well outside the realm of what medical science considers to be… ethical. Idk how it’s a problem though, b/c it’s my body and I ought to be able to make it be how I want it to be, and why wouldn’t I want glowing red hair?
But I’ve also been wanting photo-luminescent tattoos since the late 90s, so seeing yours and knowing that there’s a material that’s both bio-inert, and has an extremely bright glow, and lasts for a long time, makes me think now might be the time I need to give finally give it a go, instead of being as cautious as I typically am. lol
Well that’s not very discouraging lol, though I wonder how big of a vial you’d need to get a decent glow showing through the skin. I think I’d want it housed in the same bio-glass all of my chips are in, rather than the thin delicate looking vials the 15 that are inside my watch are housed in. I bet the glow from a tritium vial the same size as the xsiid would be incredible. Downside that they’d only last for about 25 years, but I think that’s a decent amount of time before needing replacement. XD
They will technically last much longer than that,
It only halves every 12 ish years
It happens anyways, at least the way I do it - there is always some “ink” on the skin from the pokes before, so I work that into my skin as well, along with the “new” ink that’s on the needle.
I’m actually pretty satisfied with the current results - it glows about as much as my implants, and that’s more than I had expected. Gonna try out the other colours in a few days I guess
Red is one of the most difficult colours when it comes to bioluminescence… but why not
I might be a minority in this forum, but I’m not too fond of genetics when it comes to animals or plants - but for consenting human beings? I’m actually okay with that. I don’t plan to reproduce anyways, so no risk of spreading modified genes uncontrollably
Ethics is a difficult thing when it comes to altering your own body. I’m totally with you, though - every human being should be able to get a body they’re happy to live in. Even if that means doing things other people don’t understand.
A lot of things are already made possible (though not always in a legal way) by bodymod artists, other things are beyond their scope - and “official” doctors won’t do it, because they might lose their jobs. So the only option is to find someone who does this illegally, and that might lead to other problems. That’s the reason why I’m seriously worried that so many countries outright ban things like scarification, tongue splitting or even implants - if people can’t go to a safe and legal place to get things done, they will do it themselves or in an unsafe place. Not a good option, I guess…
I feel you
That’s why I share my experiences here. I do not really recommend doing it, because I know there are some stupid risks involved (starting with the “don’t tattoo yourself, go to an artist”-thing), I have no clue how my line(s) will look in a year or a decade, and I don’t know if the pigments will have any effect on my health in the long run. I can just say, it works (well enough for me - but don’t expect to run around glowing brightly in a dimly lit room), and my body tolerates it at least short-term.
You’re not alone here
This is so true … And unfortunately in the US we can add more and more simple and straightforward medical procedures to the list …
Using “public safety” to impose their religious beliefs is safer hazard for the entire society …
I’m happy to see others as fanatic with bioluminescence as I am xD i’ll still try the other approach of achieving bioluminescence some day. Welcome to the club of fireflies! XD
Jokes aside it’s awesome that you managed to replicate my tries in a way that works even better than it did for me
Oh, I see. Guess my understanding of halflife was not entirely accurate. Figured half in 12ish years, and the other half after another 12ish years. That’s decent then.
Half life’s are weird
It’s like this but the intervals are 12 years. The relationship between the phosphor brightness and the decay percent is relatively linear for most of the curve, until the very end where penetration depth into the phosphor comes into play. For the first half life the phosphor can’t even absorb all the radiation in a useful way anyway.
Half Life is worth playing. Oh, wait, wrong half life…
