Good evening everyone,

As you can see below, I have loads of old used C7 and C9 Christmas light bulbs just sitting around. Unfortunately on a good majority of them, the outside “colour lacquer” has faded and/or is chipping off the bulb from exposure to heat and the elements - and thus looks like crap. Most of these bulbs are still good and have plenty of life left in them, so what I’ve been doing is using them whenever I want WHITE bulbs by taking these used lamps to the wire wheel and removing the paint that way. Works quite well and gives them a second life!

Here’s my dilemma though. I still have a use for COLOURED bulbs like this, however the local stores here sell them for over a dollar PER BULB nowadays, and the colours fade out after a season of use. In addition, the ceramic / solid colour bulbs I happen to like (since they don’t wear out or fade) are even more expensive and completely unobtanium now that the stores have discontinued them. There is always the option of Amazon and eBay, but the prices on there are insane. Aliexpress yields no results and Alibaba is sketchy with the added bonus of the most insane shipping prices I’ve ever seen. Definitely not economical to be buying new incandescent Christmas light replacement bulbs anymore… whatever happened to 89 cents for a 4 pack?!

Since I’ve got literal buckets of FADED but GOOD Christmas light bulbs, I’m wondering if there is a way to somehow repaint them to resemble how they were new? I think it would be easier to replicate the ceramic type bulbs, but I’d need some kind of paint that is glossy, and can withstand high temperatures (so it won’t go gooey). Has anyone ever pulled this off? I’d be curious to hear from those in the lampmaking world that may know what kind of paint is used for this application and the best technique to apply it. Below are some ceramic C7 and C9 lamps I bought last year (which are discontinued now), and I’d ideally like to replicate what those look like, but by painting them myself.

Thanks for reading, hopefully someone has some insight here! 

 

I've looked into this, although to make tiny coloured fluorescent lamps instead of C7/C9 incandescents.

There used to be a product known as Rosco Colorine that was intended for this. It came in cans that you would paint on or dip the bulbs in order to coat them. Unfortunately I believe it's discontinued. I believe there's a German company that makes a similar product. This might be it but I suppose it's going to be a hassle getting that imported to Canada.

Anyway another method I've tried is with Pebeo Vitrail. It should be available from specialty art supply retailers (supposedly Michaels used to carry it but I've never been able to find it there). In Ontario the chain "Deserres" carries it and is where I buy it from. It's not cheap though. I've included a picture of some of the fluorescent lamps I've painted. The look isn't as smooth as factory although I suppose with a better brush it'll look more even. Unfortunately the paint also smells for a bit, especially with the lamp running although I suppose with time the smell will go away and if you use them outdoors it's not too much of an issue. I also painted a cheapo 50w MV in an attempt to make a caution yellow MV which seemed to work with mixed results.

It would be nice if there was an easy & reasonable-cost way to "re-paint" them.

Also.. I was in Lowes today, and they have C9's in both the transparent & opaque style.

Hello,
on german ebay tgere are several offers for “glühlampen tauchlack” which is lacker for incandescent lamps. Both in opack or clear however id recommend the clear one.

best regards,

Alex