 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
lost color lists
48 turns to 64
krayola kolor notes
prefluorescence
cray o dentifier
|
|
| PREFLUORESCENCE |
| forbidden thrills man was not meant to see! |
| ||||||
12/15/01..... v0.3 in 1972 Crayola introduced a box of 8 fluorescent ("flu") crayons...it was the first time new colors had been added since 1958, and the first time EVER that Crayola produced what it now calls "specialty crayons"....that is, not part of the regular crayon line-up, altho they soon would be...since 1959, Crayola had offered a 72-count flat box, but since they only made 64 colors, they included extra reds, blues and blacks...the 8 flu were now substituted for these extras, making it a true 72-color box ...the original type 7 wrappers of the 8 flu were black, with writing in color...they would soon switch over to the normal wrapper pattern...the color names Crayola gives in its bogus color chronology are those the original 8 were RENAMED when the 16-count flu box was introduced in 1991...here are the original (1972) and new names: ULTRA YELLOW...renamed...ATOMIC TANGERINE... ULTRA PINK...renamed...SHOCKING PINK... ULTRA RED...renamed...WILD WATERMELLON... ULTRA ORANGE...renamed...OUTRAGEOUS ORANGE... ULTRA GREEN...renamed...SCREAMIN' GREEN... ULTRA BLUE...renamed...BLIZZARD BLUE... HOT MAGENTA...renamed...RAZZLE DAZZLE ROSE... CHARTRUESE...renamed...LAZER LEMON... added in 1991 were: PURPLE PIZZAZZ... UNMELLOW YELLOW [sic]... HOT MAGENTA (yeah, a different one)... RADICAL RED... SUNGLOW... MAGIC MINT... ELECTRIC LIME... for a total of 15 flu's...the 16th crayon was black...when these were combined with the 64 (plus 16 new colors) to form the 96-count box in 1993, a real 16th flu was needed, so NEON CARROT was added...(later, neon carrot replaced black in the 16-count...) the "glow" of DayGlo (registered trademark...http://www.dayglo.com) and other flu pigments is a result of interaction with ultraviolet light, which is invisible to the human eye...a so-called "black-light" party bulb produces UV of a frequency in the 3000-4000 angstrom range...it reacts most dramatically with flu materials, and is called "longwave" UV ...(the bulb also produces some visible violet light...otherwise, you couldn't tell by looking at it if it was turned on or not!)...UV lights or "lamps" are manufactured for a wide range of industrial and scientific applications, including medical and forensic...for "civilians", UV lamps are marketed to rock & mineral collectors, and stamp collectors...these lamps usually contain 2 bulbs, a longwave, and one that produces "shortwave" UV, in the 2000-3000 angstrom range...for rock hounds, some minerals react more to shortwave than to longwave....altho most flu pigments in use today react much less to shorwave UV, US postage stamps are printed with a special tagging agent that is invisible in normal light, but glows bright green in shortwave UV...this glow is used in large automated sorting and cancelling ("facer") machines to verify and locate the postage stamp on an envelope..the history and variations of UV tagging has become a specialty among stamp collectors, hence the lamps... YELLOW-ORANGE...prior to 1972, Crayola made crayons that fluoresced under longwave UV (from here on, "UV" will mean longwave UV unless noted)...they were not marketed as flu, of course...they were normal crayons that contained flu pigments...the prime example is yellow-orange...all Baby Boomer yellow-orange crayolas (wrapper types 5 & 6) are as bright under UV as the flu 8 introduced in 1972, most closely matching atomic tangerine (ultra yellow)....other colors from the 40's thru 60's exhibit a moderate to slight degree of flu....(completely non-flu materials are termed "inert")...thus the name of this page: PRE-fluorescence...crayons that glowed, altho not on purpose, prior to 1972... now while it is true that yellow-orange IN NORMAL LIGHT is a bright color, it is NOT what we'd call a fluorescent color...the common phenomenon of color is due to REFLECTED light...some of the colors that comprise the white light around an object are absorbed, others are reflected....the ones we see reflected give the object it's color...this reflected light originally came from a light source: the sun, a light-bulb, a flame...significantly, a flu material is also a light source!...invisible UV light goes into the atomic structure, and energy is created in the form of visible light...did you think the glow was the result of the flu material REFLECTING A LOT OF LIGHT?...well, in normal light some of its color is indeed the result of reflected light, but the flu material really is generating its own light too, and that creates the glow...the pigments developed by the DayGlo company were revolutionary because the UV effect was evident not just under UV, but also in normal daylight, hence the name... the term "phosphorescence" refers to a flu material in which the reaction with UV is so strong, visible light continues to be produced EVEN AFTER THE SOURCE OF THE UV IS REMOVED...in other words: "glow-in-the-dark"...the pigment in US postage stamp tagging is actually phosphorescent...in automated facer machines, shortwave UV is flashed, and sensors look for the phosphorescent "afterglow" to verify postage and align the stamp for cancelling...fluorescence and phosphorescence are sometimes lumped together as "luminescence"... then there is "color-changing", sometimes called "pseudo-fluorescence"...in this case, a slighlty flu pigment may not, even when the only source of light is UV, produce enough light to give it a charactaristic flu glow...but what light it does produce is a different color from the light it reflects in normal light!....for example, you might have 2 pieces of cloth, pretty much the same shade of non-flu green...under UV, one appears green, the other orange!...such results can be used to identify crayon colors that in normal light appear practically indistinguishable (and Crayola has made its share!)...lemon yellow and green-yellow present a good example: under UV, lemon yellow is a dark, inert olive green...green-yellow glows slightly yellow...it should be noted that "slightly flu" means as compared to moderately or highly flu materials...next to an inert pigment, even a slightly flu material exhibits a full-fledged flu glow...interestingly enough, next to a highly flu material, a slightly flu material's glow may "disappear" and the material appear inert...replace the highly flu material with one that is truly inert, and the slightly flu material's glow "returns"!...this "fluorescent relativity" is important to keep in mind when examining flu materials... MAGENTA & BRILLIANT ROSE...besides yellow-orange, the other important prefluorescent crayola is brilliant rose...this color was, as far as i can tell, introduced in 1949 with the old-48 line-up...under UV, it does not glow as bright as the true flu crayolas or yellow-orange, but it is brighter than any of the other Baby Boomer pre-flu's...i would call it moderately-to-highly flu...it was available in the old-48 right alongside the non-flu magenta...when gold was added to the old-48, just before the introduction of the 64-count in 1958, brilliant rose was dropped...but examination under UV reveals that it was the color name "brilliant rose" and the true color [magenta] that were retired...[brilliant rose] was in fact renamed magenta, resulting in the following crayons: 6-magenta=[magenta]... 6-brilliant rose=[brilliant rose]... 6-magenta=[brilliant rose]... and while this took place BEFORE the introduction of the 64 and the new-48 line-up, there was some overlap in the transition period...i have a mint early 64-count box...i assumed i knew what colors it contained...imagine my surprise when i pulled out and looked at a couple of sticks...and one was the supposedly-retired brilliant rose!...needless to say, i checked all the other crayons, assuming i would not find a magenta, and sure enough i didn't...but let that be a lesson to you: check the crayons in your boxes...you might find something you didn't expect!...(and let me know!)... along with yellow-orange and brilliant rose, here are the other Baby Boomer prefluorescents i've found: 5-medium yellow....moderately flu...also exists as inert... 6-orange-yellow....moderatley flu...also exists as inert... 6-orange....moderatley flu...(5-orange is inert)... 5-red-orange....slightly flu... 6-red-orange...2 shades: moderately flu & slightly flu... 5,6-red....slightly flu... 5-rose pink....slightly flu...also exists as inert... 6-carnation pink....slightly flu...also exists as inert... 5,6-yellow....slightly flu... 5-yellow-green....slightly flu...also exists as inert... 6-violet-red....slightly flu... while comparing crayola colors in normal light, it is useful to color on many different types of paper...but when examining for flu, NEVER use white paper, the type used for computer printers or copiers...this paper is made with varying amounts of "optical brighteners" which give it a very strong blue-white glow...so strong in fact that the flu of 6-yellow orange and the other preflu's may be completely masked...use coarse, dull paper...like sketch-pad or coloring-book paper...even newspapers...for a real kick, try coloring on paper cut from a plain old brown paper-bag...the darker the better!... today's yellow-orange and magenta (wrapper types 8 & 9) display some flu under UV, but much less than that of their BB counterparts (wrapper types 5 & 6)...my guess (and at this time it is only a guess) is that the flu was reduced when the true flu 8 were introduced... IMPORTANT NOTE: while longwave UV is harmless, shortwave UV can damage the eye...protective eye-gear should be worn...ordinary prescription glasses provide such protection... |
 Sign Guestbook |
 View Guestbook |
 production@nnymail.com |
|
. |
| Visitors: 01974 |