ART / DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
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ART / DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
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Colour Inventors
Curriculum links English National Curriculum Resources needed Commercially produced paint colour chart -
usually available from DIY stores Suggested organisation Whole class, then mixed ability groups Carrying out the activity Distribute copies of the commercial colour chart and ask the class the following questions (answers are provided in the Background Information):
Appropriate information obtained during this discussion can be displayed for all children to refer to whilst working. In groups, the children now produce their own colour charts, using the 3 primary colours, plus black and white paint. Accurate measurement and recording are vital to the success of this activity. The children should practice using pipettes with water before using the paints, as it is quite a tricky technique. The children work with the pipette or dropper to add small amounts ('pipettefuls') of colour to their mixture, counting and recording the measurements as they do it, mixing it carefully and thoroughly with a clean paintbrush. They fill in the Colour Chart as they work to keep a tally of the number of pipettefuls' they are adding so that they have a record of each recipe. Each child could mix several shades of the same basic colour, so that eventually there will be a class booklet showing about 30 shades of a colour. Alternatively, each child may try mixing six different colours, which represent his/her favourites. A recipe entry might look like this:
The chart/booklet that is gradually built up, with contributions from each child, is used to try to reproduce one another's colours. When the groups are ready they can exchange their Colour Chart with another group. The children very carefully follow a recipe from the Colour Chart they have been given, to reproduce the colour and then paint a sample of it onto another piece of paper to see how closely it matches. Suggest that it may be best to let the samples dry thoroughly before evaluating the result. Plenary Discussion of the results should highlight the need for exact measurement, both by the inventors and the group trying to reproduce their recipes. Encourage discussion of how subtle the differences can be, but that an exact copy of the colour is essential to industry, otherwise we might find ourselves wearing an odd pair of socks because the cotton was dyed in different batches of the same dye! Finally, children are shown a photograph showing an industrial colour-mixing machine, which is used in industrial laboratories. They can be asked some of the following questions (answers are in the Background Information):
The three primary colours of paint are those that cannot be made from any other colours mixed together - red, yellow, blue. The secondary colours are any two primary colours combined, so red + yellow = orange; red + blue = purple; yellow + blue = green. Companies give names to colours because there are so many shades of each basic colour that 'orange' or 'blue' provides insufficient description. Also, the exotic names are intended to give the colours more appeal to the buyer. In the colour industry, for technical and scientific reasons, the primary colours are regarded as magenta, cyan and yellow. This is also the case for computer printers, and can be seen when the printer is tested. All other colours come from these primary colours, including black. One would expect to see the following elements
in a recipe; a list of ingredients, quantities/measurements, and a method
or an order for combining the ingredients. Replicating colours is very important to companies as they can lose customers if the colour match is not perfect. The job of a colourist in a dyehouse is very important and highly skilled. It can take years of training and experience to be able to detect the tiny differences between shades of colours. The colours have to be examined under special lighting conditions to give the best results. Colours may appear to be quite different in daylight from under electric light at home or in shop lighting. Special light matching cabinets are now used to check the quality of dyes under a range of lighting conditions, representing day light, tungsten light, and shop lighting. High-tech colour matching is often achieved
through colour matching computers, such as can now be seen in DIY stores
where you can take a sample piece of curtain fabric for the computer to
'look' at. The computer can then instruct the paint mixing machine to
mix up a perfectly matching colour of paint. Each ingredient is connected to the mixing vessel via a narrow tube. These machines have only been used in industry in the last few years. Until then, scientists working in the laboratory manually pipetted the mixtures. In some smaller companies today, manual pipetting is still the means by which colour-mixing is carried out. Fashions for colours in interior design and clothing have changed dramatically through the 1940's to the present day. This is partially due to the accelerated improvement in processes used to make paints and dyes. Amongst other things, there has been an increase in the available choice of colours, as new pigments and dyestuffs are discovered (similarly for dyeing fabrics for clothes, quilt covers, etc.). Synthetic colours can be much more vibrant than previously, for instance there is now the possibility of producing fluorescent and luminous colours. Extensions / links Maths Art/Design & Technology Design & Technology Art |
