Lime light

[renegadeblack]

Anyone know if it's still possible to use good old limelights, or anyone know what they're made of?

[wfor]

Originally Posted by renegadeblack

Anyone know if it's still possible to use good old limelights, or anyone know what they're made of?

Lime lights are made with a piece of Calcium Carbonate, which is electrified in a vaccuum of I think hydrogen and oxygen (maybe nitrogen?). From what I understand, they were bright but not pretty. And very, very old.

[renegadeblack]

Originally Posted by wfor

Lime lights are made with a piece of Calcium Carbonate, which is electrified in a vaccuum of I think hydrogen and oxygen (maybe nitrogen?). From what I understand, they were bright but not pretty. And very, very old.

Hmm, I looked it up some more, I guess that it's rather hazardous to try. I thought it was just a mere chemical reaction sort of like glow sticks. Never mind then

[Van]

Atually you can still obtain a small version of a lime light if you can find an Acetylene "miners lamp".
Original Lime Lights were an acetylene flame focused on a peice of Limestone, the intense heat of the acetylene flame causes the limestone to reach it's temperature of incandecence at which point it gives off a slightly greenish, but realtivly bright light. The acetylene was obtained by dropping pellets of calcium carbide into a closed vessel containing water.

Outside of the miners lamps which are often availible at Army surplus type places I have no Idea where you'd get a still working limelight, The calcium carbide pellets are often sold for replica cannon and the like, I believe the book "Backyard Balistics" has a couple of references for suppliers, as the hae a design for an acetylene powered spud cannon. I don't have my copy handy or I'd look it up for you.
I'm not sure if I would try to build my own Limelight, however. The Limestone peice needs to be free of flaws or contaminents as the heat involved could cause it to crack and explode if substances other than limestone were present. Acetylene is not a totally safe substance eitherout side of it's very volatile nature, it's very heavy and displaces oxygen, which can lead to asphyxiation when it's played with in confined spaces. It's very explosive and a leak in the containment vessel could lead to a big boom.

[gafftaper]

...and that kids is why theaters used to burn down all the time!

[David Ashton]

Demonstrations 19
With the advent of the "Hydrogen Economy" they could make a comeback, certainly brighter than LEDs

[renegadeblack]

I was suggested by my english teacher that when we do Pirates of Penzance, it might be interesting to try some period lighting for the show, but that's looking like a no. One thing that I am interested in trying is possible some footlights from it's 80's(?) revival.

[David Ashton]

There is a BBC series called "the worst jobs in history", in which they re-created a limelight spotlight, I have a limelight unit which came out of an old spotlight but there could be insurance "issues" in using it.

[Van]

Originally Posted by renegadeblack

I was suggested by my english teacher that when we do Pirates of Penzance, it might be interesting to try some period lighting for the show, but that's looking like a no. One thing that I am interested in trying is possible some footlights from it's 80's(?) revival.

Foot lights are a great way to get a "traditional" feel to a show. there are a couple of threads on here detailing a couple of different ways to go about creating them. As far as getting an overall feeling for limelight into the show you could always just gel the lights with an extremely light green. almost all the gel manufacturers have a Limelight color.

[iLightTheStage]

Originally Posted by David Ashton

There is a BBC series called "the worst jobs in history", in which they re-created a limelight spotlight, I have a limelight unit which came out of an old spotlight but there could be insurance "issues" in using it.

I was TRYING to remember what show it was that I caught that on the other day! It was an excellent explanation of the use of limelight! And it is here on youtube: YouTube - The Worst Jobs in History - Christmas Special - Part 4