Color Value Part 8

" " violet make it appear deeper violet.

" " black make it appear violet-black.

146. The pale tints of electric lights, which make every face in a room look ghastly, will affect quite as disastrously every soft color in the furnishings. In ordinary gaslight a pair of white gloves looks yellow, and we have seen Welsbach lamps which threw out a violet-blue illumination, depressing in the extreme. Under a yellow glow, blues, greens, violets and purples are greatly changed. Under a violet glow, yellows and greens are ruined. To see all colors in about the same value that they possess by daylight one must have a light in which no color tone is apparent.

The question as to the disposition and intensity of the lights is of vital importance, and must be considered with the requirements of each particular room in mind.

147. For the drawing-room and reception-room it is desirable that all parts of the room be evenly lighted, without a p.r.o.nounced glare in any particular part of the room. One of the most effective ways of accomplishing this is by distributing the lights around the room, either on the ceiling, in the cove or above a wide molding, so that the ceiling acts as a reflecting agent, and distributes an even tone of light to all parts.

-ILLUMINATION-

148. For the dining-room and living-room a different plan must be used, because of the different requirements. The table is usually in such rooms the chief feature of the furnishings, and it is customary to focus upon it the main body of light. While this is obviously necessary, the surroundings must not be ignored; neither is it possible to raise the center light to such a height that its radiation may reach all parts of the room, because in so doing the light reaches the eye at an extremely unpleasant angle. The drop fixture should be low enough to effectively light all parts of the table, while at the same time its shade should screen the light from the eyes of the room's occupants. To illuminate the surrounding parts of the room other lights should be distributed where they will most effectively supply what further illumination is required.

149. For the bedroom or boudoir the location of the lights should also be subordinated to the purposes of the room, and in addition to providing sufficient illumination to the entire area, special illumination should be provided for the mirrors and the dressing-table.

The lights for the mirrors should be planned to illuminate the person and not the image.

150. For large reception-rooms in hotels and public inst.i.tutions the plan is frequently adopted of having all light provided by small table lamps with opalescent shades. These provide a medium glow throughout the entire room that is pleasing, and avoid entirely the garishness usually a.s.sociated with such rooms. One of the mistakes of the day is the use of high-power lights, which are so intense that they require to be screened or shaded, involving waste of light and concentrating an unnecessary amount of illumination upon a narrow sphere.

-REFLECTIVE POWER OF COLOR-

The following table will give an idea of the percentage of light reflected from ordinary wall-hangings and papers:

Per Cent.

Reflection

White blotting-paper .82 White cartridge-paper .80 Ordinary foolscap .70 Ordinary newspaper .50 to .70 Chrome yellow paper .62 Orange paper .50 Yellow wall-paper .40 Yellow painted wall (clean) .40 Tracing cloth, pale blue .35 Light pink paper .36 Blue paper .25 Emerald green .18 Dark brown paper .13 Vermilion paper .12 Blue green paper .12 Cobalt blue paper .12 Black paper 0.5 Deep chocolate paper 0.4 French ultramarine blue paper 3.5 Black cloth 1.2 Black velvet 0.4

151. It is very difficult to select practical artificial illuminants, because of the various color properties possessed by each. A Welsbach mantle, which gives a greenish tint, is pretty sure to alter the character of any color other than green. Incandescent electric light, as well as ordinary gaslight, contains a yellow tint.

-THE COLOR OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS-

152. In planning or matching colors for a room, it is best to consider the purpose for which the room is to be used, and match the colors under the same light conditions that will prevail in the finished room.

Deep, full colors are less affected by the shadings in artificial illuminants than lighter tones of the same color.

ILLUMINANT. COLOR.

Sun (high in sky) White.

Sun (near horizon) Orange red.

Sky light Bluish white.

Electric arc (short) White.

Electric arc (long) Bluish white to violet.

Nernst lamp White.

Incandescent (normal) Yellow-white.

Incandescent (below voltage) Orange to orange-red.

Acetyline flame Nearly white.

Welsbach light Greenish white.

Gaslight (Siemens burner) Nearly white, faint yellow tinge.

Gaslight (ordinary) Yellowish white to pale orange.

Kerosene lamp Yellowish white to pale orange.

Candle Orange yellow.

-ARTIFICIAL LIGHT APPLICATION-

153. The introduction of light by the medium of a wire, which may be carried to any point in a room, encourages so many possibilities for comfort and effect that it behooves us to forget traditional customs which were established during the gaslight period. The introduction of gaslight through tubes was a rather complex problem, and the carrying of the pipes into the room through a main chandelier was the most advisable constructive form. But we have no need for such c.u.mbersome fixtures in this day of wiring.

A mere cord takes the place of an inch pipe. Modern German and Austrian lighting fixtures frequently are mere pendants, with the cord frankly in evidence. In this way the lights may be placed wherever needed--at the head of the lounge, so one may read more clearly by it; close by the piano; over the tea-table. In fact, supplementary lights to the general illumination are a convenience that the decorator should consider.

154. The lighting of a house is a matter so dependent upon aesthetic conditions that it is never within the scope of the electrician. It is a problem for a decorator alone to solve. Intense and glaring lights of unusual power must be avoided. Luminants of low intrinsic brilliancy are preferable.

155. The floor is the least important surface for illumination, and has no reflecting power of value. The walls vary in value according to their color and surface. With lights radiating upward, however, the ceiling possesses definite power, and should be considered.

156. Dark colors absorb light, while white and light colors reflect, and this must always be remembered; for upon the character of the decorations and furnishings of various rooms the quant.i.ty as well as the quality of light has serious influence.

-POWER NECESSARY-

157. While the list which we give herewith is based largely upon area, it may be taken as a basis of calculation for lighting equipment.

It is estimated that 300 square feet of a hallway requires four sixteen-candlepower, or eight eight-candlepower units.

In a room 20 x 20 feet, with furnishings of mahogany and green, broken up by bookcases and other furniture producing heavy shadows, it is estimated that twelve eight-candlepower lights are sufficient if worked into the frieze, and that a reading lamp of not less than thirty-two-candlepower be used as a drop light.

a.s.suming a room is 15 x 15 feet, and furnished in light tones, four eight-candlepower lamps are ample.

A living-room 20 x 25 feet, in light tones of color, requires two thirty-two-candlepower lights, centrally located, and about twelve eight-candlepower lights. This should provide brilliant illumination.

A room 15 x 20 feet, in dark wood and hangings, needs eight eight-candlepower reflector lamps, backed up by six more eight-candlepower lamps.

Bedrooms 15 x 15 feet in size, where they are not furnished in deep colors, should be equipped with two sixteen-candlepower lights.

-COLOR CONTROL-

158. Mechanical lighting is so easily undertaken that it predisposes one to extravagance. Properly applied, artificial light adds materially to the charm of a room, but with illumination secured by the mere twist of the wrist one is p.r.o.ne to ignore the value of shadows and kill the beauty of light and shade by throwing illumination into the remotest corners. The danger to good decoration is not only in overlighting, but in overdecorating, and commercialism naturally encourages this tendency.

The floor is frequently best treated if not entirely covered with a one-pattern treatment; the walls are frequently most pleasing if done in several papers instead of one. The most effective room is the one lighted in various degrees of strength, and while the decorator unconsciously follows this idea and avoids superabundance of pattern by using panels, friezes and wainscotings, we believe that each and every section or part of a room should be treated separately, observing, of course, a consistent spirit of design, preserving the period style and the general color effect; we would vary the actual shade of coloring and the size of pattern according to the dimensions of the wall s.p.a.ce it occupies. The large patterns and the strong colorings which may be appropriate to an exposed wall are all out of proportion in narrow or darkened confines. Dark and deep recesses should obviously be treated differently to advanced or conspicuous s.p.a.ces.

159. At a recent meeting of the Illuminating Engineering Society, D.

McFarlan Moore made the following observations: "A few years ago there was practically no way of changing the colors of the various forms of lamps, that is, the candle had its color perforce; such a thing as modifying it was not dreamed of. The oil lamp had its color; the open burner gas flame its color, the incandescent lamp its color, and the arc lamp its color. At the present time there are only two ways widely in use of varying the color; that is, if a person wishes to have a light of a different color, there are two main ways of getting it. One way is to get another light source, and the other way is to use a diffusion globe of some kind, which in any instance is extremely unscientific and inefficient. Some of the most recent advances in this line are connected with the flaming arc lamp. There we have an instance where the first step, at least, was taken toward scientifically controlling the color value. I refer to placing different chemicals in the carbon and thereby obtaining a color which can, to a very great extent, be determined previously. But still it by no means can be said that by means of the flaming arc lamp the color factor is under perfect control. However, it is possible now to have the color value under perfect control, and this is obtained by utilizing a vacuum tube, and by changing the various gases used in the tube to change the color. This has many advantages, and from a scientific standpoint it cannot be criticised, as can the other methods which have been used. For example, if you use a properly regulated vacuum tube and feed it with air only, a pink light results; if you feed it with nitrogen a yellow light results, and such a light can be used for a great many purposes; in fact its range of usefulness so far as the color is concerned, is about the same as that of the ordinary incandescent lamp, and therefore can be used by florists or by clothing merchants, and the distortion is not any worse than that of the ordinary incandescent lamp. However, it is not by any means claimed that when a tube is fed nitrogen, that the color is at all near daylight; it is simply a color which appears about the same as that produced by the ordinary incandescent lamp. Due to the enormous radiating surfaces of the tube, the color in day time looks considerably redder than that of the incandescent lamp because the lamp is extremely small as compared with the tube. When such a tube is fed with carbon dioxide at a definite pressure, and at a definite intensity, a light is obtained that undoubtedly is closer to average daylight color values than any light which has ever been produced before, and we can almost say that it is entirely satisfactory. For instance, experts in matching colors in the largest dye works of this country, men who have tried all other forms of light, and found them not at all suitable for their uses, have matched their colors under a vacuum tube supplied with carbon dioxide and have found after months of practical use that they could not detect any difference between most delicate lavender shades, when they are matched at night time under the tube and in day time by daylight, not direct sunlight."

-DRESS AND COMPLEXION-

160. The nerves of the eye, exhilarated by any p.r.o.nounced color, unconsciously observe the complement of that color when turned from it.

The eye accustomed to the red of a woman's dress, unconsciously sees a greenish cast in the face that is naturally pale, and in the same way the pallor of a woman's face takes on a tint of red as the complement or contrast of a green dress. As one's appet.i.te for the thing that is sweet becomes exhausted by a superabundance of sweets, so the eye resting upon a ma.s.s of red in the dress of a woman fails to appreciate the red tint in the face, and the face thus juxtaposed becomes pallid. A red-faced woman often wears brighter red in dress, so that her face may appear less red. The blue dress gives yellow to the face; the yellow dress gives blue; these results are altered materially by the intervention of white between the face and the dress. White intensifies color. If there is a tinge of pink in the face white brings it out. If there is sallowness in the face white accentuates it. It is for this reason that many women wear yellow instead of white at the neck, so that the yellow of the face becomes less conspicuous by contrast. (See -- 31.)