One of the most frustrating things is finishing a rod and taking it out into teh sun, only to realize the color that the thread looked in your shop, basement, garage, or closet - is totally different than when you take the rod into the sun. This past week I took my headstock & 4' of bed + a support up into my living room where I have regular light bulbs, as opposed to the Flourescent bulbs I have in my shop. I completed a very nice looking wrap with 4 shades of REd, and it looked HOT. I CP'd it, it slightly darkened, after it dried the colors came back to the color is was supposed to be. I'm happy.

I take the rod into the shop to get a coat of epoxy. Geez, how'd the wrap get so DARK? I went from liking the wrap a lot, to not liking it one bit. I'm sure once I take it out into the sun, it will change colors again, so I'm gonna wait to slice it off until I see how it looks in teh sun with epoxy.

Sorry, just venting.

Billy, You have to much time on your hands. Jesse

Billy,
Go get a small "goose neck" or "swing-away" light one of those that either clamp onto a bench or have a stand - around $15.00 at Circuit City then put a 60 watt "natural light" bulb in it - they have a blue tint when you see them on the shelf. My experience is that these are as close to sunlight as I've seen in incandescent light bulbs - and way better than the yellow cast from flouros

Billy,
IMHO Get a portable Ott light or a knockoff with white light bulb. Very true color to outside.
Regards,
Ken

Billy,

What type of thread are you using? The metallic and/or holographic thread are know to reflect differences due to the refraction of the light. Also, with sun light you get a full spectra of white light, where as fluorescent and incandescent bulbs do not have the same spectra as the sun. (Flourescent tubes have alot more blue/UV, incandescts have more yellow) If you are using regular nylon thread with two or three coats of CP I am surprised at you comment.

Ed Smith

As a commercial photographer, I'm quite familiar with colors of light and how it affects the colors of what I photograph. What you're experiencing is quite common.

Regular light bulbs have a reddish/orange color compared to daylight with a color temperature of around 2800 degrees Kelvin. Regular fluorescents typically have a cyan/green color. The best lamps to use that can match daylight are full spectrum daylight balanced fluorescents that say in the specs that they have a color temperature of 5500K to 5900K, which is what mid-day sunny sky daylight measures.

Hear is a link that offers table and floor lamps, and bulbs and tubes with these specs:

[www.fullspectrumsolutions.com]

ralph's quite right. i'm always explaining to people when they ask (gladly so :-) why i'm velcro'ing a small colored gel to the head of my little canon speedlites when i conduct a quick enviromental portrait indoors with mixed lighting. yellow light from incandescent lamps inside, green flourescent light from a prominent solitary flourescent fixture in the room. i get headaches when there's the additional blue light from daylight streaming in from a window and i have to mix all three! just glad there isn't the fourth purple of sodium vapor.... ;-)

back when i perused their paper catalog, lightimpressionsdirect.com offered light balancing sleeves to slip over flourescent light tubes to balance the odd color shift inherent with those lights. the sleeves were nearly clear, wit the correct color tint to balance out the color cast. i don't see them offered now but the product must exist somewhere. just an option although it would seem easier just to buy color corrected tubes.

eric
fresno, ca.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..
I thoughtthe weather was always good in america.... move your bench outside... benifits are Pure natural light... No offensive smells from expoxy.. Off cuts of thread blow into the neighbors yard the list is endless
downside it gets dark and might rain but worth thinking about



Always the joker

Don't get too frustrated and fall out with a case of the real "reds" - if you slice something off the next color you see may be blood!

Gon Fishn