rainbow
ISSUE FIVE
You cannot be sad looking at a rainbow. I remember chasing them when I was little and fantasizing about what was on the other side. I would make them using pieces of glass at my Grandma’s. The sunlight would line up and suddenly we would be amongst something divine.
Rainbows are a display of every single color light can be. Pure beauty. No matter what scale nor means of creation, each rainbow is the same: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet. From divine intervention to a marketing tool–the color phenomenon has been inundated by artificial flavor and synthetic dyes.
I was interested in revisiting rainbow’s roots, and what is a more pick-me-girl way to do so then travel to New Haven and see Isaac Newton’s 18th century original ordering of color at Yale University? NOTHING!
There are roughly fifty known first edition copies of Opticks (1704) in the world, one of which was sold to a private collector for $1.3m in 2015. I took a seat in the Haas Art Library reading room and held over a million dollars in my hands. It was a rush!
The 300 year old text is a quintessential contribution to the scientific revolution, it presents a singular order of colors. Newton made his discovery by refracting sunlight through a glass prism, and consistently producing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. He then experimented with different refractors to try (and fail) to scramble the sequence. I risk being too reductive here–Newton made the rainbow as we known it.
The Opticks text does not contain one drop of pigment. It is latin with crude diagrams. The visit made my 21st century brain crave something bright and artificial. It made me want Skittles.
TASTE THE RAINBOW
Skittles’ 1994 campaign is a pinnacle of color and flavor–a cornerstone of the artificial rainbow: strawberry, orange, lemon, lime (changed to green apple in 2013 then back to lime in 2021), and grape. When picking a favorite I think I’d say red over strawberry. The color is more descriptive than the flavor its trying to replicate.
From the rainbow and beyond, Skittles has always had great campaigns: Taste the Rainbow, The 2018 Superbowl Ad for One Person, Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, and the 35 minute live-stream apology for swapping lime for green apple in 2013. Some other edible rainbows:
BAND AIDS
I cut my thumb pretty badly last week and am try to keep it protected in the ceramic studio. This has opened my eyes to my bandaid hoard. It also sent me on a product rabbit hole. BAND AID TOP PICKS:
Wool Aid is made of merlino wool and seems to be loro piana bandage du jour. the Yunnan Baiyao Band Aids has a bamboo pad and i’ve been wearing them the most. Candyland are a core memory from childhood. Curad is a forever staple, probably my top pick. 1950’s Original Johnson & Johnson is something I would purchase just to re-use the tin. HEARTS. Superskin stays on for a very long time. Hydrocolloid are even longer lasting (supposedly multiple days but I ripped mine off after 24hrs). Ikeda Model Hall Muhi Plasters are what I remember the cool boys having in elementary school. Glitter Strips are the Rainbow Fish of plasters.
STAY WELL, LOVE YOU ALL!
Sincerely, Kelsey