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| Lovegrove Paints Edison Light Bulbs For Last Time Ft. Myers. December 9, 2010. When Chris Pendleton, CEO of the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, asked Leoma Lovegrove to create a Christmas ornament several years ago, it didn’t take much of a leap for Lovegrove to decide that a painted light bulb would be an ideal choice. After all,Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, didn’t he? Well, actually, no. Or at least not exactly.
The first electric light dates to 1800 and was the work of Humphry Davy, but it was Edison who experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. The Estates have a couple hundred light bulbs within their exhibit collection that range from the late 19th century to the early part of the 20th century. They even have a replica of Edison’s original light bulb produced in 1929 for the 50thAnniversary of that first successful incandescent light bulb. Various filaments are on display including light bulbs with carbonized bamboo filaments, squirted cellulose filaments, and early tungsten filaments. Lovegrove is no slouch when it comes to creativity and hard work herself. Each of the light bulb ornaments for sale at the Estate’s Creative Cottage is the result of no less than a seven step process that she perfected. In previous holiday seasons, she produced 150 of the popular ornaments. This year, she will crank out 500 of them. Besides the obvious artistic value of an original work by an internationally recognized artist like Lovegrove, the embellished bulbs may soon have historic value as well. While the incandescent bulb has continued to be the most well-liked lighting device for a century, it isn’t by any means the best lighting answer. The bulb is at the moment losing popularity to its more power effective competitor, LEDs (light emitting diodes). In fact, the incandescent bulb is on the way out. It was banned in Cuba in 2005, and will be discontinued in Argentina, the Philippines, and Australia after 2010. Since the European Union and Canada plan to outlaw light bulbs after 2012 and many states in the US set to follow suit thereafter, the days of the light bulb are numbered. Sales of Leoma Lovegrove’s creations benefit the education program of the Edison & Ford Winter Estates enabling them to work with youngsters in the arts, history and science in a very historic and scientific atmosphere.The Edison & Ford Winter Estates is open daily from 9 – 5:30 year-round. During December it is also open nightly until 9:00 p.m.for visitors to see the millions of holiday lights in the homes and gardens and the special display of Leoma Lovegrove’s magical and brightly painted ornaments.For more information: |
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