But he still sketches out each segment of every show he designs with colored markers on paper. Old pros like Grucci may know from experience how certain fireworks will look together against a backdrop. "The difference is that we’ve got something that’s dynamic, that moves, it’s constantly moving and it’s very temporary," Grucci explains. Of course, "painting" with fireworks is a little trickier than using acrylics or oils, since the medium is explosive. They can then choose other fireworks to burst above, below, or on each side of an effect to create the image they wish to see across the sky." That means they know "how high will reach their apex and burst, how wide they will spread, and how long the effect will ‘hang,' or linger. Pyrotechnic designers “can visualize exactly how various fireworks devices will burst in the sky,” says Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. “Working with space, understanding color and the dynamics within the fireworks, what moves very quickly, what sounds very loud, what sounds very soft, what is subtle and elegant”-all of it takes an artist's touch, Grucci says. presidential inaugurations, Olympic games in Beijing and Los Angeles, and commemorations such as the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, among other events. The company has created fireworks displays for seven consecutive U.S. “Fireworks are our paint or our clay, and our canvas is the night sky-or a building, or a bridge, or a waterway,” says fifth-generation fireworks designer Phil Grucci, CEO and creative director of the Bellport, New York-based Fireworks by Grucci. By 1830s Italy, the use of metal salts such as strontium, barium, copper, and sodium added vivid reds, greens, and blues to firework displays-a precursor of the brilliant hues we see today. Slowly, these contraptions progressed into flares cannon-fired into the sky by “firemasters” in medieval England. The very first fireworks were little more than quick orange bursts emanating from bamboo rods packed with charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate and tossed into bonfires.
Humans have been adding bright, noisy explosions to their celebrations by setting fire to chemicals since at least 9th-century China. THE ROOTS OF THEIR PROFESSION GO BACK OVER A THOUSAND YEARS. Mental Floss talked to two experts in the field to learn how fireworks designers plan their shows, the history and the chemistry behind their displays, and why you don't necessarily want more bang for your buck. But designing fireworks and their choreographed displays is a labor-intensive, dangerous job that requires the imagination of an artist and the precision of an engineer.
The Fourth of July just wouldn't be the same without the colorful peonies, waterfalls, and comets that burst across the night sky above wowed crowds.
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