Cellophane, Mr. Cellophane - Simple Saturday

We painted today with some homemade watercolors. He really slathered it on! LOL! While the paper was still wet, we layed some crumpled up cellophane on top of our painting. We set it aside and let it dry. We then removed the cellophane and discovered the fun geometric shapes left on our paper.

Accidental Discovery:

Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist, was not trying to make something to cover your pork chops in 1908. He worked in a French textile firm and was looking for a way to make a stain proof tablecloth. He tried coating the cloth with a thin sheet of viscose film. No one would buy the tablecloths, but Brandenberger realized that the sheet of film held possibilities. It took him ten years to develop a machine that would produce what he named cellophane. He patented the production process and called the company La Cellophane. The name came from combining "cello," from cellulose, with "Phane," from the French word diaphane, which means transparent. Cellophane became available to the public in 1919. In 1927 a waterproof lacquer coating was developed that made it more useful. With the lacquer coating, cellophane could be used to package food, since it was airtight and waterproof.