NEW YORK — Electricians working atop a New York City skyscraper on Friday installed the last of the 2,688 crystal triangles that give the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball its shimmer, including a panel dreamt up by Coraliz, a 12-year-old former cancer patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Each year, the intricate Waterford crystals that make up the skin of the huge orb are replaced with new pieces of glass.
This year's design features a kaleidoscopic pattern that will refract light in a splash of 16 million colors as the ball drops down a flagpole at the stroke of midnight. The ball is lit from within by 32,256 powerful diodes.
It takes Waterford craftsmen about a year to make the crystals used in the ball, Curtis said.
Bolting them onto the ball's metal frame takes two weeks. — Associated Press
source: gmanetwork.com
