Taken from Wikepedia (the source of all knowledge):
Glitter describes an assortment of very small, flat, and reflective particles. When these particles are applied to surfaces, they each reflect light in different angles causing the surface to sparkle or glitter. Glitter is similar to, but smaller than, confetti or sequins. Glitter has been produced and used decoratively since prehistoric times from many different materials including mica, insects, glass, and now plastic.
Today over 20,000 varieties of glitter are manufactured in a vast number of different colors, sizes, and materials. Commercial glitter ranges in size from 0.002"2 (50 microns) to 0.25"2 (6250 microns). First, flat multi-layered sheets are produced combining plastic, coloring, and reflective material such as aluminium, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, and bismuth oxychloride. These sheets are then cut into tiny particles of many shapes including squares, rectangles, and hexagons.
The first production of modern glitter has been sometimes been credited to American cattle farmer and machinist, Henry Ruschmann, shortly after the start of WWII. With German glass glitter unavailable due to the war, Ruschmann found a market for scrap material ground into glitter made of plastics. He founded Meadowbrook Inventions, Inc. in Bernardsville New Jersey, and the company is still a major producer of industrial glitter today.
Isn't it fascinating what we can learn?
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