Magic - the Frit-ering

So - I have in my hot little hands - a baggie o' frit labelled "Magic." No other data. Other than it is medium size and there is 2 oz of it. All righty then. It appears to be an opaque chestnut brown. But - if I'm any judge of things labeled "Magic" - it would not be so simple.

So the first question I have when presented with some mystery glass is, does it strike or reduce? Or react?
So - for my first test - I make a basic bead in clear, rolled it in the magic, melted it in, and reduced it. 1 Pic, on left. It took on a metallic look, and looks better in life than it does in that picture. So - right first time - it reduces. And, we can see from the faint yellow marks on the mandrel - it looks like it fumed - so I'm thinking silver content.

What else will it do? Next, on clear, without reducing.

It looked creamy when it was hot - but out of the kiln - it now looks to be a sort of khaki colour with interesting red halos - that give the clear bead an over all reddish hue as they reflect around the inside of the bead.

Next up, on black. I tried striking it. This time - I see a faint bluish haze come up on part of the bead. Ok - the black background is a good thing.



On black again - this time mashed. Oh look - the colours come up all by themselves, without my striking it. Kewel.


How about on ivory? Not reduced. Ick. Ok, the lines around the dots are cool - but the dot colour is a sort of icky grey-green. Meh.



Once more, on black, this time, I waited for the colours to "bloom" (appear by themselves as it cooled) and then reduced it.
This one is pretty dark - and might have some devit happening too.


On turquoise - in this case, CiM Smurfy - We see some break up in the turquoise between the dots.


And so, finally - a big black bicone, w ivory swirls. Magic frit, then encased, then more frit.

So - what have we learned?

Magic
reduces
and
reacts.

Some reactions don't look so hot - i.e. on ivory. But on black - it has distinct possibilities. And I think it would be fair to say - a little goes a long way. ;-)

I suppose, at this point - someone will tell me that there is a tutorial for it somewhere and that I missed something - but I have to admit - figuring it out for myself is a lot of fun!

Hmmm - maybe I should have tried it with silver foil. ;-)