CiM 859 Marshmallow vs. Effetre 312 White Alabastro

CiM Marshmallow was designed to be analogous to Effetre White Alabastro - so how do they compare?

In rod form - the Marshmallow appears slightly more translucent, and in fact - ends up being slightly more translucent. But both are still quite opaque.

This bead is Marshmallow on the left, and White Alabastro on the right (with the black dots.) The Alabastro has developed some sooty crazed pattern - if you look very closely, and is some what denser and whiter - you can just see the demarcation between the two colour.

When seen with a strong light behind, you can see that the Marshmallow is slightly more translucent.












These two spacers are Marshmallow. At this point, I found that as the rod heated, cooled, and reheated, it became shockier.

The spacer on the left is self-coloured. The spacer on the right is decorated with Double Helix Triton frit. You can see that the fuming from the silver in the Triton has dramatically changed the colour of the base glass from white to yellow-gold.








And these two spacers are Eff. White Alabastro. The spacer on the left is also decorated with Double Helix Triton frit, and it too has dramatically fumed to yellow-gold. (It doesn't look to be as complete a colour change - as there is less frit on it - I made another with more frit that changed colour just as much as the Marshmallow, but none of it's photos came out in focus. :-P )



But - what I principally use Effetre White Alabastro for - and for that matter, all of the Effetre Alabastros and Opalinos for - is for sculptural beads. I like their translucency and their tendency to look like carved gemstones, and that they are much stiffer than the regular opaque colours. While the CiM Marshmallow is stiffer than say, an opaque white, it is not as stiff as the White Alabastro, and I found that I kept loosing detail in finished areas with just the general "keeping the bead warm" process.

I was trying for a carved "moonstone" look with this dragon bead. It was made with a clear core, a layer of dichro, and a thin layer of CiM Marshmallow on top. While it is slightly translucent, it does not show any of the blue shimmer of the dichro through the outer layer that I had hoped for. The softness of the glass made it harder to keep the sharper details that I like.

The pinky brown decoration is a dusting of enamel.


In contrast - this horse head, made with the Effetre 312 White Alabastro was easier to make, as the stiffer glass retained detail better.

It too was a clear core, and a layer of dichro with a thin encasing of White Alab. - and it too, does not show it at all. Meh.

I also had more trouble getting the enamel to stick to this glass. It has balled up and stood up on the surface more than I care for.

Marshmallow vs White Alabastro? I prefer the White Alabastro - but that is specifically for it's stiffness.

My intention is to etch both of these. I'll let you know how that works out.