Effetre Opaque Red - Those Crazy Reds

By and large - soft glass is "what you see is what you get" with colours. Well - sorta - otherwise this blog wouldn't exist.

However - the Effetre Opaque Reds (and Oranges) always make beginners crazy. The conversations go something like this.

"I made this red bead and I really like it - but now I can't find the same red again."
"Did you write down what you used?"
"No."
"Do you have the end of the rod you used?"
"No - I used it up in the last bead."
"Well - good luck with that then."

So, here, side by side, for your enjoyment and education - a head-to-head comparison of Effetre Reds! Given that I have spent the last two weeks making these:


I can comfortably say that when I pick up a rod of red glass - I will have absolute confidence that I have only the roughest idea what colour it will come out of the kiln. ;-)



From Left to Right we have:

438 - Dark Purple Red - A very dark red - although I don't really see it as a purple red.
438 - Dark Purple Red (but significantly lighter and redder unworked rods). The main colour of the bead is the same - but it's more streaky and the steaky parts are lighter and more orange.
436 - Dark Red Marginally lighter than 438. In low light - can't tell 'em apart.
432 - Medium Red. Again, marginally different. In low light, without distinguishing dots - I defy you to tell these apart.
432 - Spec. Med. Red. This was an odd batch. This comes out lighter - and more orange.
428 - Light Red. I'd have called it orange. Maybe a blood orange. In fact - older colour charts do call it "Light Reddish Orange." (See chart on right, vs chart on left - which is newer.)
422 - Orange. This is, in fact, orange. But streaky - with redder orange streaks.

Sorry - no 424 in there.










Here - you can see the beads matched up with the unworked rods. The big discrepancy is the 432 - the regular batch - which looks like an orange - but goes dark red.


In warmer light, or strong light - the subtle differences are more noticeable. Barely.


Add to this that the camera (or your monitor) just doesn't do a good job with red.





So - 438 thru 432 for red - red - and 422 and 428 for orange - and the special batch of 432 for orange too. Now - to just find those red beads I made all that time ago and try and match them to one of these! ;-)