Val Cox Frit: Mood Swings

I picked up a jar of "Mood Swings" - well - because I couldn't resist the name. I mean, really. My life in a jar. Crushed.

Ah well.

I'm off again for a couple of days, this time, to a Swarovski conference. How cool is that? A busman's holiday to be sure, but still. Others go to soak up the warm light from the sun - I go to soak up the highly reflected light from Austrian Crystal.



Mood Swings. A pretty blend that reminds me a little of a softer version of Gypsy Skirt.

The blurb from the Val Cox Frit site says:

A classic favorite that's full of surprises. There is a ruby kiln-strike color in the blend so the true red/pink aspects don't fully emerge until your beads come out of the kiln.

Use this sparingly because the colors are intense and it can become dark. Wonderful with silver.

Which I guessed as much - but didn't actually read until after I had used it. Use s.p.a.r.i.n.g.l.y. You know what folks, I need a frit that the instructions say "Use LOTS of this. Lots and Lots. More is better. You shouldn't even see the glass underneath." Either that, or make bigger test beads. Or use a less efficient method of getting the frit on the bead.

First up, rolled in clear. That striking in the kiln thing? Yep. These are waaaay darker than they looked when I put them in.



And, over white. Dark. Not hideous, but not glowing little gem-like jewels of dazzling colour.


On the left, on turquoise. Like the separation that happened in the turquoise. On the right, on white and encased smearyly. Which would be encasing without trying to keep the dots clean. But not trying to blend. Lazy encasing, if you like. This one is pretty nice, actually.
This pair is on Copper Green. Figuring the separation was pretty cool on the turquoise, it would be cool on the Copper Green. And it is. The one on the right, just too much frit, however.

And, on Nyx. I figured this frit would react with silver, so I used a silver glass. Interesting, but waaaay too dark.

And finally, on turquoise, encased and distorted. Interesting, but ... .


Now I have an entire jar of this to figure out what to do with. Should probably stick to the sample packs.