TAG 104-15 Fire Lotus

The "word on the street" (ha ha) is that Fire Lotus is yummy and easy to use - easier than some of it's cousins.

I think I might have to concur with this as these did come out pretty nice. Some of these striking glasses look very nice when hot, and once they come out of the kiln, they look dark. Oh, if you get enough light on them, they can look ok in a photo, but they just look dark the rest of the time.

The bottom row is, left to right, encased with clear, partially encased, and self-coloured - struck once.

The top row is all three, un-encased, struck once. I like the encased and partially encased ones best. Looks like encasing is the way to go with this one.

CiM 813: Cobblestone

 Cobblestone - nice colour for elephants. A nice warm shade of grey, tends to look different depending on the colours around it - see photos. The variability in the photos is not as evident in real life.

I think this would be a really nice colour in sculptural animals - like, elephants! Seals. Whales. Kittens.

Because ...

... all is vanity, all the way;
Twilight follows the brightest day,
And every cat in the twilight’s gray,
Every possible cat. 

CiM 613 Gypsy

CiM's Gypsy is a dark, dark transparent purple, so dark, in fact, that the rod just looks black. And a bead made with it and nothing else also looks black. (Left-most bead)

But a dot on white reveals it's red-purple berry-juice nature, and the third bead from the left, Gypsy over clear, also shows it's wine-like nature.

Use as dots, in stringer, over clear, whereever you need a deep, intense colour that can stand to be diluted a lot.

Same three beads - strongly back lit.

CiM 614 Jellyfish (Colour Shift)

Meet CiM Jellyfish - a colour shift glass like the colour in commercial beads known as "Alexandrite" - and like the Effetre 081 Dark Lavender.

 This colour of glass looks blue in cool, fluorescent light, and mauve in warm light, like incandescent or sunlight.

This series of photos show the rather remarkable range of colours you will get as you move from one kind of lighting to another.

Pictured to the right, two self coloured beads and Jellyfish encased over white. 

 Quite remarkable, isn't it?

It can be something of a challenge to create with this glass, as you have to coordinate your colours for all types of lighting.

That said - I find it a really nice glass to work. Try it over silver foil sometime.

 This is Jellyfish over EDP (2 on the left) and EDP unencased.

 Those encased EDP beads again.

 Again, the EDP.

Colours that we see are caused by light of specific wavelengths being reflected from the object for us to see. This particular colour reflects light in some very narrow ranges of frequencies. As you move from warm light - with lots of orange in it, to cool light (more blue), there is less of the warm colours available to be reflected, and so the colour of the glass appears to "shift."

It's a neat piece of chemistry.

Effetre 420: Coral - Firecracker

Effetre 420 Coral - Firecracker variant.

Maybe someday I will understand why this colour - 420 - Coral - comes out different every time.

I am pleased to see that the sellers are giving it a subname - Firecracker - essentially labeling it as a batch. Because it's deeply annoying to fall in love with a colour, and then not be able to re-order it because - well - there is no way to talk about it. I mean, this is why we have Latin names for plants and things - so we can be certain we are talking about the same thing.

I doubt that this is THAT specific - but it's a step in the right direction. So if an orangey variation of coral that is super streaky and has almost an oriental carpet vibe to it is your cuppa tea - ask for Effetre 420 Coral - Firecracker. 

All four of the beads shown here are self-coloured - no other glass used. So you can see - it is really streaky.

Conversely, if you want a plain, even colour - this is not your glass. ;-)

Goldstone stringer

 Goldstone stringer.

Here's the case for making your own, versus buying it premade.

Encasing with a colour.

These beads are a base of red, with goldstone stringer handmade with transparent red and clear stripes.

What a handsome effect, yes?