Bullseye 1120 Sunshine Yellow

I've been pretty unhappy with the latest batch of Effetre transparent striking yellow I have. It is hard to strike, bubble like crazy, and strikes unevenly. Normally - some variation in the striking doesn't bother me - but that's for intense colours. Yellow needs to be punch and intense - otherwise, it's just pale amber.

Given that I'm working a single colour at a time, compatibility isn't my issue, I thought I would try some Bullseye.

The unworked rod of Bulleye 1120 is an uninspiring pale colour. But it strikes up easily and beautifully into an intense, sunny yellow. And when I say "easily" - I mean - it just does it with the heating and reheating and you don't have to think about it at all.

There was also very little of the cloudy opacity that can develop in the striking transparent colours, but, on the other hand - I'm not working them that hard. 

 Slight opacity at the tip of the drop. Very slight.

I'd say this is a lovely yellow and a completely acceptable substitution for me.

But remember - Bullseye is 90 COE and NOT compatible with your 104 COE glasses.

Bullseye 2050 Salmon Opal

I picked up a pound or two of this dirt cheap ages ago, as it had been dropped and broken into little pieces about 4 inches long. But apparently pink is what I need right now - so I dragged it out.

It's a funny glass - almost shaded - a bunch of rods together look almost like venetian blinds. (Roll them, and the blinds close!) There is a strip of colour along one side, and the end result is stripey - almost like filigrana, but with a blur.

Pretty, isn't it?

Comparison - Transparent Pinks

I was struck by the sudden desire to make stuff in a tourmaline pink. When I reviewed the Double Helix RO (Rubino Oro - Ruby Gold), I compared it to the Bullseye 1342 Cranberry Sapphirine. It suddenly stuck me that the BE colour was exactly what I needed. But, of course, I had used the one rod that I had. So off to the supplier, (Nortel - which, dangerously, is only 5 minutes drive from me), and they were out. Of course.

Jean suggested I try the Effetre Veiled Rubino - which is a layered cranberry glass. The original Effetre Rubino is a layer of color over a clear core, quite intense in colour, and rather persnickety to work. The Veiled Rubino has more layers, more clear, a more accessible price point, and is rather easier to work - but not as intense in colour.

Well - I didn't think it would be right, but I said I would try. Scrounging around at home, I came across two sample packs of Bullseye, and a stash of Caliente Cranberry (not compatible with anything else I have.) I pulled out an unlabeled transparent pink rod from the Bullseye (which is not the Cranberry Sapphirine, which starts as a pale lavender blue colour. Hey-ho striking colours!) and a couple of rods of the Caliente - which are stringer thin.

OK, here we have, left to right, the Caliente Cranberry, the Bullseye whatever, and the Effetre Veiled Rubino.

And here, just the pieces, same order, L-R: Caliente, Bullseye, Veiled Rubino.  They are variations on a theme, but the Veiled Rubino, much to my surprise, is quite a bit darker. You can see also in the pic above, that the Veiled Rubino has changed the most from the original rod colour, and that there is a rod next to the worked rod with the melted tip, that is also V.R., but a very different colour. It is from the same batch, and as of yet - I have no idea whether it will prove to me a different shade or come out all the same.

 So here are the three again, (BE, Eff, Cal) plus the pony made earlier from the BE Cranberry Sapphirine. Pretty much an exact match for the Veiled Rubino. Maybe a little denser, as it is the same shade in areas that are thinner, but really - pretty effing close. So I was wrong on that.

And one last comparison - the addition of, below the pony, the Double Helix RO - which, as I said before, is a little redder. More strawberry, less raspberry.

So, in the absence of a stash of BE 1342, I can go with the Veiled Rubino. Thank you  Jean!

Bullseye 1215 Striking Light Pink

Well - isn't this a yummy pink? I was testing this looking for a lovely cranberry pink glass - and as the beads are a single colour, switching to a different COE (Bullseye is 90 COE) was an option.



Here they are again, with a light background.


The unworked rods are vastly different in colour, a pale transparent blue - but striking is a no-brainer. They just struck when I worked them - so no big deal.

Last time I worked with Bullseye - I remember it being really stiff - but this time, I didn't notice that. Mind you - might be the hotter torch! ;-)

Bullseye 1717 Copper Green Lustre - or Oops I did it again

Ha - this is what I get for not checking a colour chart first. This would be another Goddess Oops. I should call this blog "Making Mistakes So That You Don't Have To."

This was another foray into using Bullseye for sculptural forms - for it's quality of being stiffer. The glass is Copper Green Lustre - and I know what the lustres do. The rod was a dark, transparent green. What I didn't expect was that it was going to go opaque. You'd have think that the name "Copper Green" might have clued me in!

Now the colour is not actually unattractive - if you think of it as, say, a Verdigris Copper, or a Sage. The bronze lustre that it can develop is very nice. (Rightmost bead on the mandrel of spacers - first photo.)

However, when I pulled this voluptuous testament to fertility out of the kiln - my first thought was "Green Army Goddess." Khaki. The Elder Goddess as envisioned by Lovecraft.

Not really what I had in mind. And most of the reduction unreduced in the kiln - leaving just hints of it.

(sigh)

Bullseye 0127: Nougat

Someone suggested to me that I try the much stiffer Bullseye soft glass - 90 COE - for my sculptural stuff. Seems reasonable - sez I - so I picked up a few colours and tried it.

This is a goddess bead (in case that wasn't obvious ;-) ) in 0127 Nougat. It is stiffer than the Effetre Ivory - in some places (like her back shoulder on her left) I didn't get as smooth a join as I would have liked - but that's probably more due to just getting used to the glass. There is also a little bit of pitting in some places. (On her hip, front right - you can just see it in the first picture.)

I have to admit that I don't like the colour as much as the Effetre or Vetro Ivories - it shows very little, if any, colour variation - but some might consider that a good thing. It is definitely stiffer. The jury is still out on the sculptural preference. It may just be that I am so used to the super soupy 104 COE ivory that this just seems odd.

I might see how this one etches up too.