Nessie Ice is Nice

Nessie Ice it's called - and the rods vary, some look black, some are a dark blue/green.

It is a very dark colour, too dark to use by itself, see spacer on far left. Laying over white reveals it's true nature, green with tendrils of blue, like swimming through an underwater weed bed - which is a very bizarre sensation, btw, if you haven't tried it. The soft touches of the weeds are almost reassuring, like they are holding you up, but in the back of your mind is every horror movie you've seen where the diver gets snagged and pulled to the bottom to be eaten by a giant mutant tentacled creature.

But I diverge. ;-)





The larger bead is a clear core, Nessie Ice, encased in clear, and mashed. This shows it's streaky nature well, and the bubbles, a result of my hasty casing, enhance the effect. A few fish murrine on top, and you'd be good to go!

CIM 351 Stone Ground

My first thought, when seeing this glass for the first time, was that it reminded me of the Effetre/Moretti Yellow Opal.


My second thought is that it would strike, as it cools out of the flame to an almost white, and re-introducing it to the flame brings back the colour - but it obviously kiln strikes as well, as these two beads came out of the kiln virtually identical. The one on the left was struck to light brown, and the one on the right went into the kiln w/o any reheating, nearly white in colour.

As it reminded me of Yellow Opal, I tried fuming it - the left end of the bead is fumed with silver, and the right end with gold.

You can see that it has developed a lovely warm, nutty brown, a little more so on the gold-fumed end. Not really the same as fumed opal yellow - which goes more pinky.

It's a nice earthy colour, and worth playing with if you are working with an earthtone colour palette.

CIM 448 Dirty Martini

An odd and intriquing colour - Dirty Martini seems like such an inauspicious name, but yet . . . it seems to fit.

The rod has an interesting shimmer to it - which is not manifest in the bead. The colour itself could best be described as a greeny-grey.







The bead on the left is encased in clear.


The goldy green version was fumed with gold, and went a very nice colour.

An intriguing colour - not so much "pretty" as some, but a good background or base colour and it looks like it might bear more experimentation.

CIM 449 Kryptonite

When I think of "Kryptonite" - I think of a bright, yellow green (like this) - but nevertheless - this is a gorgeous glass. This is a wonderful Seafoam colour - and a colour that has not really been available in the 104 palette - I usually have to go to Bullseye to get this colour - so I am totally pleased to see this one.

It looks translucent in the rod, and works up to be still translucent, but not misty or opal. More like an oily or alabaster glass.

Definitely buying this one!

CIM 550 Chalcedony

Chalcedony - Similar to Halong Bay, but more opaque - it's not a completely opaque colour, but not a misty opal like Halong Bay.

And the colour is such a dead-on match for blue Chalcedony that I am now deeply suspicious of the last batch of blue chalcedony that I bought.

Beautiful colour - I will be buying this one.

CIM 547 Electric Avenue

Ooooo - nice bluuuuuuue. Oh yeah. New from CIM - "Electric Avenue." Great name. Great colour. Oh yeah.

The rod almost looks like a translucent colour - but it seems fairly opaque in a bead - maybe when used very thin . . . .

It is also an awesome shade of teal when hot - too bad CIM hasn't made that colour yet - (hint, hint).

Gorgeous glass - love. Will buy lots of this.
Oh, and because I know that you are now humming and have the song stuck in your head, here's the lyrics.

Courtesy of lyricsondemand.com

Down in the street there is violence
And a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And I can't blame all on the sun, oh no

CHORUS:
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart I'm a warrior
Can't get food for them kid, good God

CHORUS

Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...

CHORUS

Who is to blame in one country
Never can get to the one
Dealin' in multiplication
And they still can't feed everyone, oh no

CHORUS

Out in the street...
Out in the street...
Out in the playground...
In the dark side of town...

CHORUS

Rock it in the daytime
Rock it in the night ...

Dirty Looie's Bead Release

A new bead release, and I wish I could say I loved it. But it's not making it to my favorites list.

First of all, I will say this in it's favor - the label says that it cleans out nicely from transparent beads and leaves a cleaner than usual hole. This is true, it does this and does it well. Now, for the bad news.

The first jar I got (the larger one) was just plain defective - it didn't work - the bead release on the mandrels curled and cracked in the flame - lifted off and broke, even before I got the glass anywhere near it. I thought perhaps it was too thin, so I tried leaving the lid off and letting it "dry out" a bit. No change. And btw - this bead release separates like I have never seen a bead release separate before - with about an inch of clear liquid floating on the top of the larger bottle. This is not just a settling in transit thing, as it will do it from one usage to the next.

So, to be fair, as the endorser/developer (not clear which) - Lewis C Wilson - is someone who's work I have a great deal of respect for - I tried a fresh bottle. This worked significantly better, and actually functioned as a bead release. It is not particularly strong, I got some failures, where the bead release breaks during making the bead, but it was reasonably good, and, it does clean out very nicely. Not the easiest to slip the bead off after, but not a problem in any way.

However, the dipped mandrels do NOT age well - perhaps it's the humidity here - but I find that the mandrels I have that are still dipped with it, and were dipped about a week ago, when I put them in the flame - the bead release cracks and curls and flakes off.

IMHO - this bead release is too finicky for my personal taste - perhaps it might work better for others in a different environment - but I'm giving it a pass. Sorry.

Must have colours of the season: Kiwi and Laguna Blue!

Two new MUST HAVE colours - boy are these fabulous! These are new colours from Moretti - not odd lots but regular, production colours.

First Up - Laguna Blue - Mor630. This is a lovely streaky blue. It looks like a translucent as a rod, but works up to a transparent blue streaked with opaque blue. No effort required. This is delightful!




















Next up - Kiwi - Mor620 - a name evoking the bright green flesh of the fruit of the Kiwi, as opposed to the hairy brown outer layer, or the beady-eyed, elusive and flightless bird of New Zealand (which also has a hairy brown outer layer.) ;-)

Bright transparent green streaked with opaque - a mouthwatering colour. Truly juicy.

Think backgrounds for florals. Maybe stringers for leaves - haven't tried that yet - not sure if the streakiness works in a stringer, will have to check. Think effortless interesting spacers! Definite recommended!

Double Helix: Kronos and Luna

This vessel is made with a top of Kronos and the body in dark ivory trailed with Luna.

The Krono changes to a metallic blue green as it is worked, as in the top of the vessel. When it is first applied, as in the dots and the tip of the vessel, without heating and cooling, it is much darker and bluer, more like the colour that it is in the rod.

The Luna has reacted with the ivory to create a grey demarkation line and has also fumed the ivory, making it darker.

Sasha's Silver and Luna

Sash's silver is another high silver content glass, from Precision104 (you might remember it as one of the Rocio Bearer glasses.)

A lovely shade of blue, it is a different colour whether encased or not. The bicone was made with a core of clear. Trails of Sasha's Silver in the middle, and Luna (Double Helix) on the end. The whole bead was partially encased and shaped. Some fo the Sasha's Silver and some of the Luna is encased, some is not.








These lentils were made pretty much the same way, but the trails of glass are smaller and thinner, and are mingled together instead of staying discrete. Again, they are a clear core, and partially encased. Mashing them into a brass press cools them more rapidly and seems to affect the colours as well.

Double Helix: Khaos and Psyche

It takes much longer to get one's head around the complex colours of the Double Helix glass than it does an ordinary, non-reactive glass. With all the variabilities and possibilities, sometimes, I'm not sure at first what is making the difference. But here are some of the possibilities!

This vessel is made with the top made of Psyche - which looks black, until you hit it with a reducing flame.









The body of the vessel is made with Dark Ivory (Vetro), and striped with Khaos. The Khaos looks ivory when applied, after being cooled and reheated many times in the creation of the handles, it looks purple. It comes out of the kiln darker than when it went in.

Notice that the reducing stage appears to have fumed the ivory as the high silver content of the Double Helix has an effect on the ivory glass.









This bumpy bead is Opal Yellow, dotted with ivory, dotted with Psyche, and reduced.

Note the fine black line that formed around the Psyche dots.















And finally, this is a yellow opal base, with stripes of Psyche, raked, and reduced. Note each stripe looks like about 7 different stripes. The Psyche here is a less intense colour (less glass to begin with) and is more greenish.

The Opal Yellow appears to have fumed as well.

I love exploring and playing with these colours!

CIM 645 Heffalump

What a stunningly beautiful colour in the rod. What a b---- to photograph!

Heffalumps and woozles - anyone with kids knows the nightmarish heffalump, a soft purpley-elephantish beast. The rods of glass are a truly beautiful colour, exactly heffalump colour, but photographing them! Oh my! I'm no slouch in the photography department, but the first photo on the right is the best I can get, which is under pure incandescent light and grossly underexposed.






These next pictures (the wrap is EDP) shows how washed out the colour becomes. This glass does NOT show an obvious colour change to the human eye, unlike Alexandrite or the colour shift blue/lavendar of the Moretti colour palette. It is just exhibiting a colour that the CCD of the camera cannot capture.

Overall - a pretty colour, a soft, pale purple but those who make beads for sale online will curse it - as getting a good picture of it will be a challenge.























This last picture is CIM Sapphire over Heffalump. A pretty purple combination - I had to adjust it in Photoshop to get an accurate colour representation though.

CIM 543 Sapphire

CIM Sapphire, a transparent medium blue before heating, comes out of the kiln a much darker blue, and actually, more of a true gemstone sapphire colour, as opposed to the very blue sapphire colour that is usually indicated in the world of commercially made glass beads!

It's a very nice, sophisticated dark blue, with a hint of streakiness to it. Quite a surprise, really. I can see definite uses for this one!

CIM 644 Dusk and CIM 742 Sepia

Dusk and Sepia - sister colours with a secret! These two shocked me, as they are completely not the colour that they are in the rod before being worked!

Dusk and Sepia arrive as light transparent purple rods, Dusk reminding you of warm summer evenings at dark - in that special time I think of as "in between the can and the can't." Sepia just looks misnamed. I grew up with pen and ink drawings. I know what colour sepia is - purple it ain't!

However! Both colours come out of the kiln a transparent brown! Sepia is well named after all, and Dusk is the inappropriate name, unless we're thinking Dusk in some desert city with a sandstorm coming in!

Dusk is the darker of the two shades, but otherwise, they are very similar. Left, is Dusk over Heffalump (more on that in a bit) and on the right is dusk over ivory.

I was quite surprised at the colour change in these two, and I hear that one of them does interesting reactions - although I haven't tracked them down yet.








This vessel is sepia over silver foil, and has produced a nice rich antique gold look, much like the very expensive Moretti Straw colour.

CIM 346 Ghee

New colour from CIM - called Ghee. Ghee, as you may know if you indulge in eastern cooking, is clarified butter, and that is exactly what this looks like. Right down to the odd little streakiness that it has. Way cool!

It goes when hot, it turns white, and then strikes back to yellow. It can be struck more or less - the single bead was heated only on one side - so if you do nothing to strike it - it will go a light colour, like the rod, and if you work it longer, it will develop more colour. (Like the lower beads.)

This is a pretty cool colour - despite my not being a fan of yellow in general. I can definitely see a use for this in the earth tone palette and for those that love streaky glass. (That would be moi!)

Moretti 419 Apricot

Another yummy, yummy streaky orange colour. Odd that I would be so enthusiastic about this colour set - I am soooo not an orange person, but I think, after this long snowy winter, some happy orange fruit colours are just the thing for bead happiness.

This rod has a dimpled texture (odd for Moretti - tend to see this more from Vetro) and you can see a variety of colour in the cross section. It works up nice and streaky, with the colours tending to more orange where the heat was applied last, and where there was more cooling, i.e. around the mandrel - the colours are yellowier. A very sunny colour!




The dotted beads are made with light ivory.

Further thoughts on Orange Africa, American Beauty, et al

Those streaky colours - the oddlots from Moretti, wisps of colour in a clear base - that I mentioned a few days ago - Orange Africa, American Beauty. Someone suggested I try them over a light colour, such as white or ivory, and indeed - they are much more impressive. This is Orange Africa over Light Ivory. Much nicer looking.

Moretti 654 Brown Rock and CIM 140 Lipstick

On the left is M654 - it was labelled CIM 654, but I can't find a 654 on their site, and I was supposed to get a Moretti 654. BTW - you should check out the Creation is Messy site if you haven't already. It is the glossy dark brown of a horse chestnut (but a little darker than a chestnut horse!). It is called Brown Rock.

The bead on the right is Lipstick, and it is a brick red colour, that would not be a fashionable lipstick today, for sure. And *%$# hard to show accurately on the monitor, for sure.

I like the very dark brown of the chestnut Brown Rock. That one's a keeper!

CIM 241 Creamsicle and CIM 140-1 Unique Lipstick Light

New Odd lots from CIM (Creation is Messy) - the new Chinese made glass that is offering some lovely new colours.

On the left is Creamsicle (Not to be confused with the Vetro odd lot of the same name.)

This is a totally yummy colour, a bright mango color that can be struck to a bright mandarine orange colour - note the colour variation in the photo from the top of the bead to the middle front. That is actually colour difference, not an artifact of the camera. Love this colour!

The bead on the right is Lipstick Light Unique - CIM uses the Unique designation for it's odd lots.

The actual colour is better represented in the second picture - which I have colour corrected to better show accurate colour (some shades of red are really very hard to shoot accurately.) This is a fun shade, very lipsticky, although not the shade of mankiller red that is so popular these days - more of a mid-eighties au naturel lipstick colour. A bricky shade of red, but not unpleasant.

Moretti 642 Orange Africa and Moretti 643 American Beauty

Two more very streaky translucent glasses. Translucent isn't really the right term - transparent with wisps of colour.

The colour on the left in both pics (and the first pic is the more accurate for colour) is Orange Africa. The orange is a dull sandstormy kind of orange, not a happy orange. The bead on the right is American Beauty, and the colour fails to live up to the promise of the rose of the same name. The rod is significantly redder - but it goes grey when heated, and never really comes back to a nice red again. Both of these colours look much nicer and brighter in the bead when backlit. On a dark surface, they look quite dull.

Still, the wispiness is very nice and you may find a use for it in your palette.

Both of these colours look pretty nasty when hot, btw. Grey and unappealing.