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.

Moretti 653 Red Rock and Moretti 685 Hawaiian Clay Odd Lot

Red Rock, on the left, a dark brownish burgundy velvety red, a little streaky.

On the right, Hawaiian Clay. This is a nice adobe brick colour, or a little darker than a clay pot. I like this colour a lot. Very nice addition to the earth tone palette. See the entry for Green Tea - I've used the Hawaiian Clay with the Green Tea for a nice combo.

The Hawaiian Clay spoon shows the nice streakiness and variation in this colour.


Like the Coral colours, this colour goes grey when hot, but goes back when cool.

Confused Mustard - Moretti 650 Mustard Rock and Maybe 651 Yellow Rock Odd Lot

My hand labeled assortment of the new odd lot colours from Moretti contained two colours, both labelled 650 Mustard Rock. However, the rods were two different colours, one being a dark English mustard colour, and the other being a brighter yellow French's mustard colour. Ok, it's actually a bit greener than French's mustard, more of a snot colour, really. However, the list of colours that came with it, had a 650 Mustard Rock and a 651 Yellow Rock - so I'm guessing that there was a mixup in the labelling, and the lighter, yellowier one is the Yellow Rock. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it!

The left bead is the Mustard Rock (I think!) and the centre bead is the same colour, with light sky blue dots (which have reduced, I have not soaked them in CLR or anything to remove the reduction - obviously, as it is still on the mandrel!) There does appear to have been a colour reaction, making for a nicely delineated edge to the dots.

The bead on the right is the Yellow Rock (IMHO).

These are both really cool, streaky organic looking colours - although, once heated, they are not as different as they look in the rod.


This is a horse bead made with the Mustard rock layered over Light Ivory. You can see that is has developed a lot of streakiness, especially where the glass is in different thicknesses.

These are both really cool colours, and definitely deserve a place in the studio of those that like nice, organic streaky colours! (the paddle sample is the darker of the two samples.)

Moretti 640 Mimosa Yellow, Moretti 641 Deep Mimosa Odd Lots

Two nice, streaky, translucent colours!

On the left, the Mimosa Yellow delivers the same colour in the bead as it did in the rod - with a few black marks, (see bottom left of bead) but in all fairness - I didn't clean the glass before I used it, so I'm not sure if the glass scorched, or it was just dirty.

It did shock a little, but is a really nice colour. Worth buying for a nice happy yellow that seems to have an inner glow, due to the partially transmitted light.

The Deep Mimosa, right, is a rich juicy orange punch colour. Equally streaky and translucent, it is slightly redder after working and annealing than the rod colour. This is also a lovely, happy orange colour - this definitely has a place in my studio too!

Moretti 683 Fossil Odd Lot

Fossil - waaaay coool! A very streaky coffee and cream colour! Kind of looks like a wood grain in the picture. I really like this, as I really like streaky glasses. I will be stocking up on this one!

It did shock a little, but not really bad. I can forgive it, seeing as how it is soo cool!

Moretti 684 Tuxedo Cool Odd Lot

Tres kewel - this looks like a plain grey rod, but closer inspection of the cut end reveals three tiny dots of black.

Working this, it comes up with this wonderful streaky look, very dramatic.

But, it turns out, those streaks are Moretti's distinctive purple-black, and the bead comes out of the kiln as a swirl of shades of mauve, not grey.

This is a really cool colour - I would definitely stock up on this one - remember, these are odd lots, and who knows if there will be any more. The name, Tuxedo Cool - doesn't really fit with the mauvey shade - I would think "Blackberry Swirl" would have been more on target - but by any other name, this is a cool and dramatic colour!

Moretti 681 Strawberry Shake, Moretti 682 Cherry Shake Odd Lots

Two more in the new oddlots from Moretti. On the left is "Strawberry Shake" and on the right is "Cherry Shake" - they are well named, in that they really have that streaky fruit swirled into ice cream look, but these are both very subtle colours. They are pretty hard to tell apart, The Strawberry Shake is a little more orange, has a little more colour, but the Strawberry and Cherry are pretty hard to tell apart in the finished bead - in the rod, the Cherry is the noticabley darker colour.

The Strawberry is also very soft, softer than white, I think. The Cherry shocks a little. Both benefit from a little striking to bring up their colour streaks.

These two colours are so similar, I wouldn't buy both. I'd go with the Strawberry because the colour shows a little better. Mostly, they are too subtle for my own tastes.

Moretti 644 Marine Wave, Moretti 680 Green Tea

New odd lots from Moretti - as they respond to the popularity of the odd lots being offered by Vetrofond, I should think.

New up, on the far left, "Marine Wave" - a very pale aqua that is uber-bubbly. This is kind of fun - normally, one wouldn't think of praising a transparent that is just LOADED with air bubbles, but these could actually work with the design. I'd try doing a really aquarium or undersea scene with this for the encasing. Could make a fun background for florals too.

Center bead is Moretti 680 "Green Tea." This is a nice streaky, pale green tea ice cream colour. I thought it would behave like Turquoise and react with Ivory, so the third bead (or the bead on the far right) is Green Tea dots on light ivory. While there are some interesting smudges, there is not the classic turquoise/ivory reaction dark grey line.

This final set is Green Tea dots on "Hawaiian Clay" - more on that new colour in a later post.

I like both the Marine Wave and Green Tea. Thumbs up on these two.

just plain beads - Book

A new book from by Deanna Griffin Dove, partnering with Marjorie Langston. This is a slender volume that is big on good stuff.

Covered are lots of things, very basic, but very frustrating for the novice bead maker with maybe 10 - 20 hours of practice - who is starting to notice that their beads aren't quite as nicely shaped as they would like, bead holes aren't perfect, and how do you actually get the bead to be round, instead of donut shaped?

Gratifyingly, most of what I say in my remedial classes is right here, and with great photos to boot. If you are getting frustrated and want to go further, getting some control over your shapes and getting them to be the shape that you wanted (instead of what the glass wanted!) - then this book is definitely worth checking out. I would also suggest checking their website too: Beadmaking Books.com.

Vetro 970 - Streaky Sapphire

Another odd lot - and this one is truly hard to photograph accurately.

The rods themselves have an odd feel - they are frosted and have a light matte texture - and appear to be a deep aqua. But when worked and annealed - they come up a beautiful sparkling deep sapphire colour - with tiny wisps deep in the glass. This is really a stunning shade of blue - the pictures do not begin to do it justice.

Over all, I would say, you do not want any of this glass - this is truly horrible glass and a nasty colour (besides, who needs blue glass anyway). If you have already been unfortunate enough to buy this glass, I suggest that you box it up and ship it to me, and I will put it out of your misery for you. ;-)

New Bead Releases Released

I just tried two new bead releases - one from Frantz Art Glass - no name on it but I will get you the name - and the other is called EZ bead release.

Both of them performed just fine. The Frantz release is a dark grey, and interestingly enough, takes on a pinkish colour when you hit it with the flame. The other is whitish bead release. Both of them have reasonably good holding power. They are a little harder to pull the beads on than my current favourite, which is the Dip n Go - which has been my fave for about 4 bottles worth now. I love the Dip n Go - which really can be flame dried, not quite out of the bottle, but close. For comparison, I also like the Sludge Plus (I particularly like the pretty green flame when you first introduce it into the flame, but as that has absolutely no impact on performance . . . )

I have also tried and liked the Foster Fire. For the specialty mandrels, curved mandrels and such, you just can't beat it. But, I find that once it starts to crack - it goes. The Dip and Go you can sometimes see a crack appearing in the bead release, but it might not spread all the way.

I have also tried the Bucket o Mud - which was my old favourite, until the Dip n Go came along.

I have also used the Fusion bead separator - which is cheap and comes in a large bottle for long dips, but I don't find it robust enough for sculptural work, and it does NOT make it easy to pull beads. However, it does go down in a nice thin layer, which means it's not making your bead holes a lot larger, like some of the thicker releases. I don't use it personally any more, but it's fine if you are just making regular round beads and not pushing the envelope. I have had more beads permanently welded to the mandrel with it than all the other bead releases combined.

These new releases are fine, but I still prefer my Dip n Go. I'll probably use them if I run out of the other and need release in a hurry.

Pinks & Purples - CIM Cranberry and Simply Berry Uniques

Here's some colours that are so dark - they really need to be diluted - use over white or clear or pull into stringers - these colours are so strong - using them by themselves is just not an option.

These are, from left to right,
CIM Cranberry Pink Unique 1 (926-1)
CIM Cranberry Pink Unique 2 (926-2)
CIM Simply Berry Unique 2 (618-2-1)




But, layered over white - they almost glow.
From the ends of the bead, Cranberry 1, Cranberry 2, and Simple Berry 2 in the middle.










This is the Simply Berry 2, just over white. Nice color!


















And this is the Cranberry Pink 1 over silver foil. The Pink reacts with the silver to produce a rich gold colour! Stunning!
















The Lighter pink on the left, with the striped bead, and the dots are the darker pink. As w Moretti - turn the oxygen up to prevent black swirls.

Nice bright shades of transparent pink in the cranberry family.

The Simply Berry 2 seems very similar to the original Simply Berry, a nice, useful colour. I personally prefer the blue purples myself, but not a bad colour!

Peace, Man! CIM 835

Peace man! This is the White, by CIM. Nice to have a basic white in their line up.

A nice opaque pure white. It does do some interesting things as a silvered stringer - much like the Morettie/Effetre Anice white does - the silver reacts with the white and gives you a yellowish colour. I'd show you a sample, but I sold it before I shot a picture!

Another Elphaba Unique 430-2

Another CIM Unique - this is Elphaba Unique 2 - and not at all like the other Elphabas - which are more of a witchie-poo green. This is a dark sagey colour. Streaky and handsome - not really in the same colour family as the other Elphabas.

Nice colour though.

Candy Coloured Cane from CIM

Candy coloured cane with heart shapes!

Two new "colours" from CIM - both have a coloured core. The core is Heart-shaped!

One is an opaque light pink with a white core, and the other is clear core, with a cranberry coloured layer, and then a light pink on top.

Tres kewel. I'm sorry, I don't have product numbers or names for these - I'll have to add them back in when I get them.

These are really pretty. The lighter bead on the left is the pink over white (as is the rod on the far left), and the other is the tri-colour clear/tran. dark pink/translucent light pink - on the right.
These work up into fun streaky beads.

You can see the heart shape in profile here. Can they be cut up and used as murrini as well? The pink and white doesn't really have enough contrast to show well, the darker one does, and works up reasonably well - I won't show you my attempts, as I rushed them and they look fairly bad, but that's not the fault of the glass - I'm not a murrini person.

I love streaky, interesting colours, with lots of variation - so I think these are really cool. I would definitely buy more of these.

Cim Clear - 834

This is the CIM clear - the regular batch, not the odd lot (unique) batch. I have to say, I'm quite impressed so far. While not completely bubble free - and to be fair, I did no cleaning or skinning - this is the glass straight from the rod - it's not bad.

Two things did impress me. One is the packaging - it is wrapped in tissue so that none of the rods touch each other. The rest of the CIM glass comes in tissue sleeves - but they do nothing except keep the glass together. This is a full wrap and roll, so that the glass is not rubbing and scratching in transit and storage.

Second thing that impressed me was that I actually manage to encase silver foil and keep it looking silver, without it developing a gold cast.


While I was being very careful - I've not been able to achieve this with other soft 104 COE glasses - even when I try to work cool. Further experimenting is required, but this is kind of exciting!

I have also used in in quite a few beads with a lot of metals, dichro, long working times, etc., and had no problems with cracking or compatibility.

Looks good!

Vetro Odd Lot 997 - Painted Desert

Painted Desert is exactly what this looks like - a trip to the sandstone cliffs of the desert. Orange, salmon and grey come from a light grey rod (seen behind.) Totally cool, dude. I like this one! Thumbs up!