Effetre 039: Dark Violet Transparent

Not sure how I've managed to overlook this colour for so long. This is not a new colour - but it is rather wonderful. This is Transparent Dark Violet, and the rods are so dark - you can easily mistake them for black, unless you hold them up directly to a light.

However, as we now know - a colour that dark just begs to be made into a white cored cane - bottom and right of photo. (Unworked rod - top and left).

On the right - we have a self-coloured spacer. Might as well be black. But on the left, we have Dark Violet over clear - and it is a lovely, tanzanite purple, not a red-purple. I very much prefer the pure purples and blue-purples. You could call it eggplant too.

Dots, on white. Looks like just the barest whisper of a reaction around the edges of the dots.

And this is the white cored cane/stringer - on a white bead. Very nice - the intensity of the purple really holds up.

Love this shade of purple, and this is very intense colour - for those situations where you need intense colour.

Effetre 737: Golden Toffee

 Well - HERE's an intriguing colour! A rich dark amber in the unworked rod, and goes into the kiln looking like a transparent amber. But - examination of the end of the unworked rod gives you a hint of what is to come ...

Because, pulling the beads out of the kiln is a real - "Whut?" moment - as in, "Where the heck did these come from?" Aha, my friends - this is where taking notes really helps!

Because this is what came out of the kiln!

 Yep - all those transparent beads came out a streaky, opaque ochre colour.

 

I even did a little zuma bear. Needs more nose. 

 

 Reducing it gives you a very smokey look, like a smoked wood.

And this bicone - well - I had stopped taking notes and was using up scraps. I believe it was a white base, some Iris orange frit - some trails of black, and some Golden Toffee on top and at the ends.  But pretty cool, eh?

I spent quite a bit of time playing with this glass - it's fun to work - too soft for most sculptural uses - it is soft like an opaque, like white-soft. It's kind of cool where it is over the black, and you can see the black coming through - I guess it is translucent when thin enough. Might be interesting to make shards of this.

Effetre 687: Streaky Denim

Streaky Denim - Denim seems to be one of the "in" colours these days - to whit - Swarovski's big roll-out of their new colour - Denim Blue.

This particular take on Denim is streaky blue and purple in the unworked rod - but more purple and  blue in the finished bead.

This is the unworked rod.

And this is the rod after heating.

 And the finished, self-coloured beads. Note, some of the purple has taken on that metallic shine like the Effetre 272 and 274 (Violet and New Dark Violet, respectively).

More dramatic results than the Striped Pink - possibly because the streaks run the length of the rod, instead of it being, essentially a cored cane. Not sure how I feel about the metallic hue though.

Effetre 253: Striped Pink Pastel

Another new, dare I say, Novelty glass? This is an opaque pink/purple a little like EDP or Dark Rose over a transparent core that results in a streaky bead. Not quite as dramatically streaky as I would have thought, I admit.

You can see here - the unworked rod is distinctly pinker that the purpley finished beads.

And here, you can see the transparent core - although it does, for all the world, look like a hollow tube. It is not. That would be way cool.

After working - you can see more of the colours, and some devitrification.

Here are two sample beads - both solid colours. The bead on the left - the darker one, I made a point of striking the bead in the flame, and it developed much richer colour.

Here - you can see the darker, struck bead (now on the right) has some devitrification around the bead hole, where  I did not get the surface warm enough to chase away the devitrification.

Pretty enough - I think I expected more drama though.

Bead Shaper - Bicone Indented

Interesting idea - don't think this is a shape that I would have thought of. I see this more as a starting place for designs - the indents, however, suggest a marking point for the start of some rather structured design - maybe with the lot of dots and or stripes. You know - the kind I never make. ;-)

There is a reverse version of this available too - if you think that having raised ridges would be more useful.

I did struggle with this shaper more than the last two, being never very happy with the ends.

The largest of the cavities did seem to be easier for me - but I like a little more meat on the ends of the beads - I just hate it when you go to clean a bead and half of the end falls off!

Still - an interesting concept. And the grooves would certainly lend themselves to wire wrapping ... .

Bead Shaper - Oval Extra Chunky Large

Yeeeeeah! Extra Chunky Large! That's MY kind of bead.

The more I use these bead shapers, the easier they get to use - so I think perhaps I might be getting better at it! What I have found is that using them with a very light touch seems to be key to getting good results quickly and easily, without a lot of struggle and drama.

This large oval shapes aren't  particularly difficult to make without a shaper, but of course, that's not the only point of these. They can make it easier to get consistent results, consistent sizes, etc. They aren't really an end - but a means to an end - more of a jumping off point. For instance, you could shape your bead with one of these, and then mash it, do it over and over, getting a consistent line of bead of the same shape and size, even if you are playing with the colours and patterns - making it much easier to incorporate into your own jewelry. Consistently-sized beads means that you don't have keep hunting up the right-sized bead-cap or guessing how much wire you need. Just a thought - for those of you out there in full production mode for the holiday rush.

Just a light touch will do it. Make a cylinder, make sure it fits inside the cavity, then add more on the middle half of the bead (leaving the ends). Check it for size, then add a little more to the centre. Do your shaping gently - more on the wall of the cavity than on the back (much like a marble mold!).

This bead fills the cavity a little more than the one above, but still was easy to shape. If you go to roll your bead and you get a big ridge on one side - you have too much glass and/or it was too hot. If you get a big valley - you put too much pressure on it.

Not the most spectacular beads, but the shape is fine.

And you can go on to decorate these from here!

Bead Shaper - Bamboo

Well - isn't this one fun? This is another of those funky graphite bead molds shaper doo-hickeys. This one was rather fun to use, for a change. The shape - well - it's so distinctive that I'm not sure what to do with it - but it was fun anyway. It's called Bamboo, but I find myself thinking of it as a chunky dog bone.

Here is my completed bead. Perhaps this shaper worked for me because I just relaxed and didn't sweat the shape too much.

Here is the bead - this is made with Rb Multi-Dark.

 

 

To get the shape right for the shaper, I started with a cylinder, built-up the ends a little with a disk at each end, and fattened up the cylinder in the centre. It worked pretty well. I'm quite pleased with it!

CiM 618: Simply Berry

Don't know how I managed to overlook this colour - this is not a new colour - but one of the older ones. Simply Berry is a dark transparent amethyst - with a bit more "oomph" than the Effetre Med. Transparent Purple.

Here we have, Simply Berry on the left, and Eff Med Transp Purple (042) on the right.  In real life - the Simply Berry looks more saturated in colour, and less like "just really dark."

This is a very thin layer of Simply Berry over clear. It holds up well.

Simply Berry, encased. Very nice.

Simply Berry dots on Effetre Periwinkle (220).

And, Simply Berry dots on White.

A nice, intense red-purple - holds up well when used thin.

More on Reichenbach104 L 6206: Multi Dark

As promised, more on the Reichenbach Multi - Dark. Haven't tried the light yet.

This was a Transparent, Dark Amethyst Base, Dots of Multi Dark - and marvered, and kilned. It looked like it was blues and greens when I put it in the kiln, and it has come out with some pretty spectacular blues. Unfortunately - because I marvered it and put it directly in the kiln, it is not fire polished - and I really hate beads that are not fire polished.


I spent a LOT of time on this one, and for not very spectacular results - compared to the amount of time spent. This is a base of clear, dots of Multi Dark. Then I plunged in the center of them, and encased, and then I hated the shape, so I heated it and drooped it down into a cone, built it up, screwed around, added a twisty at the big end - that really doesn't go with anything else, ran out of mandrel to really fix the shape, struggled with the end, yada yada yada. It was really brown when I put it in to the kiln, so the reds and purples are a pleasant surprise, and sort of underwater anenome cup shapes that the dots developed is sort of interesting. The whole is definitely less than the sum of the parts, however.

Multi Dark on EDP. Kinda cool. In an ugly sort of way.

I really like the colours on the marvered and not fire polished bead. Wonder if I can get away with a little firepolishing.

Lampworker's Get Together

Anyone is welcome! Forwarding this on behalf of Catherine "Sailorgirl" Winter

Subject: Re: [torontolampworkers] Next Lampworker's Get Together
Reply-To: torontolampworkers@yahoogroups.com

Hey all!

Time to get together and talk glass. Wednesday evening, October 19 at my studio.
535A Danforth Ave. 2nd floor. If you're coming by subway I am between Chester and Pape
stations. Any time after 5:30. We'll go for dinner at 7:30 then back for more chats and desserts.
Sweet contributions are welcome as is the beverage of your choice.

For those of us who took the Leah Fairbanks class bring what you've made so far. Show and tell
is so much fun!!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Catherine Winter
Sailorgirl Jewelry
www.sailorgirl.com
catherine@sailorgirl.com

Reichenbach104 L 6206: Multi Dark

Another from the Reichenbach 104 COE line up. I've been told that the 96 COE Reichenbach Multi Dark is much more reactive, but so far - I'm not seeing that result. I am getting some very striking colours - and I mean that in the sense of dramatic, not "our" sense of the word striking.

This bead is a base of Multi Dark 104, heat the glass to clear hot, heating low in the flame. Make bead and shape. Encase in clear. Mash. Firepolish it. It was very dark going in.

Other side of the same bead.


This was also a base bead, superheated to clear, and encased.


This one was just worked normally - a little on the cool side, and then encased.

This one was reduced, and then encased.

This one is the 96 COE Reichenbach Multi Dark.

Here they are side by side - the top one is the 104, the bottom is the 96 COE. Pretty similar, really.

More results to come.

Beads from Leah Fairbanks class

When I take a class, I take a few things with me. I take my favourite tools, my magnifiers, and absolutely NO expectations about making anything in the class that I want to show off. It just gets in the way of learning.

However, some of the other students wanted to see what everyone else made, and because of annealing and schedules - did not get to see all the beads.

So, here are the beads that I made that are not too hideous, for those that I promised I would post them for. Those of you who did not take the class, feel free to skip the rest of this article. ;-)

Poor little fishy - I forgot to put the pupil on his eye!


This aquarium bead is, well, large. There are many things about this bead that I don't like, but it was a learning experience and sometimes it is a matter of readjusting your perspective. I can see the ways to make it better.
I am proud of this little piece of whimsy - ferns turned into peacocks.


This is the only floral that is not too hideous to show. Me and flowers - just no natural empathy there.
The Singing Mermaid - The Diva of the Deep! Yes - she survived. Yes, she is HUGE. (Someone looked over at me working on her and squealed - "OMIGAWD - you're making a statue!")

It was a great class, lots of fun, learned lots, and more importantly - shifted perspective on a few techniques. Four days torching with no interruptions - that's my idea of a vacation!