I would like to thank Melanie Graham of the Mind Melt blog for getting me involved in this challenge. I have so far found my level of creativity being stretched and my technical abilities as well. It is said that a poor workman blames his tools and I am very ready to assign my lack of expertise to the beginner setup I work with. I have a HotHead torch and use 1 lb. canisters of Mapp gas due to the limitations of working at home, but as witnessed by Sarah Hornik, among many others, this is not an excuse for producing lousy beads.Per Jed at Double Helix, I shouldn't be able to strike non-reducing colors of DH glass with my HH without reducing them to mud. I have always found this to be the case. Just as I am getting the barest hint of color, the bead turns all tan or grey and stays that way. Perhaps because of the small, thin quantities of glass involved, but more likely because of the colors that are surrounding it, I got a blush out of the Terra light I used in this bead. It is most visible at around 1 o'clock on the top photo of this bead.
This bead was made using the suggestion from Melanie's comment 2 posts ago. I made a twistie of copper green, slytherin, Terra light and Psyche and used it on a base bead of ghee that had been wrapped in silver foil and aurae stringer (I have to make a DH frit blend). Neither the silver foil nor the aurae shows much except for flashes of metallic lustre amidst the stringer. I think I'll use Triton to make this stringer with next time rather than the Psyche, because this is difficult to reduce and I'm already fighting to avoid reducing the Terra. Most of the Terra used in the stringer did reduce to mother of pearl, which gets lost in the photos. That is how I can tell that the blush of ruby was the Terra striking and not the Psyche really thinned out. It is mother of pearl on all the edges and creeping into the center of the reddish area.
Next time I make a similar bead, I will use less sis or do it in a different manner. It is just too out of place the way it looks now.
Another thing to note is that the Slytherin actually gained some transparency and shows green rather than black when made into the stringer.
This bead was made using the suggestion from Melanie's comment 2 posts ago. I made a twistie of copper green, slytherin, Terra light and Psyche and used it on a base bead of ghee that had been wrapped in silver foil and aurae stringer (I have to make a DH frit blend). Neither the silver foil nor the aurae shows much except for flashes of metallic lustre amidst the stringer. I think I'll use Triton to make this stringer with next time rather than the Psyche, because this is difficult to reduce and I'm already fighting to avoid reducing the Terra. Most of the Terra used in the stringer did reduce to mother of pearl, which gets lost in the photos. That is how I can tell that the blush of ruby was the Terra striking and not the Psyche really thinned out. It is mother of pearl on all the edges and creeping into the center of the reddish area.
Next time I make a similar bead, I will use less sis or do it in a different manner. It is just too out of place the way it looks now.
Another thing to note is that the Slytherin actually gained some transparency and shows green rather than black when made into the stringer.
Yesterday I blogged about a bead which I over embellished. Here is how the bead should have turned out. Well, I managed to smear the floral under the encasement, but I love the way the progression of colors on the petals looks and the Aurae dot in the center struck beautifully. It looks like a little galaxy in the center of the flower.
Finally another picture to show how daylight affects the appearance of the bead when photographed. I am beginning to think that if a bead has any degree of red on it at all, I need to photograph it in natural sunlight.
Finally another picture to show how daylight affects the appearance of the bead when photographed. I am beginning to think that if a bead has any degree of red on it at all, I need to photograph it in natural sunlight.
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Great beads :)
ReplyDeleteThe whole reason I do this colour diet thing is because of how it's affected my learning progress. It looks on the surface like I just do it because I have an OCD issue, but really focusing in on a set of colours removes all the distraction and lets you get right to work.
I'm going to try a similar bead on the weekend with Yellow Opalino as a base since I'm not using Ghee. I'll let you know how it turns out :)