Off the Wagon

Have you ever gone to a wedding reception while you're on a diet?  Did you stick to it, and if so, how much fun did you have?  That's how I feel with new colors in the stash.  So, like any weight watcher I'm forgetting all about the diet for a day or two.  Have I mentioned I love purple?  Effetre plum silver is one of my favorite colors, because it is purple and because the dark goes all neat and metallic.  The problem with the dark is that it doesn't really show purple and the problem with the light is that it doesn't go all metallic.  Vetrofond has come out with a new color that I think fills this gap.  It isn't as purple as plum silver light, nor is it as dark as plum silver dark, and it does have an earthy reduction that I like but can see the limitations of.  So on to the beads.  All except the first have been worked, cooled slightly, then reheated gently in the top of the flame of my hothead.

Of the beads to the right, the top bead and the bottom one are Vetrofond plum.  With the top bead, I just wound it off and shaped it, working a little high in the flame perhaps, but not paying particular attention to striking it.  The middle bead is metallic black to show the difference between the sheens.  On the bottom, I worked it as described and was thrilled that it is still a visible color.

 Time to see what it does when you work it with another color.  I didn't try it with silver or clear, mainly because I wanted to produce these beads specifically.  I'll play with it some more when I'm off the diet.  All are Vetro plum with metallic black stringer.  On top, I deliberately only reheated the surface of the bumps.  In the middle I feathered some metallic black in and was pleased to see the black develop that rainbow thing it does, but less pleased that it doesn't show up in the photo.  On the bottom is an attempt at a shell with black metallic decoration.  This combination is so cool because you can easily see the difference and the colors compliment each other.
With this last group of beads, I wanted to see how Vetro plum stacked up against the Effetre line.  It is even a bit lighter than the Effetre light and browner.  It won't work for everything.  But it is definitely a color I will be buying again.  And it is less than half the price of the Effetre dark silver plum so I can afford to.