Color Testing Revisited

 I'm getting ready to move and thought I'd talk about a few things I've been working on before I have to pack up my shop.  The above beads were made with a frit blend from Devardi called waterlilies, on CiM stoneground that had been covered with silver foil which was melted in.  I love how the etching brought out the pinks and the droplets of silver.  On just plain white, below, the frit is pretty, like a summer meadow, I think, but I like it better on the silver and brown.

 I picked up some Devardi Aurora frit as well, above on the NW and SE beads over CiM crocus, and below over copper green.  I really like the way it looks on copper green and have made a set of it, this time getting them all round.  I did do a set on white, where the true colors show up.  It is a pleasing blend of purple, lavender, and greens.

The last color I tested was CiM indigo, a limited run.  For all the world it looks black and may as well be.  The above are hollow beads and you can just about make out the white ribbon stringing them together.  Not sure how I'll use this yet.  I'm thinking of making it into twisties or filigrana and making hollows and/or ruffles with it.

New colors

Santa came again and dropped of a whole bunch of glass and a lens press. I am now learning to use all of these and the results are variable. I got some wierd color combinations and some lima bean looking beads but I think I am on the right track now. For now.

1. CiM pheonix, as unstruck as I could make it. I did make this on the same mandrel as bead 2 and flashed it in the flame a few times, but I wouldn't have thought it would have struck to the extent it did. Only around the holes is it a peach color.
2. plain and struck
3. being taken over by SiS. I knew I would like this combination. Next lesson: learning stringer control.
4. with DH aion2, encased in (I think) CiM clear. I was hoping for that orange and purple thing, which I will probably never be able to duplicate with a more readily available color. I got grey.
5. with DH triton, encased and mashed with more success than I thought. A little overfill on the press but I think I got the general shape the bead has to go in right. Now I have to figure out how to encase so I don't get all that clear on the thin edges.

With any luck at editing this blog, what follows are some beads I made with Effetre kelp, 080(I think). I wanted to try it primarily as an encasement color for silver and silver glasses but this has suggested all sorts of other lines of experimentation so this may or may not have been a good idea. The beads are as follows:
1. plain
2. with silver leaf, melted in
3. with silver glass, triton, I think, encased in clear
4. over CiM tux, melted in, reduced, and encased in kelp. I like this bead.
5. tux with triton, reduced and encased in kelp
6. tux with silver leaf, encased in kelp. The kelp went semitranslucent on this. Not my favorite bead.
7. tux with silver leaf, encased in a thinner layer of kelp and mashed. A bit better. Note the brown reaction.

I made a few crocus unique beads, I forget which unique, I'll look it up, and decided I had to try it against the original crocus, which I think I like better. Or I like the beads better, at any rate. The original has very few, if any color reactions that I've found yet, although it was hard to reduce old faithful triton. Here are the beads.
1. plain
2. with silver foil, melted in
3. encased in clear. Fritpedia suggested encasing it in Reichenbach clear, which I do not have, so I tried CiM clear. It's not doing anything for me. I'll have to try it with the Reichenbach, if I get some.
4. With DH triton. Note the lack of silver color on the triton. Ignore the misshaped lentil.
5. with triton, reduced and encased. This turned out a bit better.
6. with silver plum dark scrolls, finished high in the flame. OK.
7. with copper green. No reaction. What? a color that doesn't react to copper green?

Here is another color I had to try, seeing that spring is almost here (what a laugh) and I need a pick-me-up. These were made with Vetrofond banana cream odd lot.
1. plain and unadorned. What a nice sunny color.
2. encased in CiM clear.
3. with DH triton stringer reduced and encased in clear. I didn't think I would like this, since thinking of this and silver glass did nothing for me. I am glad I tried it, because it's my second favorite of the bunch. As far as color combinations go, regarding technique, did I mention I sock at encasing?
4. with sis. What was I thinking? I'd blame the drink but I was sober. I am noticing that encasement and color reactions lighten this glass. Interesting thing to know.
5. with plum silver dark, finished high in the flame. Nice contrast, but I don't know if I would want a set of these.
6. with effetre turquoise 236. Less of a grey line than I was expecting. I like this combination.
7. with copper green. Again, not a whole lot of reacting going on. Pretty combo.
8. with EDP. My favorite combo. I didn't think I would like it, again, but I'm thinking pansies.