Effetre anice white again

I had to do this one again, since my results varied from the Mind Melt test batch so greatly.  In this case, I think my torch setup has more to do with my relative success with this color than anything else.  On the invoice it clearly states that it is shocky and the rods must be preheated.  This is a rarity and the only color I've seen this warning on so far.  So I had to go and see what it did.  I am used to working very carefully and introducing glass very, very slowly to the flame, since I am terrified of hot glass burning holes in me, or worse yet, the floor.  I started up very high in the flame and worked my way down.  No problem, not a single pop.  I think because the HotHead is much cooler than an oxypropane torch, I could get away with this.  Besides, I like the semitranslucent white.

1 is plain.  I didn't bother encasing this. 

2 is with silver foil melted in.  Nice yellowing, not what I was expecting at all.

3 is with silver foil melted in and encased in clear.  The yellowing was diluted.

4 is with DH triton, just melted in and reduced.  Not as much yellowing as I expected, based on my experience with CiM peace, which this glass superficially resembles.

5 is with triton, melted in, reduced and encased.  I didn't get as much color as I wanted on this side of the bead.

6 is with copper green red.  Again, more reddish than green, but I didn't really mind whatever I got.

7 is with CiM tuxedo.  There's a whole lot of webbing here, which was a surprise.

8 is with silvered ivory stringer, melted in.  This bead was a pleasant surprise.  It looks like some kind of jasper.  I might do a set of these.

The beads on the right were a set I wanted to do earrings with or something but couldn't get the millefiori to look right.  The grey bead is my favorite, but I haven't been able to do this since.  I might have badly burned or reduced the bead, or it might have been something weirder.  I just don't know.

When good beads go bad

I do things on a small scale. When I buy glass, I do it 1/4 lb. at a time, both for financial reasons because I have to have all the colors at once and because, well, I have to have all the colors at once and Joe is starting to say things like, "You got more crack," when a package comes. More on that another day. I buy MAPP gas in 1 lb. cylinders because my apartment complex prohibits 20lb. tanks for grills and I don't think they will wink at my glass. When a bead goes bad a little piece of me dies. OK, that's a little extreme, but I definitely analyze the heck out of it and try not to make it happen again. I have been experimenting a lot, like any beginner will, and I have my share of strange beads, but I hate it when I can't use them. On these, they just turned out to be unworkable. The top 2 had separator issues and the bottom one, well, I don't know what stuck to my utility blade tool but it looked too bloody to use.

Note to self: Don't sit there waiting to see what color something is going to go, just garage it. I am not an expert at encasing, in fact, it could be said I sock at it. In these cases, I didn't sink the beads in anealing bubble fast enough to prevent mild thermal shock. The cracks don't go past the encasement layer, but not because I mixed glasses, I don't think. The flat bead is Effetre dark matter, DH aion2, and clear and the round one Effetre gaillo ocra, aion2 and clear. I can still look at these, but for the functional use they were intended they will not do.

This is one that I did the first month of making beads, back in October. I don't know what I did wrong, or right, since I like the bead and tried to do it again, but the first bead I made using Effetre anice white had a uniform transparent grey layer over the white. I didn't smoke the glass, I think, since it doesn't have that streaky thing going on, nor is it a reaction to the millefiori, since the other beads I made using the same combination didn't go all wierd. Just a neat effect.

This last picture is what happens when you have a fat wad of various shades of green and aren't paying attention to what you are doing. My mind was thinking apple green and my brain didn't register that I had another glass that could be interpreted as apple green color: Effetre cool kiwi. So several beads that should have been CiM poison apple were made with Effetre cool kiwi. The kiwi rod is on top. Note that it has been used. I just have to make more beads tomorrow. What a shame.