New Colours From CIM

Last week a little parcel dropped on my doormat from Tuffnell Glass it was full of exciting glass from CIM.   They are from top to bottom in the photo above : Gypsy, Cobblestone, Mahogany, Heartthrob, Tiger Lily, Poppy, Cinnamon, Mint Chip, Ginger (I think! The rod was broken and unlabelled so I will check but it looks like Ginger!) Whisper , Bubble Bath, Trapeze, Ice Floe, Corination Day and Primrose.

My first impression of the bundle was the beautiful opal colours of the Bubble Bath and Whisper.  The fantastic light purple of Trapeze, the subtle pastels of the Mint Chip and Ginger and the vibrant red of Heartthrob.

Next step to melt them down into beads to see how they behaved (From the right to left below the same glass as the list above)

The first glass in the flame was Bubble Bath which was abit shocky and spat all over my bench but after a gentle introduction to the flame it was fine.  This glass is opal in look and had a slightly mottled finish once it had been through the kiln process.

Whisper was another opal rod which produced a mottled finish once cool but with the same opal feel to it.  Primrose was another shocky rod but what a pretty pastel pink, not quite as intense as Gelly but lovely, another bead that might look lovely etched or tumbled and it  created an even colour once cool so I suspect it would be great in layered beads.
 
The Cinnamon Jelly also became streaky in the flame and has a streaky finish when cool.  Some people like this organic feel, personally I like my opaques to stay solid and clean so this one is not for me!  The other three red/orange colours were different, Heartthrob was slightly shocky but boy what a stunning red, a truly vibrant, rich colour my favourite red of the bunch and I will be needing more.

For those of you that like the oranges the Tiger Lily melted like a dream and has a very slight opal finish...I wonder what it would be like layerd, I suspect it would be slightly transparent.  The last red was the Poppy this glass also melted like a dream and like the Tiger Lily has a slightly opal finish when cool.  It is a shame I had no more time to test these glasses in layers but I will try and find time to do that and blog but Poppy I also suspect would be slightly transparent.

The brown glasses were all deep and rich, that is the Cobblestone, Gypsy, Mahogany and the glass I suspect is Ginger.  They all melted like a dream and each rod produced a solid colour bead.  I again want to experiment more particularly with the Gypsy which is an intense black which even under daylight lighting I can detect no blue or purple in there by eye.  The Ginger if that is what it is and I promise I will find out after the Bank Holiday was a beautiful colour perfect for a base colour and that and the beautiful Mint would look just fabulous etched I suspect.  The Mahogany made my mouth water it is almost the same colour as beautiful  rich milk chocolate and created a lovely block colour once cooled in a bead. (as seen above)

Let me mention at this point the Coronation Day (above),  I was excited to see such a deep purple, the rod has a slightly opal look to it and indeed when it was melted it became streaky and the bead created had a streaky look to it to.  A shame for me as I had my eye on it for some of my big layered beads but it was not to be!

Lastly the transparent Trapeze....what a fabulous colour and the Ice Floe.  Trapeze melts and stays as it is in the rod a beautiful very light mauve.  Ice Floe was a fascinating glass it created a finish that reminded my for the Foxs Glacier Mints of my childhood!  Lots of tiny bubbles within the bead almost like it has boiled....although usually I don't like rods that create an uneven finish when melted this one is an exception and I think it may have some use in my coastal beads as it does indeed remind me of ice/water.

Usually I would make a few beads layering the colours together to see how they behave when they are put together but I was very short on time and I thought I would do something different this time.  Opal colours in my experience can sometimes do lovely things with silver glass and that Trapeze was just asking to be mixed with some silver glass!

So the first mix I tried was with my favourite Kalypso which I applied over a base bead of Ice, lightly reduced and encased with 006 Clear.  The effect was not as dramatic as I was expecting....but that is the thing with glass isn't it when you expect something it doesn't happen and when you don't it does!!

Next I made a base bead of Whisper, this beautiful opal I was convinced would do something special, then I topped with Aion 2 and lightly reduced and encased in clear.  I still think there is something happening with this glass mix as you can see in the photo below and I will be testing it with other DH glass soon.

Last the star of the show I wanted to use my favourite colour in this batch which was the Trapeze but from experience felt it was to light to use as a base so I picked the other opal colour in the batch the Bubble Bath and made a small base bead.  I then encased it in Clio and very lightly reduced it.....rather than going for clear I used the Trapeze to encase the lightly reduced bead and then applied a layer of clear......006 which I now wish had been a DH clear but will do that next time!  The result was amazing......and completely by accident

The real difference was the application of a coloured transparent to the mix but this bead just glows I took it out of my photo set up which is daylight bulbs and popped it beside me on a bead mat and look at this......very little light at all and it is still glowing!!

So that is what I have discovered so far. The Swirl Technique you see in all these last beads is available as a tutorial in my Etsy Shop

I will pop up any further findings once I continue to play with these glasses but in the meantime race you to Tuffnell Glass to stock up on those opals and the lovely Trapeze and some Ginger and Mint and Hearthrob maybe!

Thank you for reading my blog and if you do make beads using this recipe I would love to see them and hear your thoughts you can post me a photo on my FB Page

Cake Batter, Mushroom Melon, Absinthe.......lots of new glass to play with

So earlier this week I had a message from Martin at www.tuffnellglass.com asking me if I would have a play with the new release colours from CIM Glass.    Well what should a girl say???    YES PLEASE!   Two days later I had 17 shiny new rods of glass to stroke arrive in my mail box.

My colour palette normally is bright and on first glance this glass all looked autumnal and once again out side my comfort zone but who knows what they are gonna do till you melt them.   The rods are from the left : Alley Cat, Daffodil, Cake Batter, Mushroom Melon, Antique Lace, Mint Chip, Shrubbery, Goblin, Radio Flyer, Tandoori, Bing LTD, Weimarner, Neon Blue, Trade Winds, Tuscan Teal, Absinthe and Aloe Juice.   My initial response was I love the depth to Trade Winds a real yummy deep cobalt opaque and the Tuscan Teal which reminded me of Caribbean Seas a beautiful deep transparent Teal.  The Absinthe a smokey water colour and the Radio Flyer an incredible scarlet colour also got my glassy antenae wiggling!!

So the first thing to do was to make some small spacer beads and see what they looked like melted down.  Starting with the transparent orange colour centre front and working right they are Tandoori, Bing Ltd, Weimeraner, Neon Blue, Trade Winds, Tuscan Teal, Absinthe, Aloe Juice, Alley Cat, Daffodil, Cake Batter, Mushroom Melon, Antique Lace, Mint Chip, Shrubbery, Goblin, Radio Flyer...

Here are the blues close up from the left Tuscan Teal, Trade Winds and Neon Blue.....

And at the front here from the left Alley Cat, Daffodil, Cake Batter, Mushroom Melon, Antique Lace, Mint Chip and Shrubbery just slipping out of shot.....

The first thing I did was to test how they all sat together so I made a big bead with lots of dots and a busy design.  Without exception they all behaved perfectly no bleeding, no bubbling and no devitrification (crystal forming) just lovely clean lines......ten out of ten for that and I used most of the glasses in this bead apart from the reds

Then it was the turn for the Reds and what better than a swirly bead encased to test those colours out

This bead was tricky to photograph but the blends of the light ochres Alley Cat and Daffodil with the reds and a touch of Mushroom Melon and the orange Tandoori created this beautiful shading.  I used Effetre 006 as the clear and all in all I was really pleased with how they performed.  Bead is in one piece so no compatiblity issues that I can see.

So then  I did this swirly pleated lentil....The main yellow in the centre is Daffodil with Alley Cat topping and tailing it.  That lovely dove grey is the Weimeraner and the red is Radio Flyer.  The dark colour is the Tuscan Teal giving it some depth.  As you can see no bleeding at all and again I was really pleased with how they performed.  Not sure about the bead though!! Looks like a Toucan!

Now I found out a while ago from a friend that silver glass tends to like the opal colours so I thought perfect lets try the Absinthe with some DH Kalypso and Oxalis on that little flower.  Guess what! I think Kalypso liked a tipple of Absinthe!!  

Now for the blue lovers! This is a mix of Neon Blue, and Trade Winds with some Mushroom Melon in a ring Topper.  Again lovely crisp finish no bleeding and it encased with 006 no problem.

Now this just blew me away I do alot of these beads and it is usually the outside layer that smudges but this just stayed so crisp right through the design.  Base is  Mint Chip then Wiemeraner then Tuscan Teal topped with my NEW FAVOURITE glass Cake Batter this glass Rocks!!

So all in all I had a lovely play day and all in all the glass behaved well the Radio Flyer was a wee bit shocky but apart from that they all melted well and Thank you Tuffnell Glass for letting me test them for you :)

CIM - Sepia and two Limited runs Raindrop and Fiddlehead - Playing for www.tuffnellglass.com :)

So on Friday unexpectedly I found a tube of glass awaiting me when I came back from walking my furgals.   I had read on the Tuffnell Page on Facebook that there where a couple of new CIM colours arriving but wasn't sure what they were so I ripped the package open on the doorstep.....as you do!!

I have to confess the excitement dwindled slightly when I upwrapped the parcel....expect for the Refresher Sweetie which was nommy!  I love my colours and obviously, as you can see, this was not a colourful batch of inspiring glass but I headed over to the studio and started by making some small test beads to have a closer look at the colours

So here they are....from the left Fiddlehead, Raindrop and Sepia.  My first observation was that the Raindrop boiled on me even when I turned the torch right down and was as a consequence  a 'bubbly' finish.   Now the challenge with what to do with them, obviously I had to add other glass so I started with the Fiddlehead. 

I made a base bead of Cim Dirty Martini and used the Fiddlehead for the larger dots and interspersed with small white CIM Peace dots.  The Fiddlehead behaved well and is less streaky than other greens I have used.  I made the dots more interesting by using my knife to flatten the top of each one.

 This next bead was made using Raindrop, Fiddlehead and Cim Peace.   The Raindrop makes a great 'shadow' glass for adding depth to your bead and although it did bubble a wee bit the bumps on this one look like raindrops in the flesh and I am sure it would look great on a turquoise and would make a bead look like it had been splashed in water........hmmmmm!  Theres a thought!

 

So firstly excuse the fingerprints on these ones!  I liked that raindrop look so I made a base bead of CIM Dirty Martini and encased it in Double Helix Oxalis then added dots of Dirty Martini randomly around the bead and melted flat.  I then took my  tungsten pick and pierced the centre of each of these dots then added a drop of Raindrop over each of these dots and melted flat capturing that little air bubble.  Finally I reduced the Oxalis heavily till it created this shiny finish with hints of pink and blue and green that you probably can't see in the photo but is very pretty.   Again the Raindrop boiled and the resulting dots where 'bubbly' but treated with care this is a very useful colour for your palette.

  

Last but not least the Sepia combined with the Fiddlehead green.  I made a base bead of the Fiddlehead and combined CIM Peace with the Sepia to create layers and light and shade.  Again a great shading colour although I think I prefer the raindrop it has a cleaner look to it.

 

And then Sepia.  Well this bead below is made on a black base with CIM Peace providing the white.  The outside smaller bumps are dots of Raindrop.  Those lovely large bumps are a base of Peace dotted with a small amount of DH Kalypso then flashed in a reduction flame and topped with Sepia....Yummy!!

 This one is a hollow base pod of the Sepia, I love this colour it really is like that sepia colour in old photos not really brown, more like a very deep gold.  Again I have used the DH Kalypso and Sepia for the larger spots as above and then the smaller dots are all Sepia on its own.  Pretty Pretty!!

And altogether :

So the verdict from here for what its worth is Sepia gets a big thumbs up.  If you like green then the Fiddlehead is another useful shade to your palette.  The Raindrop......yep I like it but treat with care or it will boil all over the place.

As a note CIM  Peace is a great white for layering spots and fine in small bumps but hates being fully encased and in my experience always cracks.....just so you know!! 

Thats all for now!!  Happy Melting Folks :)

www.tuffnellglass.com is the web address for our friends at Tuffnells :)