Something About Aurae

So I used to hate silver glass. Why is that, when it's one of the most popular kinds of glass to use these days? Hmmmm - mostly because I tend to work cool and small, and the silver glasses tend to work very well in larger focals that have lots of glass layers and take a lot of heat and time to make.

I also had a hard time getting the really great reactions out of a lot of the silver glasses from Double Helix, TAG and more. Until now.

I finally broke down and bought some Double Helix Triton and Aurae after I read how easily they reduced with metallic effects, and after I read that Aurae would keep some of its metallic iridescence even when encased.

YEY! It's true - at least with Aurae (I haven't tried Triton yet). I found this glass incredibly easy to use - it reduces even easier than the Iris Blue I used in the beads in the last post. And the color is much lighter and more airy. Where Iris Blue reduces to a heavy silver, almost gunmetal color, Aurae goes golden and stays light. It has lovely reflective qualities, while still allowing some of the pale amber/rose to come through the gold.

The reaction is so easy to get that you almost don't have to do anything...just turn the oxygen down a little bit and make sure your flame isn't too terribly large or hot, and the golden glow quicky blooms over the whole bead. Add some clear to that gold and you have some lovely abalone shell iridescence. So. Pretty.

Here are my two first sets with it - and I plan on making more and more as time goes by. Next to try will be Triton - can't wait! :)