CiM Glass Testing: 502 Midnight Ltd Run

CiM's new color Midnight is.....well, it's weird. But in that good way that makes me want to look at it all the time. :)

On their website, CiM describes this color as a dark transparent shade that color shifts between navy blue and purple. I had a different experience entirely. I'm not saying they are wrong.....but I never got any blue or purple out of this color - not in sunshine, fluorescent or incandescent lighting. What I did experience is a color that is both dense and subtle, dark and not altogether that saturated. Midnight seems to be kind of a paradox.

In rod form, Midnight is so dark that it can easily be mistaken for black.  Even holding it up to the light, you can only see the barest hint of a transparent charcoal grey with maybe a tiny hint of blue.

When I pulled it into this swatch, only the thinnest part, towards the bottom end, can be seen as a dark transparent grey. When pulled into stringer, you can definitely see it as a transparent charcoal grey that is the kind of neutral color that reminds me of black and white photography.  There's little saturation, even though the color is very dense.

Unlike many transparent glasses, it didn't bubble or scum very much. It melted evenly without shocking, which was nice.


Midnight is a relatively stiff transparent glass.  It's one of the stiffer CiM colors, in my experience - even more so than Simply Berry Unique. This means that the color did not spread out much - even when thickly applied - without the aid of a metal tool to move it and press it.  This made the glass kind of a challenge to work with.

When encasing, I had to apply a thin layer of Midnight over some pale opaque grey (in this case, Vetrofond Pearl Grey), move it to the edges of the opaque, and then encase it.  When encased, the color lightened considerably into a lovely neutral charcoal grey.

Using this glass for layering did pose a bit of a challenge, but one that was well worth the effort.  Dots stayed put and didn't spread or bleed, which is nice when you want round, small dots.  Midnight is really gorgeous when clear is applied heavily over the top of it - like raindrops.  When layered over the Pearl Grey and pulled into stringer, Midnight goes very light - which you can see below. The scroll bead has the Midnight encased stringer, while the bead in the middle has bumps which are layered with Midnight.

I had a lot of fun working with this glass.  I adore grey these days, so Midnight was really inspiring.  It made me think of mysterious shadows and the play of light at nighttime when you can barely see.  These bead sets were made to feature Midnight in its various applications.  It's layered with Pearl Grey and DH Aether Clear, and paired up with Pastel Ink Blue and Dark Lavender. An oddlot of DH Ox created the metallic effects.

CiM Glass Testing: 201 Marigold Ltd Run

Before I get into the nitty-gritty about this lovely new color, I want to mention a couple things about some small changes over at Creation is Messy. As stated on their website and in their latest newsetters, CiM has changed the way they label their newer colors.  Instead of the "Unique" label, they are now using "Ltd Run" for odd lots and colors they may not make again.  I think this helps with some of the confusion around the term "unique", and lets us know that the color being sold is probably going to be limited or might change with each batch.  CiM's FAQ page has more information about why they have re-branded their color and how that might effect suppliers.

Now for the fun stuff!

People who know me and my work may have noticed that yellow is one of the colors I use the least in my beads.  And when I say yellow, I don't mean the buttercream shades I use (like Opal Yellow).  I mean actual yellow - the primary shade and it's derivatives.

Once in a great while I get a hankering for yellow beads.  Good timing, because CiM just released several new shades of yellow.  The one I decided to test first is called Marigold.

In my opinion, a prettier yellow does not exist in the whole 104 coe lineup.  In my opinion, yellow is one of those colors that is a bit overlooked and under-represented in soft glass. Unlike orange which is all over the freaking place. I'm not sure why that is, except perhaps that a lot of people don't really get all that excited over yellow.

Personally, I find that most of the opaque yellows in the soft glass line are streaky and somewhat tempermental.  The exception to this was 412 Dark Yellow many years ago.  It seems to have changed over time, though.

Marigold is different.  Like many of the CiM colors I have tested, this opaque shade is very stable.

Marigold is not too stiff, not too soupy when melting.  It melts very evenly and has a really nice consistency. I didn't notice any bubbling or shocking when melting on my Minor Burner. Like most yellows, Marigold turns a pretty shade of orange when heated, but gradually cools back into its original shade.

One really wonderful thing about Marigold is that it does not lighten when encased or pulled into stringer.  It's a very vibrant, saturated autumn yellow that fits the name of the glass perfectly.  Even thinly applied dots retain their vibrance.

Marigold also doesn't seem to spread out, bleed or overtake any color it's paired with. It encases easily and layers like a dream.

In these beads, Marigold is layered with clear (DH Aether) and paired up with Effetre 247 Pastel Ink Blue and Effetre Rosatta.  Plain, shiny black (Vetrofond) makes the colors pop.

Now I'm itching to make pumpkin beads and maybe even squash beads with this color for fall. :)
 

Beadmaking Tutorial Sale, and New Colors Coming Soon!

Okay, so usually when I do a tutorial sale (a few times a year) I do a buy-one-get-one-free kind of deal.  This sale is different.  Until midnight Friday night, all tutorials in my Etsy shop have been marked down by several dollars each.  There's no buying limit or minimum for this one.  This only counts for the Etsy store - the tutorials on Coloraddiction (the same ones) haven't been changed. That's because I don't want to change the PayPal buttons.  :)  So check out my Etsy store to see all 7 of my beadmaking tutorials on sale.

So....why the sale you ask?  Well, for a few different reasons.  First and most important - to help my current precarious financial situation. I won't lie - I am in a bit of a mess, and have been for awhile now.  Those who follow the blog know about the lawsuit, so I won't get into that except to say it's still going on.  We're struggling - like so many people out there - so every little bit helps.

Also, sales of tutorials have slowed a bit, and I want to give some extra incentive to get mine - which are great for newbies just getting into beadmaking, as well as intermediates who haven't run across my work until now.

Third, I am thinking of retiring a few of the older ones, so they will likely be disappearing after this sale is over. 

Will I be doing any new tutorials?  The answer to that is probably not for awhile.  I am a bit burned out on them and want to focus more on beadmaking.  Plus, I have run out of ideas.  :)

In other news - there are new CiM colors out to test, so look for new posts on those very soon.  CiM has made some gorgeous new greys that I am excited to try, as well as some opals that I really need to experiment with.  CiM has been releasing a lot more colors lately in their new Ltd Run category, and those will be fun to test.  I sure hope they continue to release colors which will be in their permanent line-up!

That's it for now - I hope everyone stays cool and has a fun summer!