Glass Testing: CiM 210 Sunset Ltd. Run and CiM 614 Jellyfish Ltd. Run

Creation is Messy has a new batch of Limited Run colors up this month, so I put my two favorites together for this test.

First up is CiM Sunset - which was a happy surprise for me!  Almost

all of the coral/orange glass I have ever tried, which has usually been made by Effetre, has had cracking problems when encased in clear or even in light transparent colors.  It doesn't always cause the bead to crack, but it does enough of the time to keep me from wasting my time making encased beads with any coral/orange glass I have.

So, when I saw this lovely, dense, streaky orange rod from CiM, I thought to myself..."hmmmm I wonder if this cracks under encasing, too?"  The good news is that as far as I can see, Sunset doesn't have the cracking problems that all the Effetre 420 odd corals have.  But it does have the same lovely, juicy, saturated orange that we find in those Effetre coral oranges.


Sunset works up a little nicer than the Effetre coral oranges - not too stiff, has a tendency to streak and strike in the flame a little bit, but not as much the Effetre.  Also, Sunset doesn't have the rough texture that sometimes happens with Effetre corals. No pitting or air bubbles that I saw. No bleeding or spreading that I saw.

The color of Sunset is a true orange - it doesn't tend toward either red or yellow.  Encasing it in clear lightens it just a little bit.  For fun, I encased it in Jellyfish, and got a lovely watermelon orange which looks delicious.

I had no problem layering this dense glass - it keeps its color very well.

1. Sunset with clear encased Sunset scrolls. 2. Effetre Lavender Blue Pastel encased with Jellyfish, with clear encased Sunset scrolls. 3. Clear encased Sunset with Lavender Blue Pastel and Jellyfish dots. 4. Jellyfish encased Sunset with Jellyfish encased Lavender Blue Pastel scrolls.

Jellyfish under daylight lamps

Next, we have CiM Jellyfish, a pretty transparent lavender that shifts to lighter bluish in fluorescent light, just like other lavender glass out there.

This version of lavender is very close to the old CiM Count von Count - maybe just a touch lighter. Not as light as Larkspur, and not as pink as Purple Haze.  Not as muted as Tranquility. Compared to Effetre Dark Lavender, Jellyfish is just a touch lighter.

There's nothing that sets this glass apart from all the other lavenders that CiM has released over the years - it works up nicely, isn't too stiff, holds its color and is really pretty. It does scum up a little on the rod as you melt, but that goes away when worked into a bead or pulled as stringer.  It's not as scummy as Effetre versions.

I'm glad for the release of this color, because it's been difficult to find Dark Lavender, and the other CiM lavenders have mostly been discontinued (Except for Larkspur, which is lighter than Jellyfish).  As long as CiM keeps bringing out the lavender glass, I will buy it because I like the consistency better than Effetre.

I am hoping that Jellyfish doesn't turn out to be as expensive as Purple Haze was! Both of these colors are set to come out sometime this month.I'm looking forward to making pumpkins with Sunset and lots of flowers with Jellyfish.  They are limited runs, so get them as soon as you can, because I think they will sell fast. :)

Summer Sunset set, same colors as beads in the above pics.

Random Stuff This Week

Ahhhhhh.  It's 8 million degrees outside (read: 95), and I am so thankful for my small, portable air conditioner. 

This week, I have spent most of my time here in the office doing computer stuff, so I haven't torched a whole lot.  It's too hot! 

I did manage to get a few beads made, though.  These are wistful wishes for cooler, autumn days. 

I made my first pumpkins of the season, changing up the green for the scrolling vines to CiM Soylent encased in Effetre Grass Green.  I really like the difference it makes - the green is still earthy, but a little more vibrant than I have had in the past. 

I used various shades of Effetre Coral for the oranges - Coral makes the best autumn orange, in my opinion. They're not really coral in color at all - funny how Effetre Coral hasn't actually been coral in a long time.  

I made more beads - they're listed over on my Beads For Sale page on my website.

I'm looking forward to going to the Frantz Art Glass Bash next weekend in Shelton.  This is always a fun time - lots of demos and such.  They always have huge glass sales during the bash, but alas, no glass for Kandice this time.  I don't have the extra funds to spend, but I am still going to go.  There are always lots of fun people to chat with and wonderful beads to look at, so hopefully this will help with the creative mojo, which has been on what seems like permanent hiatus lately.

Lastly, I have been working on a couple of websites....namely Coloraddiction.com and Kimberlyaffleck.com.  I've been meaning to redo both of them for awhile now - and I finally just took the time to do it.   Both are done in a similar style with different colors.  I think both sites look more polished now - what do you think?

That's pretty much it for now - I hope everyone is staying cool!  :)

Too Dark For Summer?

I just pulled these lovlies out of the kiln this morning, and was a tad surprised to see how dark the colors turned out to be. Normally in the summer I like to work a little lighter. I still like the color combo though - so I listed them on ebay. What do you think? Take the poll below! :)

What do you think of the color scheme on these beads?

• It's too dark for summer - I wouldn't buy them.
• It's too dark, but I would buy them and use them in fall or winter.
• It's not too dark - I would buy them.
• It's not too dark, but I still would not buy them.

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