Glass Color Testing: CiM 553 Poolside, 315 Buttermilk and Monarch 216

Three more CiM colors to chat about today! I used these three together, for a nice autumn contrast.

First up we have a pale, creamy opaque color called Buttermilk. This color is
so pale you might almost mistake it for white until you put it next to white. Then you can see the creamy yellow undertones. It's kind of like an eggshell with just a tiny hint of yellow if you strike it right.

Buttermilk is pretty well-behaved, but will spread a little bit if you don't cover it completely and carefully. It's not too stiff, but not at all soupy like other pale opaque cream colors tend to be. It also wasn't shocky, which was really nice.

Buttermilk might technically be a striking color - I did notice that it would blush slightly yellow when I pulled the sample petal, but honestly, that goes away when working the glass with other colors. I think it might streak a little when used as a sculptural base, but that's it as far as striking goes.

I like Buttermilk as a base for amber shades, but I probably will stick with the cooler/less yellow cream colors for layering browns and creams. Also, this color is too light to substitute for Opal Yellow or Painted Hills.

Next we have Monarch - a lovely striking yellow/orange opaque. Monarch is a striking color that goes a bit more yellow when worked - depending on whether it's encased or left as a base. In the rod, it's decidedly more orange and bright, but as you work it it transforms into a more subtle shade of orangy yellow. I just love how it brightened the amber I used with it.

Monarch is a really easy glass - no shocking, nice consistency.

 What I did notice was that I got a reaction when layering Monarch with Buttermilk and some transparent ambers (Indian Summer and Medium Topaz Effetre). I am unsure which color is responsible for the devit lines I got surrounding the melted in petals on some of these beads. I decided they were pretty, though.

When I encased Monarch it had no spreading issues, so I think any spreading would be more due to whatever transparent glass might react with it. This might be worth exploring a little further.

Last, we have a contrasting color - a gorgeous transparent medium teal called Poolside.

Poolside is a gorgeous shade that is lighter, greener and more vivid than the rest of the teals in the 104 palette. I think it goes perfectly on top of Quetzal, as it matches the tonality really well.

I had no bubbling issues with this color, but as usual if this shade of teal scums up on you, you can likely melt it off by gently continuing to heat your gather. The consistency of this glass is great - it melted smoothly and stayed stable.

The following beads were made with all three new colors, plus Quetzal, Indian Summer, Medium Topaz and Double Helix Helios.

Glass Testing: CiM 823 Koala, CiM Aegean Limited Runs

Next in line today we have two colors - a brand new one called Koala, and one that came out last year (I think), called Aegean. Both are limited runs.

So when I got the new batch of glass last month, I thought for sure there were too many gray shades. However, when I actually melted each rod, most of the opaque gray rods struck to different shades of brown, green and golden. Koala was the one opaque that actually stayed gray to my eye!

I had no issues with shocking or pitting with this glass, and it wasn't too stiff or too soft. I also had no issues with this glass bleeding under encasement or spreading out when melted in.

Koala is a lovely true medium neutral grey - not too blue and not too brown. It's lighter and cooler than Adamantium. In rod form, it actually does have a bluish cast, but that goes away when melted, for the most part.  As a plain spacer, it retains much of its shade, but when encased in clear Koala lightens up quite a bit, as you can see here with the spacers I made.

When left alone as a base, Koala only streaks and separates a tiny bit - really nice for a layering color. After you layer it, the streaks pretty much go away completely. I liked the way it looked with the pale transparent color Bashful - it adds just a touch of warmth to Koala. It's a perfect neutral to add some interest to bright and/or dark color combinations.

In the same set of beads, I used Aegean, a gorgeous medium teal.  Since this is a color I hadn't yet blogged about I decided to test it, even though it came out a year or more ago. I was glad I did!

I love colors that sit between blue and green - and this one straddles those colors perfectly. It's not green or blue.  Aegean reminds me a bit of Effetre Light Teal - if perhaps a touch darker and a tiny bit bluer. It's so much more well-behaved, though!  Not much in the way of scumming or bubbling, and it isn't too stiff, which makes it nice for layering.

Speaking of layering, I did so with Aegean and Quetzal, the new turquoise I blogged about earlier. I think those two make a brilliant pair. Aegean and Quetzal make really lovely encased stringer and gorgeous flower petals, both raised and melted in. Together they make a vibrant medium teal that has a lot of depth and clarity.

The beads below are made with Quetzal, Aegean, Koala, Bashful, Lapis, Trapeze, and Effetre Ink Blue Violet, along with Zephyr clear and DH Triton for the metallic.

Glass Color Testing: CiM 544 Aloha and 444 Pixie

Two more lovely Creation is Messy colors reviewed today!

This has so far been the most fun batch of new CiM color I've tested. All these lovely blues and greens have been relatively easy and are just so pretty. I know I've gushed over CiM colors a lot lately - believe me, if I get a color I am not fond of, you guys will know!

Both of these are of course limited runs, so get them asap if you love them.

 First off, we have Aloha - a really nice bright opaque aqua/turquoise. While Quetzal (see post from two days ago) was slightly on the green side of Effetre's turquoise, Aloha is slightly on the blue side and a bit brighter. It's also a shade darker than CiM Fremen, and a bit bluer than Smurfy. It's not really an exact match of any other color that I am aware of, so it's a wonderful addition to the palette.

Aloha plain and encased with clear

What I really love about Aloha is that it's not as reactive the Effetre turquoises. There's no silvery patina on the finished beads, and there's not a lot of striation - just a smooth, consistent bright aqua.

Aloha makes a nice layering companion with any of the transparent aquas CiM has - In the beads below, I layered it with Zoe.

Aloha melts easily and smooth - not stiff at all. I didn't have any shocking issues, and the glass doesn't bubble, scum, bleed or spread.

 

 

 

petals are Aloha with Zoe on top

Next up we have a fun shade of opaque blue-green called Pixie. It's hard to classify this color, because it's kind of green, but not real green. If that makes any sense. It's too dark to be called Celadon, (in fact, CiM's Celadon glass is lighter.) It's kind of sea-foam-y. It's gorgeous, and I love it.

Pixie plain and encased with clear

Pixie is a perfect layering match with CiM Aloe Juice, which sadly I can't find anywhere anymore. But you can also use Effetre Light Teal or CiM Appletini if you want a color to layer on top of Pixie.

Pixie worked up pretty much like Aloha - no problems so far. Pixie striated a little bit more, which showed through the layering, but not enough to be annoying.

Both colors did really well making encased stringer - they hold their shade nicely and don't wash out when melted in. Both were smooth to melt and had a really nice consistency while working.

I love that CiM is filling holes in the 104 color palette - I just hope these don't sell out too fast!

Glass Color Testing: CiM 540 Class M Planet Ltd. Run

The current batch of new colors from Creation is Messy came with a couple of colors that contain more silver than most, making for interesting reactions and striking. I'm reviewing the first one here - a lovely lapis blue called Class M Planet (points for the Star Trek reference, of course!)

In rod form, this color looks like a muddy blue. But what you get when melting this glass is not much like the rod color.

I had a hard time controlling Class M Planet at first - that is until I started just putting clear on it. (in this case, DH Zephyr, to avoid any reaction.) The first spacers I made turned a dark forest-y green color, and stayed that way until I tried to strike the glass. The longer you work this color, the bluer it tends to get.  It will go back green as you strike, until you start layering or encasing it. This large bead was a base of blue with clear stringer melted in, then encased again in clear. Some color striations appeared, but stayed mostly blue.

Melting this glass is pretty easy. It does have a lot of silver in it, so it's not as smooth and buttery as most opaques, but can take some good heat. Encasing it with clear and pulling stringer gave me a soft lapis blue color that I quite like. However, because this color as a lot of silver, your stringer can be lumpy if not hot enough when pulling.

It doesn't tend to bleed, but can spread a little bit when melting it in as decoration, but not enough to make me mad. :) For the most part, as I worked the glass in the beads below, Class M Planet stayed a pretty lapis blue, sometimes fading to a teal-ish color here and there. But in the kiln, most of it went back to blue. This is especially true when heavily encased. The green shows up more when the color is "naked" and raised. I preferred the blue, so that's mostly how I used it.

Even though Class M Planet is a glass that contains a lot of silver, I didn't get any reaction when using a reduction flame.  The metallic effects on the beads below were done with DH Elektra.

Glass Color Testing: CiM 546 Quetzal, CiM 313 Painted Hills, and CiM 548 Barrier Reef

Hi, everyone! It's been quite a few months since the last test, but the good news is that Creation in Messy just sent a huge batch of new colors for me to try out and blog about. There are a whopping 20 new shades of glass in the batch - all of which are limited runs (which I think will be the trend for the forseeable future). I'll try to get to most of them, I think.  There is only one opal color in the batch, which excites me because virtually all the new colors are ones I can really use and layer with.

CiM went a little nuts with the blues and greens this time - there are a ton of new shades that are great additions to the 104 palette that we don't usually see.

So first off, we have Painted Hills - an interesting light creamy yellow that really reminds me of the lighter batches of Effetre's famous Opal Yellow.

Painted Hills is a striking color - tending toward the lighter, almost washed out side when encased with clear, unless you strike it by cooling and reheating a few times. When used as a base, you can get blushing creams and yellows with a hint of rosy ivory at times. 
The longer you work it, the more color you can get.

The glass does behave somewhat like Opal Yellow in the flame as well - it can spread, especially when layered with a transparent color, but not to the point of being unusable. I really like this color as an alternative to Opal Yellow, because it is lighter, and because it doesn't have the air bubbles and holes that Effetre's handmade colors tend to have. So it doesn't have a shocking problem, and is pretty well-behaved.  If the price is right, I might completely replace my Opal Yellow with Painted Hills until they run out!

Next up are two teal shades called Quetzal and Barrier Reef. I used these two together because they complement eachother really nicely.

Quetzal is an opaque medium blue-green that sits somewhere between turquoise and teal to my eye.

Barrier Reef is a super intense dark transparent teal that can really only be seen when layered or encased - otherwise it looks almost black.

Encase Quetzal with Barrier Reef and pull into stringer and you have a magnificent deep rich teal that I just love!

Quetzal is very well behaved for a turquoise - it doesn't pit, doesn't striate nearly as much as a lot of greenish opaques, and is a lovely consistency.  It also doesn't go silvery like the Effetre turquoises. It will lighten a bit when encased, but still stays a lovely color. There's no shocking with this one either. It will bleed a little out the sides when making stripes if you're not careful to cover the edges well.

Barrier Reef is slightly stiff and very, very dark. It also turns really green in the flame, so don't let that surprise you - it goes back to teal when cool. Use it in thin layers to bring up the color - especially when using it as a base. Layer it thinly over a lighter opaque and then encase with clear.  I had no problems with bleeding, scumming or shocking.

In the beads shown here, the three new CiM colors are used with CiM Indian Summer, which is layered with the Painted Hills for a range of colors from light rosy amber to deep rusty amber.

you can see the Quetzal bleeding on the edges just a little

lovely shade of teal is made by layering Barrier Reef over Quetzal, then putting a small amount of clear on top.

scrolls of encased stringer make lovely teal striations under the pale flowers.

Painted Hills makes a wonderful base color for layering ambers and oranges.

Painted Hills can create lines of tiny bubbles when layered and melted in on top of clear, so watch for that.

Barrier Reef over Quetzal makes a wonderful dark teal stringer. Indian Summer over Painted Hills yields a soft rosy amber.