Messy Testing - Cleopatra ltd run

Cleopatra ltd run is a densely saturated rich purple. I have used it to make candy striped core petal beads. Every shade of transparent purple that you see in these beads has been created with Cleopatra.

I have used it as a solid colour core under clear in the tumble etched spacers. In the rounds I have used it to create the initial core with white dots on top or or over a white core as tiny dots that have been further diluted with Effetre clear and stretched out to make pale candy stripes. The petals have been formed by adding tiny dots of Cleopatra over dots of either Effetre white or CiM Lapis. On the surface of these beads I have used Cleopatra stringer to create some darker purple dotty details by adding a second layer of Cleopatra to build up the colour intensity. All in all Cleopatra is a very pretty and versatile colour.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Toto, Pistachio Ice Cream and Slate ltd run

Today I have 3 more pretty additions to the CiM palette to show. First is Toto ltd run which starts out as kind of brownish beige but strikes to a variety of brown and earthy grey shades the longer you work it in the flame. Here you can see a good range of the colours that come from Toto. The tumble etched spacers are made with a core of Toto encased with Effetre clear. I have decorated the rounds with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run dots under Maple with Mahogany ltd run stringer and Butternut ltd run dots.

These rounds are made with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run which is a very pale pastel green. You could go as far as calling it a green tinted white. I have used the same combination of colours to decorate the Pistachio Ice Cream rounds, large Toto dots under Maple with Pistachio Ice Cream stringer and Butternut ltd run and Mahogany ltd run dots. The spacers are encased tumble etched Maple.

This last set are made with Slate ltd run, a pale and pretty transparent grey toned blue. Both the rounds and spacers are made with a core of Slate under Effetre Clear. The spacers have been tumble etched and the rounds decorated with large Effetre white dots under Aegean ltd run and my all time favourite green glass, Elphaba.


Jolene x

Messy Testing - Ecru and Allspice ltd runs

There are some lovely neutral and earthy toned opal glass colours on the horizon too within this next release of ltd run colours from CiM. I have teamed them up with classic Silvered Ivory stringer wraps.

First up I have a trio of hearts to show that are made with Ecru ltd run, a gorgeous cream opal glass with a pearly looking lustre to it. This glass is just glorious.

Allspice ltd run is a deep golden brown that makes me think of caramelised sugar.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Jet Stream ltd run

Jet Stream ltd run, coming out from Creation is Messy (CiM) soon, is a pretty sapphire blue. It behaves beautifully in the flame without scumming or boiling when worked hot.

These beads on the left have a core of Jet Stream encased with Efftre clear and decorated with Butternut ltd run, Elphaba and Efftre light Grass Green.

Jet Stream also looks lovely layered up inside petal beads. It is pale and delicate when used in small quantities over Effetre white and diluted further with layers of clear encasement. The dark opaque blue details in these beads is Effetre 421 Lapis Blue. The spacers are made with a thin core of Jet Stream encased with Effetre 006 and given a tumble etched finish.

Jolene 

Messy Testing - African Violet ltd run

African Violet ltd run is a rich dark transparent purple. It is part of the spring 2016 collection of new colours from Creation is Messy. It is so dark that I have used it here sparingly as a thin core under a thick encasing layer of Effetre 006 clear to show the hue better. The round beads have been decorated with dots and stringers made with Lapis (opaque purple), Grumpy Bear (pale blue) and African Violet. The donut shaped spacers are also made with African Violet under 006. They have been tumble etched to give them a matt/frosted finish.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Ceylon ltd run

Ceylon ltd run is a very pretty dark smokey quartz colour. I have used it here as the core colour under these encased beads. The rounds have been decorated with thin stringers of Adamantium, Effetre baby pink and Rubino Ora. I just love warm grey and pink together. I have tumble etched the encased Ceylon donut spacers and they look like frosted sea glass, though it is very rare to find sea glass naturally in shades of grey.

Smokey Ceylon look wonderful with Adamantium which is a warm grey. These hearts are half Ceylon  and half Adamantium separated with a twisted band of silvered ivory stringer.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Experimental, Musk and Pistachio Ice Cream Ltd Runs

There are some new CiM ltd run colours on the horizon including a new formula for Clear called Experimental ltd run. I have made two similar sets of beads. The first uses Experimental for the encasing layer and the second uses Effetre 006 Clear.

To my eye Musk ltd run looks like a light version of Mojito so I decided to use them both side by side in the same set. This first set of beads has been made with thick cores of Musk ltd run (round beads) and thin cores of Mojito (tumble etched donuts). All were encased with Experimental. The rounds and donuts came out of the kiln looking much closer in hue than they do in rod form due to the relative thickness of the cores and thickness of the encasing layer on top. I have also used Mojito as the top layer on most of the stacked dots in this set as I felt that Musk might look too pale to have much impact when used in such a tiny amount over a coloured dot.

The stringer work was done with Pistachio Ice Cream ltd run, which is a really pretty very pale green opaque. It was much stiffer as a fine stringer than that I expected it to be considering it is such a pale opaque shade. I have also used a touch of Elphaba here and there to give the whole colour scheme a little zingy lift.

The beads in my second set have a core of CiM Aegean ltd run encased with Effetre 006 and decorated with Effetre Lapis 421 and Effetre white.

Below are two close up images showing just one bead from each set side by side, 006 on the left and Experimental on the right. Both clear glasses look quite good in terms of minimal micro bubbles and scum. Experimental just has a slight edge over 006 Clear in terms of clarity when you hold the beads up to the light. I found that experimental was softer than 006 Clear which means that it can be used to make a thinner encasement layer than the stiffer 006 Clear can. All in all I quite like Experimental.

Jolene xx