Messy testing - Lumen, Gossamer and Avalon Misty/Milky ltd run

There are several new opal glass shades in the spring 2021 range of ltd edition glass from Creation is Messy, which have just become available to buy in the UK.

These pairs of fish beads were made with Avalon ltd run which is a very pale pastel green opal glass. It is available with two levels of opacity. The set with Fremen (light turquoise) fish is are made with Avalon Misty ltd run. The pair with Oobleck (bright lime green) fish are made with Avalon Milky ltd run. 

It's easy to see the differing levels of translucence between the two as spacers but less easy to tell them apart as larger beads. 

These little fish beads are made with new white opal colours. There are two shades with different hues and level of opacity.

The set with Fremen (light turquoise) fish is are made with Gossamer ltd run. The pair with Oobleck (bright lime) fish are made with Lumen ltd run.

Gossamer is much more translucent than Lumen and seems to me to have a pretty ice-like quality to it. 

Jolene x

Messy testing - Orange-zilla, Kniphofia and Marmalade ltd run

Zing! This bright orange is called Oranze-zilla ltd run. It is described as a dense transparent orange on the CiM website.

Both under encasement and as a solid colour bead it looks opaque to me though. Orange-zilla is pure sunshine in glass form. I wouldn't class Orange-zilla as a striking glass as it didn't loose it's colour when first melted and so didn't require and cooling/heating cycles to bring the colour back.

To the right are encased hearts are made with Kniphofia ltd run and Effetre 006 clear. It's a bright opal orange glass. Sometimes I find that opal colours can look quite dense, especially if they are heated and cooled several times. These encased hearts though look both opal and translucent. Sadly this photograph doesn't quite capture just how bright this colour is in real life!

These imprinted hearts were made with Marmalade ltd run encased with Effetre 006 clear. Maramalade is the last in the trio of new orange glass for spring 2021. It is equally as bright as Kniphofia and Orangezilla but it is a true transparent. It did require a little striking to coax the colour out but it wasn't tricky to work with.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Dinosaur Bone, Howlite, Starry Night and Almandine ltd run

For this post I have picked 3 new CiM colours from the steamer range that have an opaque base rather than a clear or pale transparent and one new shade from the Cloudy transparents range. A little disclaimer, to the best of my knowledge these first 3 colours are going to be available from North America only and the last will be stocked in France.

First up is Howlite ltd run. It's a very pale ivory glass streaked through with pale grey stripes. I clipped chips from the end of the Howlite rod and used them as murrini chips to embellish these small heart beads.

Dinosaur Bone ltd run is very similar to Howlite but it is streaked through with orange and grey. Both of these two ltd run colours would be great for sculptural beads or painted landscape type beads I think. The streaky effect is very subtle.

Starry Night ltd run is lovely! It reminds me very much of Pachamama, a ltd run colour that I completely adored working with from 2020. The are both streaked through with blue giving very pretty striations. Whilst Pachamama could show areas of ochre yellow and tan mixed with two tone blue, Starry Night seems to tend to stick more towards the blue palette.

Starry Night will be available exclusively from Ed Hoy's only.

Almondine ltd run is one of what CiM call their Cloudy transparent range. Cloudy transparents are clear glass rods that contain pigments is colours that you just don't normally see in the 104 glass pallette. The colour of Almondine makes me think of mulled wine or lipstick .

Almondine will be available exclusively from L'age du Verre in France only.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Lingonberry and Pink Pansy ltd run

Pink Pansy ltd run is a stunning shade of light pink, delicate and rich. It's an absolutely stunning colour all by itself for spacer beads. I am itching to try this glass to create petals for sculpted flower beads. It's definitely on my shopping list!

This patchwork lentil was made with Ettetre opal yellow, Fremen, Poi and Pink Pansy dots over a base of CiM Ginger. Each of the larger opal yellow dots was topped with Pink Pansy.  This is a combination of colours I would usually put together to use with CiM Cranberry or Effetre Rubino Ora.

The Pink Pansy, capped over the top of the opal yellow looks like a barely there trace of pink when used in such a tiny quantity. I was hoping it might strike a little darker.

Lingonberry ltd run is a rich deep fuchsia pink, another glorious pink that looks really pretty all by itself.

Here is another patchwork lentil, this time made with made with Ettetre opal yellow, Fremen, Poi and Lingonberry dots over a base of CiMGinger.

The overall effect of Lingonberry over opal yellow was to became shades of burnt butter  and butterscotch. Not what I had expected, more of a happy accident, but actually a glass colour combination I would happily use together again.

Jolene x

Messy testing - Solar Storm, Carnival, Carefree and Robert E ltd run

Today I am showing off a few more of the the new streamer glass rods that will be available very soon from CiM. The first is called Solar Storm ltd run. I have used Solar Storm here as an encasing layer over a thin core of Brown Eyed Girl ltd run. The rod is predominantly clear glass with fine lines of red and orange running the length of it. Solar Storm is described as containing purple stripes too but I am not seeing them in this trio of hearts.

Here is a little set of spacers made with Solar Storm Streamer glass all by by itself. 

These spacers are made with a streamer rod called Carnival. Carnival is a streamer rod which has a base of blue rather than clear with fine lines of orange, yellow and white.

The hearts below were made with a core of Effetre dark teal encased with Carnival streamer glass.

These blue hearts were made with a thin core of Robert E ltd run encased with Carefree ltd run. Carefree is also a clear glass rod,this time with stripes of blue, green and purple.

Robert E is a very pretty shade of transparent mid blue.

This pair of dotty heart shows what Robert E looks like as a self coloured bead. I have teamed it up with dots of Fremen surface decoration.

Last up for this glass testing post, I would like to show you what Robert E looks like as an encasing layer. I have layered it up here over a core of Effetre mid purple.

Jolene x

Messy Testing - Birds Nest, Horehound, Brown Eyed Girl and Burnt Sugar ltd run

Today I am looking at three new shades of transparent brown glass from CiM. This first picture shows how each of the colours looks as a solid colour bead finished with Alley Cat dots.

From left to right - Horehound ltd run, Burnt Sugar ltd run and Brown Eyed Girl ltd run.

Horehound is a very pretty light honey shade that looks even prettier under encasement. Burnt Sugar is a golden shade of transparent brown with a slight orange tone to it which makes me think of Topaz. Brown eyed Girl is the darkest of the 3 new colours and more of a true brown rather than tones of amber or topaz.

This next trio of heart pairs show how each of the transparent browns looks when encased with one of the new range of Streamer glass rods. I have teamed each of the colours up with Birds Nest ltd run. I am really enjoying using streamer glass rods as they give such delicate trails of colour and detail.

From left to right - Horehound, Brown Eyed Girl and Burnt Sugar encased with Birds Nest.

This last collection of hearts have a core of one of the brown shades encased with a thick layer of Effetre clear. They have been tumble etched to give them a matt finish.

From left to right - Horehound, Brown Eyed Girl and finally Burnt Sugar.

Something about the look of the tumbled encased Burnt Sugar hearts in this picture makes me think of the last drop of Cola in your glass after the ice cubes have melted!

All 3 of these transparent colours were wonderfully well behaved in the flame, no boiling or micro bubbles at all.

Jolene x  

Messy testing - Dollhouse and Beeswax ltd run

CiM have been working towards a more standardised amount of opalescence across their Milky and Misty opal glass lines. They have also simplified the naming by giving a single name to the hue followed by the tag Milky or Misty.

These pretty pinks are called Dollhouse. The beads on the left are made with Dollhouse Milky Opal ltd run and below is a picture of Dollhouse Misty Opal ltd run beads.

Beeswax is a new opal yellow glass hue which has also been formulated with two shades of opalescence. On the left is Beeswax Milky ltd run. Below is Beeswax Misty ltd run.

The difference between Milky and Misty glass in these two shades is much easier to see when you have the beads in your hands. I have found it very tricky to capture in a photograph.

 

The last picture I have to show toady is a side by side comparison of all 4 pairs of beads. 

Milky beads on the top row, Misty beads on the bottom row. 

I hope it gives an idea of the very subtle difference between them. 

Milky beads look whiter or more pastel to my eye.

 

Thanks, Jolene x

Messy testing - Prometheus and Sea Anemone ltd run

In this post I am looking at two more of CiM's "Streamers" that will be available soon. 

The first is called Prometheus ltd run. It is clear glass that has fine lines of red, orange and pale blue running the length of it inside. To make this large heart, I  have wound Premetheus around a core of clear glass and shaped. I finished the bead with some handmade twistie cane.

Below are some Prometheus spacers and a pair of Effetre dark teal hearts encased with Prometheus. You can create areas that have a latticino type of look to them if you twist a streamer glass rod as you lay it down over the base.

These next heart beads were made with core of Efftere black glass encased with Sea Anemone ltd run. It's not easy to see from this picture, but with Sea Anemone the fine lines (streamers) are encased within very pale purple glass rather than clear glass like Prometheus.

Happy Melting, Jolene x

Messy testing - Kismet and Jacaranda ltd run

 

This large glass heart features two of the newest Creation is Messy glass colours coming out this spring, a core of Jacaranda ltd run encased with Kismet ltd run. 

Jacaranda is a fabulous pale purple glass which is wonderful to work with. I tend to work hot and find many pale colours fussy and easy to boil but Jacaranda takes all the heat I can throw at it without any drama! 

Kismet is part of CiM's new range of Streamer glass. Streamers are rods of glass that have very fine lines of colour running the length of them. Below are more pictures of Kismet, by itself as spacers and over Effetre mid purple in the heart pair.

Here is a close look at Jacaranda as spacers. It is such a beautiful bright spring time lavender purple.

It looks great by itself but also makes a wonderful layering colour. The hearts below are made with Efftre dark teal and Effetre mid purple encased with Jacaranda. The lilac purple layer has given the darker core colours a real lift and the resulting hearts have a kind of gem-tone quality to them.

Happy Melting, Jolene x