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