Messy testing - Firecracker and Goldfish ltd run

This evening I am looking at a rich transparent red called firecracker ltd run and a bright transparent orange glass called Goldfish ltd run.

This large encased tumbled heart bead looks as though it was made with 3 colours. It has Firecracker at the top and Goldfish at the bottom. I wrapped the orange glass around the mandrel first and then wrapped the red glass next to it. This means that the orange glass at the point of the heart was allowed to cool much more than that directly next to the red before it was encased. The result is that that part of the bead has struck to a much deeper shade of orange.

These flower bud beads have petals made with Firecracker over a core of Alley Cat - my absolute favourite orange glass. The sepals and spacer beads are made with Elphaba.

The petals of this raised flower bead are Firecracker over white.

Solid Firecracker heart shaped beads with dots of striking Effetre tongue pink.

The petals of these flower beads are made with Goldfish over a core of Alley Cat. The sepals are made with Elphaba and the spacer beads are made with Ogre.

The petals of this raised flower bead are Goldfish over white. I had trouble striking the colour so parked this bead in my kiln at 510 degrees C for a few mins then  reintroduced it to the flame to get the colour to bloom fully.

There is a tiny core of Goldfish at the center of these tumble etched heart beads. The look is patchy, again because I have not quite got the knack of striking it yet but I like the look!

So of course, glass named Goldfish needs to be turned into one! The crab sidestepping next to it is made with Firecracker. These were the very first 2 beads that started my 500 isolation beads challenge project for Beads of Courage UK- you can see a bit more about that here....

Jolene x

 

Messy testing - Circus Tent and Goldfish ltd run

These glossy hearts were made with CiM Circus Tent ltd run. The rod of Circus Tent looked clear with very fine lines of orange, yellow and black running the length of it.

I have wound this glass around the mandrel in layers of very fine stretched out wraps, a great technique for something like Pachamama but less effective for this glass. In pulling it out so thin while building up the bead I have lost the impact of individual colour strands and it looks like greyish glass instead of clear.

This is what Circus looks like after tumble etching. These beads have a lovely antique feel to them. 

I wanted to give this interesting glass a bit of a colour boost so I teamed it up with Goldfish ltd run. I had to strike the Goldfish lobes several times to get the this deep orange to bloom but the end result was very pretty.

Edit to add a picture of what Circus tent loos like as simple spacers and wound around a clear core to make a very large focal bead.

Jolene x