Messy Testing - Fiddlehead, Iguana, Lichen

Last week I grabbed some studio time and had a play about with three of the newest limited run opaques. Pale grey green Lichen, deep rich green Fiddlehead and a lovely vivid mid green opaque called Iguana.

I did a quick test bead showing how these colours looked etched in my last messy Testing post on Aloe Juice. They all look lovely with matt finish and so I decided to team up these greens with Reichenbach Antique clear which one of my "go to" glasses for etched beads.

Above is a pic of my half and half nuggets before etching.

Lichen is beautiful, a very pale grey green pastel shade. It works up much lighter than in the CiM paddle picture, somewhat similar in tone to Dirty Martini.

Filddlehead is the darkest in the new opaque green trio. It is rich with a lot of striation which I really like, it is useful glass characteristic for landscapes, organic beads and in vine canes for floral designs.

Iguana is my favourite of the three, both in the glossy finish and etched finish. It's such a bright and happy shade without that acidic tone that Effetre light grass green seems to have.

The picture above shows how the nuggets beads came out after a being acid etched. The striations in the Fiddlehead beads look lovely and Lichen looks almost cloud-like grey.




Last up, here are a set  of beads made with Iguana, Ink blue and Peace with a touch of Effetre light grass green used in the heart decorated focal. Iguana and Ink blue work beautifully together. I've used Iguana to create tiny little dots on many of the beads in this set, they are crisp and do not bleed when melted flat like you often see with other bright green glasses as you can see in heart focal above made with Effetre light grass green.



Jolene x

Messy Testing - Aloe Juice

This week I have also been looking at Aloe Juice ltd run, a new light green transparent from CiM and a welcome addition to the CoE 104 palette. Aloe Juice is ever so delicate, pretty and fresh looking.

I have a huge crush on how this colour looks when etched, it has a kind of icy minty glow to it. Aloe Juice is another yummy ltd run that I would love to see stocked in the UK and made a permanent fixture in the CiM range.

This chunky bead has a central tube shaped core of Aloe Juice which has a thick encasing layer of Effetre 006 clear glass.  I've decorated this bead with dots and hearts using Fiddlehead ltd run, Effetre white and Indigo ltd Run.

Last up and a little off topic, I want to show you a very quick test bead. I was curious to know how Green Lantern moonstone and the three new green opaques from this last release of CiM colours would look etched. I'm not too keen on the rough tumbled and textured effect that acid etching has left on the surface of Green Lantern but I do like how each of the three opaque swipes have come out.

The top stripe is called Iguana
The middle swipe is called Fiddlehead
The bottom stripe is called Lichen

Have a lovely week,
Jolene x