Messy testing - Birthstone, Zoe and Blue-yah! ltd run colours

Today I am making some direct comparisons between three new transparent blue melts from CiM and Pulsar. From left to right in this picture you can see Pulsar, Blue-yah! ltd run, Zoe ltd run and Birthstone ltd run.

I mentioned in my last post that CiM have had a lot of requests for new shades of blue recently and have been trying out new formulae. The first two colours I want to talk about  are Birthstone (at the back) and Zoe, they look very similar to me, a pretty mid aqua, but they have been given different names because they have different formulae which just happened to come out looking similar. The only major difference that I can see between them is that Birthstone was a bit easier to work with in terms of accidental boiling of the glass when working a bit hot (I have a bad habit of doing this!), if you like to work cool and love aqua then both are great.

Next up, a pic of Pulsar (at the back) against Blue-Yah! ltd run. Zoe and Birthstone are lighter and more towards aqua than Pulsar is, Blue-Yah! is a similar kind of intensity to Pulsar but a touch towards teal.

Jolene xx

Messy testing - a few bit-some thoughts on Pulsar

My daughter Ruby says bit-some a lot at the minute, a bit-some Peppa Pig, a bit-some cuppee tea.....here are my bit-some thoughts on Pulsar.

Pulsar has a reputation for pitting. I have tested glass from two different batches and found that both did pit when I worked with them.

I tend to work fairly hot and it seems that Pulsar cannot stand up to prolonged heating in an intense flame without it boiling and bubbling up. This is what causes the pitting and tiny holes on the surface of some of my beads. To get the best from this beautiful transparent blue glass I found that I needed to melt Pulsar more slowly, turning my torch down a bit and working in the cooler tip of the flame. I think that Pulsar looks beautiful with blue highlight mica.


Pulsar also seems to be sensitive to a slightly reducing (propane rich) flame. This little spacer bead has a rusty/terracotta surface discoloration. I normally associate this sort of reaction to the chemistry of the flame to opaque rather than transparent colours.

Mostly though I think that Pulsar is made to be etched - it puts me in mind of tumbled seaglass and the ground surface of antique cobalt glass apothecary jar stoppers.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz