Thursday, March 30

New CiM Color for Spring 2017 - Prussian Blue


CiM's new Prussian Blue is a color that I am not sure if I like or love.
As testing the color allows me to work with one rod of the color, I wanted to vary my sample test beads this time around to see how the color would behave.

CiM Prussian Blue is a opaque blue laden with silver.
The following are a few examples of it's reactions:

Test 1: Mix it with more silver. I melted and rolled the glass in 99% fine silver foil and pulled a stringer.
These beads are a base of new CiM Koala grey.
As you can see from the photo below, Prussian Blue created extremely dark, almost black dots with defined dots with minimal bleeding. The micro-dots of silver are quite lovely.



Notice the beads on the left? The glass seemed to shift from grey to a green cast. 
Prussian Blue has been reported to behave in this manner when it is worked hotter in the flame. It is an interesting but unpredictable result.



Test 2: Encasing in clear glass.
This bead on the left is a mixture of a base of Koala with the silvered stringer layered and encased with clear. The stringer has much more of a navy blue hue with the captured microdots of fine silver.
The right bead is solid CiM Prussian Blue that I found was striated with very dark, almost black lines thorough the bead.



Test 3: Glass Frit
These beads used Valerie Cox Wild Raspberry Frit. This frit is described as " a very high gold content pink. This makes it a deeper and darker pink than any other opaque pinks in the line. Combine this with silver foil for a rich golden hue."

The pink opaque does appear as well as the golden tones as it mixed with the silver content in the Prussian Blue base glass. There is a cast of green through the bead as well.


Test 4: Silver glass overload!
I took what was left of the rod of Prussian Blue and added loads of TAG's Cezanne, Taxco Silver, Double Helix murrini and dots of clear. I worked it hot and rolled and twisted the heck out of it. 


It resulted in an oil slick reaction that which varies depending the angle. 


It was a difficult bead to photograph, but lovely in natural light in person


So in summary, this is a glass to definitely experiment with as what you may expect is not always what you will receive along with some pleasant surprises !




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