Silver Glass Dots and Reactions

Just a quick post to share a couple of sets highlighting silver glass in my handmade interchangeable beads.

A while back, CiM - Creation is Messy created a lovely pink that is now completely sold out.

I had created these beads and noticed that when it was paired with silver infused glass, the pink seemed to take on a peachy pink cast. I love discovering new reactions when working with silver glass.

The base pink glass is CiM's Sakura Ltd Run and the silver highlight dots are Double Helix Aurae.

The next two photos are of the same bead set taken from different angles. 

The base of the glass is a Double Helix silver infused glass that was not labelled creating a mystery combination

The glass was reduced and struck in the flame and then encased in clear glass.
Highlights of Double Helix Aurae were added to the focal cube to finish it off.

From this angle, blooms of pink, purple, green and purples appear.

From this angle, more of the purple and pink blooms from the amber tones.

Pinks and Purples - Switching with Frit Focals

Hues of pink and purple are always popular in jewelry designs. 

In this post, I have created focal beads from bases of Effetre white opaque glass sprinkled with glass frit from the Valerie Cox collection.

By switching up the coordinating beads the look can be easily switched to create a different look.

First up, the focal bead has a mix of pink and purple hues over the white base. This mix is called Pink Lipstick. The white coordinating beads create a classic clean set.

By switching out the white spacers, the same focal bead is now paired with purple spacer beads created from CiM's Evil Queen, an opaque purple. 

In the final photo, by switching up the focal bead, we have another option for the necklace.

The focal bead here uses Val Cox's Fleeting Beauty frit over the base of white.

The CiM Evil Queen spacers coordinate to pull forward the purple hues in the focal bead.

Coffee Bean, Allspice and Velveteen

Just a quick post to share some earthy browns that are rich and spicy.


First up, this set features a focal bead created on a base of CiM Velveteen Ltd Run, a creamy light brown opal sprinkled with Glass Diversions Coffee Bean frit.


Velveteen on its own, the beads on each side of the focal bead, is a really interesting glass that creates striations of darker brown. This glass is already listed in the CiM archives, so it is very limited in quantities for glass bead makers.


The two outside beads are another new CiM glass called Allspice Ltd Run. It is described as an opal brown or "cinnamon alabaster".

I think these colors really compliment each other in this set.

Here is another look at the set.

The set below makes use again of CiM's Allspice Ltd Run beads around a focal cube bead of Effetre White with Glass Diversions Coffee Bean frit.

Big Hole Beads - Handmade and Interchangeable

Everyone is well aware of the jewelry trend over the last few years of brand name bracelets with interchangeable beads. There are lots of brand names that I don't need to make mention of directly.

Jewelry trends associated with brand names change so often that jumping one for a while is fun to collect but also costly once the trend wains. 

I have always believed in simplicity. In my opinion, glass beads can be beautiful without silver cores or brand name stamps.

For a recent trunk show, I displayed a few bead sets on simple silver plated necklace chain that allow the user to switch up the bead selections to match your mood or wardrobe choice.

Keeping it affordable allows you to have more options focusing on the beads rather than the chain.

Over the next few posts, I'll share some examples:

I love sea greens - aquamarine shades... this first set's focal bead used the same half and half combination as a set of beads that I highlighted on a previous blog post, check it out here.

CiM's Spearmint Ltd Run is the translucent opal glass paired with CiM's new turquoise glass named Quetzel Ltd Run. A stream of handmade silvered ivory was twisted to create the division between the two glass. 
The spacers that are paired with this set are another CiM glass from my stash called Mint Lozenge. I can't locate it on the CiM site, but the match is almost exact to CiM's Spearmint.

This next set doesn't have a focal bead, but is a simple combination of similar colors. This would be a great example of switching up beads of a new option for the necklace.

The beads in this set are CiM Mermaid, an opaque teal and CiM Mint Lozenge.

Until next post...

Silver Glass Reactions

Two quick sets to share today.

Starting on a base of CiM's Mockingbird Ltd Run, a transparent gray on which Double Helix Ekho silver glass frit was sprinkled and reduced.

Mockingbird is a great base for silver glass and assists in coaxing out metallic hues of blue, pink, silver and gold.

The set below uses the storming technique that I mentioned in a post a few days ago, but this time the storms were captured under multiple portals of clear glass around each bead.

The base glass is CiM's Prairie Grass Ltd Run. Each bead uses multiple layers of ivory, CiM Cleopatra Ltd Run, stormed TAG's Golden Emerald and a final clear encasement.
The result creates unique "storms" of green and purple in each portal. 
Dots of Double Helix Aurae glass were added to the shoulders of the beads for metallic highlights.

Single Focal Beads - Window Panes with Silver Reactions

Today, we are exploring "window pane" style focal beads.

Starting on a base of CiM's new limited run, Mockingbird, a transparent grey, Double Helix's Ekho frit was sprinkled, reduced and encased with clear glass.
Dots of Double Helix silver glass were placed at each end to create this "window pane" bead. I love the hues of blue "ghostly" images peeking as if captured within the bead.

Two views of this bead are noted below showing how the bead's appearance shifts based on the viewing angle.

Starting on a base of CiM's new limited run, Barrier Reef, a transparent teal, silver glass was swirled, reduced and encased with clear glass.
Shards of Double Helix Triton glass were placed at each end to create this "window pane" bead. I love the hues of teal and blue peeking through along with the "mother of pearl" reaction of the silver glass that shines through as well.

Two views of this bead are noted below:

This last focal bead I have fondly name "The Tempest". It started out with a base of clear glass on which I added CiM Cleopatra, a dense transparent purple.  I then added Double Helix silver glass from their recent "garage sale" mystery box.
The bead was both reduced and gravity swirled and encased under clear glass to create the wisps of colors. 
A few dots of silver glass were added to the shoulders of the bead and reduced to a metallic shine for this "window pane" bead.

Two views of this bead are noted below:

Silver Glass Storming - Revisiting a Technique

Today's post explores some experiments that I had with storming silver glass.

Storming is based on a tutorial by Amy Kinsch. The principle is to heavily reduce a silver infused glass and by manipulating the torch's mix of propane and oxygen you can create webbing designs when captured under a clear glass encasement.

In this set, I used combinations of TAG's Golden Emerald and Double Helix Psyche glasses.

The base of the beads is a new CiM color named Cleopatra. It is a dense and saturated transparent purple.

As you can see, there are lots of stormed reactions that make each bead unique.

This dense transparent purple base glass is very dark on its own.

For the round bead, second from the left, I used a clear core before adding Cleopatra purple in order to give the bead more definition by diluting purple. It created a great transparency for both the hue and the texture of the twisted storms.

CiM Aloha & Prairie Grass

Just a quick post to share a couple of new CiM Limited Run colors.

First up. 

The focal bead was created on a base of Effetre White opaque with twisted dots of CiM Aloha, a opaque blue, and Prairie Grass, an opaque yellow green.

The spacers are CiM Slate Ltd Run

The set below uses the same combination of glasses with dotted beads and Prairie Glass spacers. 
Both these new CiM colors create dots without bleeding into the white neutral base which is a great way to use these bright cheerful colors in bead sets for spring 2017.

Pink Cream and Maroon

I had posted a few weeks ago that I had gotten 20 pounds of Double Helix silver glass recently. Some of the glass was not labelled and that is always an adventure to experiment and determine what reactions will result in a bead.

I was really happily surprised with this one. The rod resembled a tan brown with a dark centre. Simple beads of the glass were struck and reduced and the reaction captured under a clear glass encasing. The veining is pink with touches of caramel within a cream bead.

Very interesting set with each bead a unique creation.

While we are in the pink/red side of the color spectrum, I have a new red glass from CiM - Creation is Messy to share testing results for - Maroon Ltd Run. This glass is dense, dark and cherry hue rich. 

The main beads show the base glass with metallic armour created with Double Helix Triton shards. The two glasses were meant to be together like a romance with the silver glass producing shades from gold, pink and blue.

The spacers are simply Maroon. A rich deep red.

Simply beautiful!

Pendant Bead Sets - A Couple More

In a blog post last Sunday, I shared some beads made to show techniques and compatibility of CiM - Creation is Messy glass with other brands.

The first photo shows the "plunged dot" technique with Double Helix silver infused glass to show the  mother of pearl results that come from reducing and encasing the glass.

The bead on the right started with a base of CiM Slate Ltd Run encased with Double Helix Terra2. After the multiple dots and encasement, the glasses produced deep blue reactions.

The bead on the left has a base of CiM Tutu Ltd Run with encased Double Helix Terra2 which produced shining mother of pearl pinky goodness.

The spacers are CiM Slate Ltd Run.

CiM Slate makes a great base of glass frit as well. The focal bead below has a sprinkling of Val Cox Starry Night frit that was melted in and swirled. The sparkles come from the blue aventurine in the frit.

The round focal beads below are simply silver glass beads encased in clear glass.

The left focal bead has plunged dot bubbles. 
The right focal bead has a trail of 99% pure fine silver wire added just before the clear encasement. This allows the silver to be captured and melted into micro-droplets and streams under the magnification effect of the clear glass.

The spacers in this photo are CiM Limelight Ltd Run, a pretty light green transparent glass.

African Violet, Blue Arrow Frog, Aloha and Prairie Glass - Lots of Color!

CiM - Creation is Messy's new limited runs were in response to requests for new blues, greens and purples. This post will highlight some of the new colors.

First up is a set of round beads that use CiM's new African Violet Ltd Run. This new purple is very dark and dense as a transparent. These beads started with a core of White Effetre glass that was encased with African Violet. As you can see, despite the white base, this purple is rich and deep.

The dots were created with CiM Aloha Ltd Run, a "rich, bright, dark turquoisey blue". Notice the slight striation in each dot that created a circle within each dot. 

These beads are bright and colorful with a rich blue base glass named Blue Arrow Frog Ltd Run.  I wrapped 99% fine silver wire around the base and quickly encased it in CiM Experimental clear glass. This melted and captured the micro-droplets of silver under the magnified look of the encasement.

Finally a quick test of CiM Aloha Ltd Run and green CiM Prairie Grass Ltd Run over Effetre white opaque glass. The dots stayed true and no adverse reaction where the glasses meet.
These are definitely two colors that I will use in the future for dotted beads!

Reactions from Mystery Silver Infused Glasses - Ghostly Wisps of Color for Today!

I honestly can say I have no idea what this silver glass in this bead set is. It was part of the recent 20 pounds of Double Helix silver infused glass I received and it was paired with plain ordinary Effetre clear, but the results are interesting. It was fun to play without any expectations for once.

There is blue, green, yellow striations captured. The base seems to be a dark red amber.
Some reactions have a mother of pearl sheen while others are simply ghostly wisps of color.

Pendant Beads - Technique Explorations

While completing some testing of new CiM - Creation is Messy glasses, I decided to try out various techniques in order to check the test glasses compatibility with other COE 104 glass brands.
As a lampworker, it is important to "respect the COE" to ensure that all glasses within a bead work together properly. The risk of not following the guidelines results in a cracked bead and lost of the time spent on making the bead in the first place.

For those that are not in the loop on the concept of COE, here is a link that outlines the scientific principle of Coefficient of Expansion.

First up, CiM Yellow Brick Road Ltd Run. It is an opaque yellow on which I sprinkled some Glass Diversions Persian Paisley frit and created the twists in the melted in frit. 
The spacers are another new CiM glass called Painted Hills Ltd Run.

Same technique in the bead below, in a round bead.  Notice in the Painted Hills Ltd Run spacer to the far right, it has a slight color change to a peachy pink in the yellow glass where it was heated a bit warmer while shaping the bead.

 

Same base glass and same frit again, now encased in Effetre clear glass and dotted with Double Helix Aurae silver glass.

Same spacers in the set below. The centre bead is a core of clear glass, encased in a Double Helix silver infused glass and a third layer of clear glass was added. 

The technique used here is reduction and encasement. By change the mix of propane and oxygen brings the silver glass to a shine and captures the reaction under a clear glass encasement. The striations of yellows and blues is unique in each bead.

The last bead in this post used the same glasses as the set above. Starting on a clear glass base, the silver glass was added. Once it was melted in, I used a tungston pick to make indentations in the bead and covered each "dent" with clear glass. This creates a bubbles of air in the bead known the "plunged dot" technique.

I wrapped the bead shoulders in Double Helix Aurae silver infused glass and reduced the melted glass to a pinky shine.

Til next time, 

D.

Marine tints and Turquoise - Sea Themed Beads

CiM - Creation is Messy is introducing lots of Limited Run glass shades over the past year.
The latest release of new colors include some turquoise and sea colored shades.

Let's take a look.

The set below combines two new glasses with the sea-wave twist of silvered ivory stringer.
The translucent glass named Spearmint Ltd Run is coded as a green that reminds me of another past CiM Ltd Run named Seafoam. 

When I received it and held it against the new turquoise glass named Quetzal Ltd Run, I knew I needed to try them together. I like the result and these would be great paired with silver beads in any jewelry design. Each flat tab bead is hand-formed as I don't use bead presses for this style of bead.





CiM - Creation is Messy's Celeste Ltd Run is a pale blue with a tint of green. Other's have compared it to Pale Aquamarine. In the set below it was used as an encasement over a white core. 
Sprinkled on the surface is Val Cox's Starry Night frit that contains dark navy blue and blue aventurine sparkles.

Celebrating the Always Expanding Palette of Blue Glass!

Blues in Glass never go out of fashion. The number of blues available to glass bead makers is endless in combinations. This post celebrates some new glasses from CiM - Creation is Messy. I never get tired of testing new shades. Enjoy this mid week post celebrating blue!


Starting on a base of Effetre White, an encasement of CiM - Creation Messy Splash Ltd Run was melted in. Splash is a beautiful transparent blue that is medium in tone that is not too dark.

A sprinkling of hand blended Pendragonfyre frit was added and melted into the surface to create a floral vines. This frit includes the rare purple rose glass that blooms into purples and pinks.

Continuing on our blue theme for this post, I experimented with CiM's Splash again with another frit mix from Glass Diversions, Glimmer Canyon.  

This is a blend of opaques and transparent blues with sparkling aventurine. A quick twist with a clear thin stringer was all it needed to swirl the colors.

The final set for this post combines two new CiM - Creation is Messy Ltd Run glasses.
One half of each hand-formed flat tab bead consists of CiM's Aloha Ltd Run blue opaque. 

A stripe of light silvered ivory separates the opaque blue with the transparent glass, CiM's Slate Ltd Run. Slate is a pale grey blue that reminds me of a stormy sea. The twists in the silvered ivory create the waves to complete the effect. The set is complete with spacers of each solid glass.

A Study in Harvest Hues - Soft Yellows and Peach

This post comes as the autumn wind swirls around us changing our lawns from greens of summer to yellows, oranges and reds of the season.
Today, I have 3 sets of beads to share and news of new yellow glasses from CiM - Creation is Messy.

CiM Painted Hills Ltd Run - an opaque soft yellow that gives a bloom of other shades depending on how you cool and heat the glass while working it.
It is similar to opal yellow so I decided to see how it would mix with fine silver wire.
As you can see from the photo below, it turned the silver wire to a warm golden glow with unique striated effects in each bead.

The other new yellow glass from CiM that I played with last week was Yellow Brick Road Ltd Run. It is another opaque yellow deeper in tone and casts caramel tones as it is heated.
I sprinkled some Glass Diversions Persian Paisley frit and created the twists in the melted in frit.

The last set for this post is a older limited run CiM - Creation is Messy glass named Nectar.
It is a peachy transparent which is unique to the color palette and I sprinkled in a Glass Diversions frit named Firecracker. This blend is a mix of cherry cold red, indigo, pinks with iris orange raku.

Necklace bead sets

This post highlights some necklace beads that display a few more new CiM - Creation is Messy colors for 2016.

This watery blue themed set uses CiM’s Jet Stream Ltd Run as a base with silver infused Double Helix glass named Kronos. It was swirled and encased with Effete Superclear. Bubbles were created by implosion dots sealed with clear glass. The spacer beads are made of CiM's Jet Stream and Slate blue transparent.

This photo switches out the focal bead and adds a round barrel bead with a base of CiM Jet Stream Ltd Run with sprinting of Double Helix Gaia frit that was reduced and encased with Effetre Superclear.
























The final set features CiM’s Limelight Ltd Run. The focal bead was sprinkled with Val Cox Rio Nights frit melted into the surface. The spacer beads are simply the lovely lime transparent glass.