Queen's Court Sampler - Part 2 Results!

I have been away from the blog busy with life but had been posting quick peeks on Instagram as I work through Nortel’s CiM glass sampler named Queen’s Court. 

You can order this sampler of 17 colors that are both new and former favourites via Nortel’s new online shopping cart here.
Please check out Nortel’s new online ordering website as many of these CiM colors are in limited runs only. 

Although the following sets have popped up on the Pendragonfyre Instagram feed, I like to keep record in this blog as my online journal of working notes and test results.

Let's get caught up!

These beads use CiM Baked Alaska with fine silver swirls with CiM Sacre Bleu skies!
That glittery moon is Double Helix Aurae. 
The blue is stunning in person and the beads found a home with a happy customer very quickly.

CiM's Merryweather is a pretty blue opal glass. I sprinkled it with Fortune Teller Lumiere Lusters by JetAge Studios. I have to be honest, I have never been a fan of pixie or mica dust as it flies everywhere in the studio, so if I need to use it, it is the last set of beads for the day's session... followed a cleaning of the torch table. 
I loved working with this now rare glass, but not so much a fan of the dusty result.

So I will make another attempt to tame the glitter and see how it goes. Silver glass has just as much impact without the mess.
The color of Merryweather is a happy blue so looking forward to using it again in some future beads.

Three more colors from the Queen’s Court CiM glass sampler. 
These colors match well and love silver. 
I call this set The Jester. Let's cover off the details of the CiM glass colors:
Ocher, an opaque yellow
Quetzal, an opaque blue with green undertones.
Coronation Day, a dark opal purple
This created an amazing combination. Each glass melts smoothly, layered without issues and the silvered ivory stringer detail on the focal bead was beautiful.

I have to say, the color selection in this sampler set is ample. 

I was able to use 4 CiM colors in this new set of beads. I wanted to test with both silver wire and silver glass to see if there were any reactions to the two types of glass.
CiM Colors in this group:
Merryweather, a happy opal blue
Mantis, a vibrant misty green opal.
Clockwork, a vibrant orange striking glass
Byzantium, a purple moonstone

When these emerged from the kiln, their translucency reminded me of Lifesaver candies. The glass was smooth to work with with little to no bubbling. No reactions to silver, so these will go into my list of base glass for future silver glass designs.

These beads are created on bases of CiM Rainforest, a greenish teal opal and CiM Atlantis, a bluish teal opal. These are rich base glasses with jewel tone hues.
Handmade shards of CiM Tahitian Pearl were gently added to create a tactile feel and medieval look. 

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the review of the Queen's Court Sampler!

D.

More testing new glasses!

This post continues to share testing with some new Creation is Messy glasses introduced  earlier this spring.

Silver foil and Pendragonfyre hand blended frit was layered on CiM’s Toto Ltd Run. The results are beautiful with the micro silver droplets and hues of green, blues and purples creating dragon scales. I left these glossy, but they would be earthy with a quick roll in the tumbler.

A look of tie-dyed patterns was revealed in this next set using Double Helix Psyche Light over a base of CiM’s Byzantium Ltd Run, a purple moonstone. In a mixture of bead shapes, the twists and swirls of the silver glass created a perfect set for a bracelet.

I enjoy taking time to create simple round beads challenging to make them small to practice how many I can make on one mandrel. I had lots of fun with CiM’s rare Gooseberry and CiM’s Byzantium Ltd Run. 
I love these 2 colours together as they remind me of summer berries and currants.

I loved the colour combination that I continued with another set and added CiM Thistledown Ltd Run to the mix. Very pretty.

A new pale green opaque glass from Creation is Messy is Pistachio Ice Cream Ltd Run. I tried a quick bead set with White Effetre and CiM Hades dots. In the spacers there was no separation line of the glass, however with the addition of the dots and reheating, the focal bead does reveal the striation of the green hue.

CiM Moonlight Ltd Run is a pale steel blue transparent glass. I sprinkled and melted in Glass Diversion’s Dynasty Marble Frit and allowed the frit to spread and swirl. The spacers are simply CiM Moonlight.

Finally, a simple set of hand formed tube beads on a base of CiM Coronation Day Ltd Run with a layer of Gaffer purple extra fine frit. The richness of the purple base of Coronation is deep and dark allowing the patterns to form and reach out in Gaffer purple gloriousness!