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.
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...
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.
