Test Results :: Aqua

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain - reduced, 3 - Over Clear, 4 - w/ Silver foil, 5 - w/ Silver foil, reduced & encased, 6 - w/ Khaos frit, 7 - w/ Silver glass frit (Elektra, Gaia, Nyx) - reduced, 8 - As a floral over Ivory, 9 - w/ Ivory, 10 - w/ Copper Green

The rods are really more of a greenish colour and a little more muted than the beads turned out, but I guess what I got from Reichenbach Aqua (RL4015) is exactly what the OCR website promised me.  Still, a secret part of me pointlessly hoped that the rod colour would indicate the post-annealing colour of the glass.  I'm on a hunt for a pale transparent colour that is somewhere between Effetre Pale Aqua and Effetre Pale Emerald in hue, but no luck so far.

For reference, here's what the rods look like:

General Impressions
The consistency of Aqua is viscous and stiff, and from that perspective, it's a pleasure to use. It doesn't boil easily, although if you park it in a hot part of the flame you can manage it. When it's hot, it has a yellowish/greenish cast to it, but after annealing that goes away and you're left with just aqua. This is a utilitarian colour that has a lot of practical purposes, but it is very similar to Effetre Pale Aqua.  Reichenback Aqua, however, costs twice as much.

The most important thing I learned from testing this colour is that I really need to get a handle on Pale Aqua before I decide whether or not I need this colour.  If Pale Aqua has the same kinds of behaviour with silver as this glass has, I don't need Reichenbach Aqua for anything at all.  If it doesn't, I will need to keep a little on hand just so that I can keep doing what I did in Bead #5.

Colour Density

 

Aqua is just pale enough to be able to encase with it. It's similar to Effetre Pale Aqua in this respect, but it's maybe just a smidgen darker.

You can see just how pale the colour is here, over Ivory. Aqua is too stiff for this application, too - see how all of my ivory petals melted together before the Aqua settled down? I used the same method to make these as I did my flowers in the Light Brown Transparent tests, with depressingly different results.

Reduction
Reducing Aqua by itself had no discernable effect on the colour. (Bead #2)

Reactions
Aqua is interesting with silver, in ways that I didn't expect. I guess I wish now that I had done the tests I was supposed to do with Pale Aqua so that I could compare the results. This is an example of why you're supposed to stick with a plan after you've gone to the trouble to create one.

I did not expect Aqua to change colour when used with silver, but it really seems to.  In bead #4, the silver is just melted in on top but the bead underneath seems to have gotten darker and turned a little green. In Bead #5, where I reduced and then encased the silver, all traces of aqua are gone, the silver looks all cool and ethereal and where the Aqua was (under the silver) is brown. I love glass -- it does such interesting things!

With silver glass, Aqua isn't really a winner for me. The bead with Khaos frit (Bead #6) didn't just fail... it's a disgusting eyesore. And the reduced silver glass frit in Bead #7 doesn't really look nice either. Where is the shine? I guess it's hiding in the same place as the shine that didn't show up with Pajama Blue. Lesson learned.  

 

There are no noticeable reactions between Aqua and Copper Green or between Aqua and Ivory. Because the Aqua is so stiff, both colours spread on it a little, and the Aqua sinks into the opaques making the lines seem a little finer and the dots seem a little smaller than they were when I put them down.

Here are some beads made with Reichenbach Aqua: