Test Results :: Commando

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain - reduced, 3 - w/ Silver Leaf, 4 - w/ Silver Leaf - reduced & encased, 5 - w/ Sasha's Silver - reduced, 6 - w/ TerraNova2 frit, 7 - w/ Copper Green, 8 - w/ Vetrofond Black, 9 - w/ Ivory, 10 - w/ Opal Yellow, 11 - w/ White

General Impressions
CiM Commando is an interesting colour, because its behaviour is sort of halfway between what one would normally expect of a copper colour (i.e. Copper Green) and what one would normally expect of a sulfur colour (i.e. Ivory).  It is fairly reactive, the consistency is smooth and easy-flowing, and it is very streaky. I'm really fond of this colour, and if it weren't for the trouble I'm having encasing it, it would make my favourites list.

These test beads were made with 'New Commando' which is just a touch more blue-grey than 'Old Commando'. The behaviour of the two versions seems pretty similar, so whatever kind of Commando you have, these reactions should be pretty consistent with what you will see.

I'm having a bad bead week, so please ignore the deformities in the test beads. Every once in a while I seem to go through a phase where I can't put beads in the kiln without them touching and sticking together, and can't get nice shapes to save my life. Every other time this has happened to me it's been right before a "breakthrough" of some kind or another, so I have my fingers crossed that that's the case with me right now.

Reduction
Reducing Commando by itself darkens it quite a bit. (Bead #2)

Reactions

Silver doesn't do a heck of a lot on top of Commando until you encase it. You can see in Bead #4 that encasing reduced silver over Commando caused some really interesting blue and amber colours to appear. It also, however, seems to cause a cracking problem. I am using Reichenbach Crystal Clear at the moment.

This bead has a core of Commando, encased with Double Helix OK326 and then Reichenbach Crystal Clear, with a little Ivory and SiS between layers of Clear on top of the silver glass. This bead has little hairline cracks all through it. I haven't run enough tests to be positive, but it seems like it might not be a good idea to encase Commando. I've used the other glasses in question together without this kind of problem, so that Commando seems to be the culprit.

Commando and silver glass seem to get along just fine. The Sasha's Silver in Bead #5 has a slight dark outline, but it reduced nicely over the Commando. It seems to have made the Commando acquire a slightly yellowish hue around where the Sasha's Silver sits on top of it.

In Bead #6, you can see that TerraNova2 frit gets light halos around it when placed on top of Commando. I didn't strike this bead quite enough, but the TerraNova2 frit was developing colour quite nicely.

Copper Green, with Commando, acquires a dark, faintly reddish outline. The Copper Green seems to be raised a tiny bit off the surface of the Commando, and it looks that way both on the side where the Copper Green was put on top of the Commando and on the side where the Commando was put on top of the Copper Green.  This combination really appeals to me for some reason I'm having trouble putting my finger on.

There is a slight reaction with Vetrofond Black that might just be a little bit of bleeding. You can see in the Commando stringer line there is a greyish outline around it, and you can see some bleed in the middle where the Black and Commando halves of the bead meet.

With Ivory, Commando develops a black outline around the Ivory when the Ivory is placed on top of it, and around itself when it is placed on Ivory. This accentuates its streakiness, but the line isn't very crisp.

Commando seems to spread a little on Opal Yellow, which is a little odd because Opal Yellow is quite a bit softer. It also seems to encourage Opal Yellow to strike.

And with White, Commando develops a strange mottled look. I rather like this effect, even though I don't normally think much of White. The White, too, where it is placed over Commando, develops a strange spottiness. Very cool indeed.

Here are some fun beads with Commando. The second, greener lentil with the maroon and yellow on it is made with 'Old Commando', which is a little less grey-blue than 'New Commando'. I prefer the colour of 'New Commando', but they are both really nice glasses to work with.