Test Results :: Poi

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain - reduced, 3 - w/ Silver Leaf, 4 - w/ Silver Leaf - reduced & encased, 5 - w/ Silver Glass Frit (Gaia, Kronos, Elektra, Black Nebula) - reduced, 6 - w/ TerraNova2 Frit, 7 - w/ Vetrofond Black, 8 - w/ Copper Green, 9 - w/ Opal Yellow, 10 - w/ Ivory, 11 - w/ Effetre White

If you've been following this blog, you will remember how much of a hate-on I have for Effetre Dark Violet, and you might recall why I have a bit of an aversion to opaque purple glass. This is a bit of a barrier for me with Poi as well, but Poi has a couple of redeeming features. First, it is really interestingly reactive, and second, the consistency of it makes it really nice to work with.

I'm constantly making excuses for my test beads, but when you look at these, be kind... I'm using my new press and my new beadroller and am still getting the hang of them. Using them to make test beads is the perfect way to practice :)

General Impressions
CiM Poi is super-soft.  It might even be softer and spreadier than Opal Yellow, which makes Poi the new #1 on my mental glass viscosity scale, and bumps Opal Yellow and White to #2.  It is similar to Effetre Dark Violet in colour, but it has just a little more pink in it, and the reactions are way more fun.

I had a couple of rods that were shockier than I'd like, but overall, working with Poi was a dream.  I really enjoyed what happened when I made a thick encased stringer of Poi with Ink Blue. The cage of Ink Blue kept the otherwise spready Poi from moving around too much and really made it sing on the bead.  A picture of that bead is included at the end of this post - it's the long, brightly-coloured focal bead.

Reduction
Reducing Poi doesn't have much effect when the Poi is all by itself.

I don't think I have a picture of this, but when I've reduced Poi with silver glass and silver leaf on it, I've had it fume a little and turn shiny and mauve.

Reactions

Silver fumes the surface of Poi a little, turning it a brownish colour, and when the silver is melted onto the bead, it practically disappears except for a few little patchy bits. Encasing the silver turns the silver to a white blanket under the clear, and the Poi lightens a little under encasement. I used silver leaf here.

Poi is just ok for me with the silver glass tests I did. The reducing silver glass frit shined up really nicely, but it's just sitting there, and after doing this with quite a few other colours, my expectations have been raised.  I find this colour as hopeless to strike silver glass on top of as I did Dark Violet.  I'm sure it's possible, but it just didn't want to happen for me. I do really like the light purple rings that appeared in the Poi around the striking silver glass frit though.

Now things start to get more interesting. This bead was made with the last of my Vetrofond Black.  On top of the Black, the Poi has developed a thin dark purple line in the middle, and has changed colour slightly, taking on a yellowish hue. Similarly, the dots and stringer lines of Black on top of the Poi have all developed a bit of a yellowish halo.

On top of Poi, Copper Green develops a subtle light outline. When you put Poi on top of Copper Green, the Copper Green sort of goes nuts.  It's a vibrant, sloppy mess underneath the Poi lines that have separated so that there is a dark purple line running down the centre.  This reaction makes me really happy.

Like Black, Opal Yellow seems to make Poi want to be a yellowish brown colour. Yellowish halos have developed around the Opal Yellow dots and stringer lines, and the Poi dots and lines have taken on a yellowish hue. The separation of the Poi on top of the Opal Yellow isn't as dramatic as it was on Black, but it's still evident. Conclusion? The colours that make great bases for silver glasses also are big influencers for Poi.

You can see that the Poi has spread on the Opal Yellow, and that Opal Yellow has sunken into the Poi.  This is why I say that Poi is a softer, spreadier glass than Opal Yellow.

The reactions that I observed between Poi and Ivory are pretty consistent with what I saw when I tested Ivory with Dark Violet. The Poi develops a thin dark line in the middle, but apart from that, there's not much else that's interesting going on here. 

Poi spreads and webs on White.  If it could hold itself together, I think there'd be a dark line going through the Poi, but it just can't because it's so much softer than the White.  The White stringer lines and dots have sunken into the Poi, resulting in their edges getting sort of frazzled.

And I've made some interesting beads with Poi.  Much nicer things are possible with Poi than was really evident from the test beads.