Test Results :: Butter Pecan Unique #4

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain (reduced), 3 - w/ Silver Leaf, 4 - w/ Silver Leaf (reduced & encased), 5 - w/ TerraNova2 Frit, 6 - w/ Silver Glass Frit (reduced), 7 - w/ Tuxedo, 8 - w/ Copper Green, 9 - w/ Opal Yellow, 10 - w/ Ivory, 11 - w/ Raku & Lauscha Olive, 12 - On Lauscha Olive

CiM Butter Pecan #4 is more interesting than I thought it would be after my initial foray into this new collection of CiM Uniques.  I posted in a very preliminary way about this colour (among others) here.

This version of Butter Pecan is really, really soft. So drippy in fact that it rivals White and Opal Yellow for drippiness. I still haven't tested the original Butter Pecan, so I'm not sure if this is typical of all of the colours in the Butter Pecan lineup or not. Also, two of the three rods of Butter Pecan #4 that I had were unpleasantly shocky even though they were very thin. One of the rods was so shocky that it was nearly impossible to work with, which is why I haven't made my customary oval test beads for this colour and won't have any fun beads to share at the bottom of this post.

Fortunately, not all of the rods are that shocky because I have had a few rods that were not shocky at all.  Just proceed with caution, and introduce gently to the flame until you know what kind of rod you've got in your hand.

I struggled a bit filling my Crystal press (as usual) and had to put multiple layers of glass on these first beads.  The result?  Strange variations in the surface colour.  So, Butter Pecan #4 does not meet smoothly when you add additional glass.  I thought that it would since it's not a very streaky colour, but I often misanticipate these things.

Reducing Butter Pecan #4 blushes the colour a little, turning it a little more pink and a little more grey.

Reactions
Butter Pecan #4 is awesome fun with silver.

In the bead on the left, I applied silver leaf and melted it in. The result is a variegated silver and gold effect, and a bead that has fumed very brown in places.

In the bead on the right, I applied my silver leaf, melted it in, reduced it and then encased it with Effetre 006 Clear. The silver under the Clear is bright and shiny, and while you can still see some of the brown fuming right around the edges of the silver and in a gentle, warm way on the right-hand side of the bead, for the most part the Butter Pecan in this bead looks a little closer to the natural colour than the bead on the left does.

Butter Pecan #4 is not a big star with silver glass frit. I didn't manage to really strike my TerraNova2 Frit on this colour, although I was careful to try not to overstrike it after my humiliating experience with Porcelain. Around the edges of the TerraNova2 frit, you can see a faint brown stain on the surface of the Butter Pecan #4.

In the bead on the right, my silver glass frit didn't really acquire much in the way of shine and just looks sort of blah sitting on top of the bead. The Butter Pecan has more fumed brown on this bead, and I suspect that is because of the reduction.

With Tuxedo, Butter Pecan #4 looks like a much cooler colour and takes on a pinkish sheen. Butter Pecan #4 dots on top of Tuxedo get a concentric ring around the edge, and a very thin lines that is only subtly shiny shows up around the very edge of the Butter Pecan #4, like a little mirrored border.

Butter Pecan #4 barely reacts with Copper Green. You can see, around the Butter Pecan #4 dots, a faint greyish-brown line around the butter pecan, but it almost escapes notice. Butter Pecan #4 does not appear to be one of those colours that keeps away the grey sheen of of our friend Copper Green.

On top of Opal Yellow, Butter Pecan #4 develops a darker pink outline. Opal Yellow seems to float just on top of the Butter Pecan #4.

With White and Ivory, Butter Pecan #4 doesn't really do much of note. I had a dirty-looking spot on the Ivory/ButterPecan #4 bead, but that's pretty much it.

But, the star of this reaction show are these two beads that I made with Lauscha Olive.

On top of Butter Pecan #4, I got reasonable colour out of my Raku, The Lauscha Olive dots I put on the Butter Pecan #4 spread a little, and made the Butter Pecan #4 rise up in halos around it, creating a more dramatic petal effect in my flowers. On top of Lauscha Olive, Butter Pecan #4 dots develop strange green ellipses in their centres.

And that's all!  I like this colour enough after testing it that even the odd shocky rod won't be enough to scare me off.  I think it will make a fabulous base for the kinds of beads I love to make. I can't wait to test the Butter Pecan #5.