Test Results :: Banana Cream

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain (reduced), 3 - w/ Silver Leaf, 4 - w/ Silver Leaf (reduced & encased), 5 - w/ Silver Glass Frit (reduced), 6 - w/ TerraNova2 Frit, 7 & 8 - w/ Tuxedo, Copper Green, Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

Vetrofond Banana Cream is, hands down, my favourite yellow opaque glass. When it comes to yellow glass, I am really picky. I don't like 'acid' yellows so much - I like my yellows sort of toned down. I also appreciate yellows that have interesting working properties.

Banana Cream is sort of weird while it's melting. It goes translucent and seems to have sparkles all through it. These sparkles and the translucency resolve themselves into an opaque yellow when it cools, but it's really fun to watch it while it's molten.

On top of Banana Cream, silver leaf forms an opaque, shiny layer that is mottled grey, blue and gold. When this reaction is reduced and encased, it forms a snowy, bluish blanket over the yellow underneath the clear.

Adding silver to Banana Cream fumes it a richer, brownish yellow colour -- particularly when the bead is reduced. It seems to make a nicer base for the reducing silver glasses than it does the strikers, if the results above are representative. The only issue I have with the reducing silver glasses on Banana Cream is that the blues and yellow sort of clash.

You can see in the bead on the left how Banana Cream can be a sort of mottled colour. Particularly on top of Copper Green, you can see how it is much yellower in some places than others.

There is a faint reaction with Tuxedo on both of the test beads, above, however it is very subtle. In the bead on the left, you can see that the edges of the Banana Cream stringer lines have curdled in places. In the bead on the right, there is a very faint, thin yellow outline surrounding the dots and lines of Tuxedo.
On top of Copper Green, in addition to the mottledness noted above (which is not specific to a reaction with Copper Green) you can see a dark outline around the Banana Cream. A similar dark outline appears when Copper Green is used on top of Banana Cream, however in that case the Copper Green also separates slightly, making the effect even more three-dimensional.

On top of Opal Yellow, most of the 'extra yellow' in Banana Cream seems to migrate to the edges of the lines and dots I made with the stringer, a subtle separation effect. It also seems to get a translucent line around it, making the dots and stringer lines seem to be lifted a little above the surface of the Opal Yellow. Opal Yellow on top of Banana Cream develops a brown line reaction.

There isn't much in the way of reaction with Ivory, which makes sense since Ivory and Banana Cream belong to the same family of sulfur colours.

Peace separates slightly on top of Banana Cream, and I also got some greyness although that might have been my fault rather than to do with any reaction. on top of Peace, Banana Cream's mottledness is very pronounced, and like with Opal Yellow, a faint translucent edge to the dots and stringer lines make them look like they are raised slightly off the bead.
Here are some fun beads with Banana Cream.

The more you work Banana Cream, the yellower it strikes.

Test Results :: Sage Green

1 - w/ Silver Leaf, 2 - w/ Silver Leaf (reduced & encased), 3 - Over Silver Foil, 4 - w/ Silver Glass Frit (reduced), 5 - w/ TerraNova2 Frit, 6 - Plain (reduced), 7 - Plain, 8 - Over Clear, 9 & 10 - w/ Tuxedo, Copper Green, Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

Effetre Sage reminds me of Effetre Dark Grass Green. It's in the same hue group, it's just more saturated and darker. The reactions it has with other colours are a little different though, particularly the way it influences silver glass. On the whole, Dark Grass Green is a better base for the striking colours (the colours pop way brighter on that colour than on this one), while Sage seems like a better base for the reducers (the reduction is more vivid).

Sage is less saturated, lighter and a less on the yellow side than CiM Slytherin, one of my other favourite dark transparent greens.

On top of Sage, silver leaf disperses in a fine, webby dot pattern. When the silver leaf is subsequently reduced and encased it forms a filmy, silvery blanket with a hint of blue in it on top of the Sage. These reactions are pretty much identical to the way silver leaf behaves with Dark Grass Green.

Sage does not influence silver foil. While some greens and yellows turn silver foil a rich coppery colour, all the silver foil does under Sage is reflect back the rich green colour.

Both with reducing and striking silver glass, Sage is a winner. The reducing silver glass frit got beautiful shine and stands out wonderfully on top of the dark green of the Sage. In the bead on the right, I got great colour from my TerraNova2 frit, however the colours are pretty dark and hard to make out on top of the Sage.

There are no interesting reactions to report between Tuxedo and Sage.

On top of Copper Green, the edges of the Sage dots and stringer lines look turquoise. This is because the Sage has cleaned a little of the Copper Green's film at its borders. You can see the inverse of this reaction in the bead on the right, where the Copper Green's pinkish/greyish sheen has been disrupted at the edges of its dots and stringer lines. Generally, Copper Green (when it develops a sheen) develops a greyish film, but when it's used with Sage the film is a pinkish colour instead.

There is no obvious reaction when Sage is used on top of Opal Yellow. When Opal Yellow is on top of Sage, it separates slightly and develops a paler yellow border.

When Sage is used on top of Ivory, you can see an irregular dark line develop around the dots and stringer lines, and a faint browning of the glass underneath. When Ivory is used on top of Sage, the dark line doesn't really present itself but the Ivory spreads and breaks up a little.

There is no real reaction evident between Peace and Sage when Sage is used on top of Peace, but when Peace is used on top of Sage it separates, and goes translucent in between the edges and the middle, so that it looks almost like it is two stringer lines/dots in one.

Here are some fun beads that contain Sage.

Test Results :: Zachary

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

CiM Zachary is a light blue opaque that has leanings towards indigo. Its consistency is very creamy, and it is oddly reactive, for a blue, with both silver and silver glasses.

I have to say that as far as light blue glasses go, this is one of my favourites so far. Because I work on a Minor with a small oxygen concentrator, my flame can tend to be a little reducing. This means that the Italian Light Turquoise and Light Sky Blue (Effetre, and to a lesser degree, Vetrofond) can sometimes give me a little trouble, developing red streaks and/or a grey film if I'm not careful, but Zachary doesn't really do this. Reducing Zachary doesn't have much impact on it at all. However, Zachary is a cooler colour than either of those other blues and isn't really a replacement, although it's beautiful in its own right.

Zachary is less stiff than some other Creation is Messy opaque colours, but still not as soft as what we are used to from the Italian opaques. In terms of viscosity, it falls somewhere in the middle.

I mentioned above that Zachary is 'oddly reactive' with silver and silver glasses, and here you can see what I mean by that. Most blue glass, when silver is added, doesn't discolour at all. The silver typically just webs and sits on the surface and doesn't affect the colour of the glass. Which is why I was surprised when silver leaf, melted into the surface of my Zachary bead, fumed the colour of the Zachary to a rich brown.

When the silver is reduced and encased on top of Zachary, the brown disappears and is replaced by a silvery white blanket. The silver reacts slightly with the clear glass, fuming it yellow in places.

On top of Zachary, my reducing silver glass frit has spread out. It has turned the Zachary brown around its edges and has developed a pretty, mottled shine.

I didn't get great colour out of my TerraNova2 frit on top of Zachary, but I sort of like the way this colour pops up in light blue halos and separates underneath the silver glass. I will probably experiment with this combination a little, because I'm starting to think that the striking colours require slightly different treatment depending on the base they've been used on, and it seems like there is some potential here.

Zachary separates on top of Tuxedo, developing a translucent, darker line in the centre of dots and stringer lines. When Tuxedo is used on top of Zachary, you can see that a faint separation outline forms around the Tuxedo, a millimetre or two outside of the Tuxedo. Zachary also looks more purple on top of Tuxedo than it does on top of the other colours I tested it with.

On top of Copper Green, Zachary seems to develop a faint darker blue around the edges of stringer lines and dots, but when Copper Green is used on top of Tuxedo there is no real evidence of reaction.

On top of Opal Yellow, Zachary seems to get lighter around the edges and separate slightly. Also around the edges, the two colours seem to repel each other and it looks like there is a fissure in the glass where the two colours meet. This last reaction (the fissure) seems evident whether the Zachary is used on top of the Opal Yellow or vice versa.

On top of Ivory, the separation of Zachary is even more pronounced, as is the fissure line that pops up around it. When Ivory is used on top of Zachary, it spreads out and seems to lose some of its cohesion, looking not unlike a milk mustache. This reaction is completely different to the reaction blues usually have with Ivory. There is no dark line reaction here at all. This is a welcome result, because sometimes I want to use blue and ivory together without that dark reaction line showing up.

Oddly enough, Zachary doesn't really seem to react with Peace. This is weird to me only because Peace reacts with most of the other colours I've tested it with.

Zachary was used in the base of this bead, as well as in the mushroom cap and stalk.