Test Results :: Mystic Beige

1 - Plain, 2 - Reduced, 3 - Encased, 4 - w/ Striking Color frit, 5 - w/ Triton, 6 - w/ Silver Leaf, 7 - As a floral (Copper Green core), 8 - w/ Ivory, 9 - w/ Copper Green, 10 - w/ Black

It's killing me that I only had two rods of Reichenbach Mystic Beige (RL0701), and this colour has catapulted straight to the top of my rebuy list.  I haven't used very many Reichenbach colours yet, but there are a few so far that I really like and this is one of them.

General Impressions

The rods are a transparent yellowish colour and look a little like Effetre Straw Yellow, but they look nothing at all like Straw Yellow once you get them into the flame.  Even though the rods I had were pretty thick (~8-9mm diameter) the glass was surprisingly not-shocky.  Even after reheating the tip of a previously melted rod, there was minimal popping and flying when it was reintroduced into the flame.

The glass melts like butter, is really reactive and has a shiny shampoo-like streakiness deep inside that is different from almost everything else in the 104 palette.  It's unpredictable though... I haven't yet figured out how to get it and keep it looking opaque on purpose.  It seems to make this decision for itself randomly, so until I figure it out, I'll be using it mainly in organic kinds of beads (Ha!  As though I make any other kind) where it's fine for it to just do whatever it likes.

Colour Density

Mystic Beige is a colour that hasn't entirely decided whether to be transparent or opaque.  It is streaky, shampoo-like and weird.  I really like this about it.  It's too inclined to be transparent to be used effectively as flower petals though –– I tried it and they just disappeared.  You can't even really see them in the picture.  (Bead #7)

Reduction

Bead #1 and Bead #2 are both solid Mystic Beige, but Bead #2 was reduced.  Reducing it seemed to bring back some of the transparency, but then you can see in Bead #3 that encasing it did that too, so maybe it was just the heating and cooling in between initially forming it and then reducing it that made that happen.

Reactions

Silver glass develops a fine dark outline on top of Mystic Beige, and it seems like the more silver-loaded the glass gets, the odder and shinier that outline becomes.  (Beads #4, 5 & 6) Silver leaf on top of Mystic Beige goes a coppery, metallic colour.  Here's a close-up of these reactions:

The silver glass seems to develop colour well on top of Mystic Beige, but I think that the more it's heated, the more brown it will turn.  It's a little like Vetrofond Yellow Ice this way.  I would love to experiment with this a little more, but as I've already mentioned, I don't have much of this colour left so I probably won't get a chance to do that for a while.

Mystic Beige can either look yellowish or pinkish, but I haven't completely figured out the rules for when it looks one way vs. when it looks the other way.  It looks more pink with reduction silver glass and black (Beads #5 & 10), and more yellowish with Ivory and Copper Green. (Beads #8 & 9).  But that doesn't really tell us very much without widening the testing a little.  Here's an example of what I mean:

Mystic Beige reacts with Copper Green in a way that's really similar to how Ivory reacts with Copper Green, but the reaction is subtly different.  The dark line that develops is really thin, and the way the Copper Green separates is pretty dramatic (and somehow more exciting) than what happens between Copper Green and Ivory.  (Bead #9)

Mystic Beige doesn't really react with Ivory, but it does look almost like pale green when put over top of it. (Bead #8)

All in all, I think this is a pretty great colour.  It's a joy to use and does some fun and unexpected things.  To close, here are some examples of other beads made with Mystic Beige.