Test Results :: Seashell Swirl

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain Reduced, 3 - Silver Leaf, 4 - Silver Leaf Reduced & Encased, 5 - Encased, 6 - Floral, 7 - Reduced w/ Silver Glass, 8 - w/ Black, 9 - w/ Ivory, 10 - w/ Copper Green

Vetrofond Seashell Swirl.  People reading this are going to think that I am just a colour junkie and never have anything but nice things to say about all of the glass.  To set the record straight, there are plenty of colours I don't like.  I just don't happen to be testing any of those ones presently :)

Back to Seashell Swirl.  The rods are a slightly pearly mauvey-pink colour with some light tendrils running through them.  They are pretty rods.  Almost (but not quite) too pretty to melt.  If you like pink and you like reactive glass that does fun things, you will probably like Seashell Swirl.  I like it, and I'm not even a particular fan of pink.  It's just slightly on the purply side of pink, and is super-reactive.

Seashell Swirl is an odd lot, but it's a little easier to find than some of the other, rarer ones.  For now at least... I guess eventually it will be all gone.  *sigh*

Colour Density
Seashell Swirl is an almost-opaque, streaky colour.  It sort of defies classification because semi-opaque doesn't quite fit, but it certainly is not entirely opaque either.  Used for flower petals, it is slightly translucent and a little ragged.  (Bead #6)

Under Clear
Like most of the other colours I've tested, Seashell Swirl is a little lighter under Clear than it is alone.  I'm going to stop running this test if I keep getting the same result every time. (Bead #5)

Reduction
Seashell Swirl, when reduced alone, yellows slightly.  (Bead #2)

Reactions
There's a lot to talk about here, because Seashell Swirl does lots of fun things.

When paired with silver, Seashell Swirl darkens, and turns the silver brown.  The shade of brown that the silver turns to reminds me very much of the way unstruck striking silver glass looks.  (Bead #3)

Then, if you reduce and encase it, the Seashell Swirl takes on a little iridescence.  (Bead #4)

I took this even further, using Striking Color frit on top of the silver leaf.  When I encased that I got an iridescence so shiny it's almost reflective:

And when paired just with silver glass (I know, it shouldn't be too much to ask that I remember which one [but it somehow is]) the Seashell Swirl gets a smoky gleam to it that is very appealing.  (Bead #7)

Whew!  So... now... even if I wanted to find a way to not like Seashell Swirl, I would be incapable of it.  This glass is SO FUN with silver!

Seashell Swirl seems to try to assimilate Ivory.  (Bead #9) Do you see the way the ivory is changing colour around the pink so that the dots almost seem blurry?  I promise it's not the photography that's blurry.

Seashell Swirl has some strange influence over Copper Green.  It seems to leech the colour out of it to pool near where the pink is, and where there are lines or dots of Seashell Swirl on the Copper Green they almost look like they are floating on the surface rather than sitting firmly on top of it. (Bead #10)

General Impressions
Seashell Swirl is a reactive, FUN colour that behaves beautifully with silver glass as well as both colours from the sulphur family (Ivory) and copper family (Copper Green).  This makes it a fun-to-think-about design element since you can use it to space out colours you wouldn't normally use together because they might turn each other dark and mucky.  It mostly keeps together and stays put, hardly spreading at all.

Predictably, I like it a lot! :)

Here are some other beads made with Seashell Swirl: