Test Results :: Nuclear Brownie

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/ Peace

Lauscha Nuclear Brownie is also called Buckhorn With Silver. I am having some trouble understanding these results of mine, because the last time I used this glass it seemed like a much darker colour.

For instance, I made this bead in December 2008 with the exact same batch of Nuclear Brownie as I've made these test beads from (I'm cringing showing it to you, but what the heck - it's not like I'm creating any masterpieces today, either, and I need to show something).  The brown colour in this bead is Nuclear Brownie, and it is much, much darker than the Nuclear Brownie in any of these test beads.  All I can figure is that this colour must strike darker with repeated heating, cooling and abuse with tools because it took me about 5 times as long to shape a bicone in 2008 as it does today, and it's still not a fast process.

Nuclear Brownie is gorgeous with silver.  Silver leaf melted into the surface of this colour creates a gorgeous, wispy spray of silver and really interesting variations in the surface colour of the bead.  On the right, in the bead that I reduced and encased, the silver has taken on a shiny iridescence and has also become decidedly pinkish in colour.

In these beads with silver glass, my favourite thing that happened is with the bead on the right and the silver glass reduction frit.  (I am currently using a blend with Kronos2, Gaia, Elektra, Triton and Psyche all mixed up in equal proportions)  I love the way the fritty bits develop that webbed outline and the way the frit has separated and colour-changed so that it looks like peacock feathers through a kaleidoscope.

Tuxedo is nice and crisp on top of Nuclear Brownie.  On the Tuxedo side of the bead you can see how milky the Nuclear Brownie went.  No shiny line though as I 've been so prone to getting lately with just about anything and Tuxedo.

The Copper Green side of this bead is a little freaky, with its striations of turquoise amid a muddy grey-green-pink background.  The Nuclear Brownie stringer work is very bright in colour and more yellow than the same colour on the other side of the bead, and it has developed almost a white outline around it wherever it touches the copper green.  Where the deep striations of Copper Green are, the rich turquoise colour of it are seeping into the Nuclear Brownie.

On the Nuclear Brownie side of the bead, the Copper Green line develops a super-thin double outline around the Copper Green stringerwork.  The inner part of that double outline is a brownish purple, and the outer line is a light Ivory colour.  This is a very interesting effect indeed.

 

 

In all of these three beads (Opal Yellow, Ivory, Peace) the other colour has separated on top of the Nuclear Brownie and in all three cases is a very interesting reaction.  However, Nuclear Brownie is not really good stringerwork material and seems to not look quite right no matter what you put it on top of.  (Click the pictures to enlarge)

Here are some fun beads with Nuclear Brownie: