Test Results :: Twilight

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 - w/ Silver Glass Frit Stringer (encased), 7 - Plain, 8 - Plain (reduced), 9 - Over Clear, 10 & 11 - w/ Tuxedo, Copper Green, Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

CiM Twilight is a beautiful dark grey colour, and is both darker and bluer than Effetre Dark Steel Grey which has more of a greenish cast to it. It is very similar in hue to Charcoal, only it is less saturated and its reactions with silver and other colours are more subtle.

I believe that Twilight is the result of one of my (and no doubt lots of other people's) requests for a transparent version of CiM Adamantium, and while it does not meet the "need" I expressed when I requested it (I want a dark brownish grey) it is a very nice colour to work with and has some good reactive properties. I love neutrals, as I'm sure you have been able to determine through reading this blog, and no matter how many browns and greys the glass companies make, it will never really be enough for me. I still want the transparent dark brownish grey.

Twilight is very nice to work with, and isn't especially prone to bubbling, although it's not a good idea to tempt fate by parking it in the flame. I didn't experience any unpleasant shocking or splintering at all while making these beads.

On top of Twilight, silver leaf spreads out and sits on top of the bead, blushing blue in places. When the bead is subsequently reduced and encased, the blue is much more evident. When Twilight is used to encase silver foil, the silver foil mostly stays silver but can yellow in places.

Silver glass and Twilight is a happy story. Reduction frit looks beautiful on it, and I got fantastic colour out of my TerraNova2 frit, although you sort of have to enlarge the picture to see it. I even enjoyed moderate success with my frit stringer test.

While Twilight is pretty reactive with silver, it seems not to be very reactive with any of these other colours I tested it with. Below is a summary of the few notable reactions I observed in these beads:

• On top of Twilight, Copper Green develops an interesting border around itself, looking almost three-dimensional.
• Ivory and Peace both separate on top of Twilight, a fine dark line appearing in the middle of dots and stringer lines.

A fun bead with Twilight
(note: the blue bits at the tips of the wings are Caribbean - I don't remember mixing them, but I guess I must have)

Test Results :: Hollandaise

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 & 8 - w/ Tuxedo, Copper Green, Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

Now we're getting to the yellows in this most recent batch of CiM Limited Runs that I actually like.

CiM Hollandaise is more of a mustard colour than it is the colour of Hollandaise. In fact, I will go so far as to say that if you order Eggs Benedict in a restaurant, and the Hollandaise sauce it is served with is this colour, SEND IT BACK because it will mean they've made the sauce with margarine instead of butter and it will taste so foul you'll wish you'd ordered the corned beef hash instead. However, while I wouldn't eat Hollandaise sauce this colour, I like beads made with it just fine.

On the CiM site, if you are looking for Hollandaise you currently need to look under the palette entry for oranges, which I think they should change. Hollandaise is not even a little bit orange unless you strike it -- it is a mustardy, greenish/brownish yellow.

Hollandaise reminds me a little bit of Stone Ground in terms of its consistency, although that is really where the similarity ends. It strikes a bit in the flame, although not a lot, and that striking changes the colour so that it is slightly more on the orange/brownish side, but not enough that you could get me to say that it had actually turned brown or orange.

Silver spreads out over the surface of Hollandaise, which is nice because it means that a little silver goes a long way. It also turns the surface of the Hollandaise to more of a tan colour. You can see in the left-most bead that some of the silver has a faint blueish tinge to it. When the silver leaf is reduced and encased, the brown is even more pronounced.

Silver glass and Hollandaise just doesn't do it for me, although technically the glasses have all done what they should. I think it's something about the yellow, and just a matter of my personal taste. In both beads, pleasantly, the silver glass has stayed put and not made a beeline for the middle of the bead the way it's done for some colours. I got good colour out of both the reduction frit and the TerraNova2.

Hollandaise is a pretty stable colour without a lot of surprises. Here is a summary of the notable reactions I observed in these beads:

• When Hollandaise is used on top of Copper Green, it gets a brown line around it, which in some cases has spread enough to engulf the Hollandaise itself so that some of the stringer dots and lines look more brown than yellow.  When Copper Green is used on top of Hollandaise, the line is blacker and thinner. Copper Green spread out like crazy on top of Hollandaise.
• There is some strange pitting/spotting on my Opal Yellow underneath Hollandaise, and where I used Opal Yellow on top of Hollandaise, the Opal Yellow has spread quite a lot and also struck to an organgey-pink in places.
• White and Peace both spread on top of Hollandaise.

Here are some fun beads made with Hollandaise.  

  

Test Results :: Army Men

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 & 8 - w/ Tuxedo, Copper Green, Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

CiM Army Men is a very, very streaky colour. It is also really pretty, very close to the same shade as ASK Aloe Vera / Kugler Isar Blue. This colour is greener and greyer than Commando. It is a very soft opaque and the working consistency of it is beautiful.

Army Men is a relatively stable colour, and doesn't seem overly reactive. It's gorgeous in vine cane.

Here, silver leaf on Army Men gently yellows the army men, but seems to just sit on top of it in a lacy pattern. When the silver is reduced and encased, the yellowish green aura that it emits is sort of icky looking, but also kind of intriguing.

Army Men seems to be a better base colour for striking silver glass colours than it is for reduction ones.  The reduction frit has yellowed the Army Men quite a bit, but the reaction / results are otherwise unremarkable aside from a few haloed frit bits. The decisive green halos that popped up around the TerraNova2 frit are much more interesting. The TerraNova2 frit struck nicely here, in the purple/blue ranges. I think if I'd struck it again there's be more blue.

Most of the blotchiness you see in the bead on the left, above, is the result of Army Men's streakiness. Army Men seems to not be a very reactive colour at all. Here is a short list of the reactions I see in these beads, however the reactions are very subtle:

• Copper Green on top of Army Men looks pinkish and shiny.
• Opal Yellow on top of Army Men strikes to a pinkish-orange colour in the centre of dots and stringer lines.
• A gentle, thin dark line springs up around Army Men when it is placed on top of Ivory.
• Army Men seems to thin out a little and spread on top of Peace.
• The separation and streakiness of Army Men is most apparent in the beads above with Tuxedo, Ivory and Peace.

Here are some fun beads with Army Men:

  

 

  

Test Results :: Caribbean

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

CiM Caribbean is a pretty medium blue colour, a touch darker than Effetre Medium Blue, and quite a bit lighter than CiM Sapphire.  It also seems like it might be a hair on the greener side than Sapphire is. It is a pretty colour that is fairly stable, not reacting strongly with other colours.

I found Caribbean a relatively pleasant colour to use, although it is a little easier to boil than I really like. Working higher up in the flame solves this problem.  I only really had trouble with it when I was using it as stringer or heating the end of the rod specifically to make dots.

Silver Foil stays mostly silver when it is encased with Caribbean, although you can see that there are a couple of gold patches in the left-most bead. Putting silver on top of Caribbean makes it darker. The bead on the middle here is far darker in colour than the bead with the silver foil in it, with smudges and sprays of silver wandering over its surface. When this combination is reduced and encased, the Caribbean lightens back up so that you can see through it again and the silver takes on all kinds of attractive blue colour.

These last two reactions are pretty similar to what I experienced with CiM Sapphire.

Silver Glass Reduction Frit is pretty on top of Caribbean, but I didn't get much colour out of my TerraNova2 Frit on top of it. The bead with the silver glass frit stringer is interestingly streaky, but I didn't get any really interesting effects in it.  In terms of the reactions I have seen with other colours, this one was only moderately successful.

Unlike Sapphire, Caribbean does not turn orange when used on top of Copper Green.  It does develop a faint dark line reaction with Ivory, and it almost disappears on top of Peace.

Tuxedo is faintly translucent on top of Caribbean, Copper Green turns shiny and orangey when used on top of it. There were no really obvious reactions when Opal Yellow, Ivory or Peace were used on top of Caribbean.

Some fun beads with Caribbean:

 

Test Results :: Canary

Warning: Very Yellow (again)

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, Opeal Yellow, Ivory and Peace

CiM Canary is the second loud yellow (in a series of loud yellows) that I've reviewed from this most recent batch of CiM colours. Like Submarine, Canary is not really very opaque.  It's also, however, not very semi-opaque and it would be more accurate to describe it as a 'streaky opal' colour.  While working, Canary is a little sensitive to boiling, although you can't really tell in the finished beads.  Working a little higher up in the flame solves this problem.

If you follow this blog, you may notice that the paragraph above is almost a direct copy of the words I already wrote about Submarine, but there's a good reason for that (apart from me just being a little lazy 'cause it's hot out). They are almost exactly the same, except for some subtleties in their reactions with other colours. Most of the reactions that are interesting are the result of colour combinations that I feel don't really belong in the world, but maybe you will like them.

On the CiM website, the pictures of the Canary paddle make it look like it is a little more orange in colour than it actually turns out to be after you work it.

Like with Submarine, silver turns brown on top of Canary. The yellowness of the Canary does not seem as easily diminished with the addition of silver as the yellowness of Submarine was.

Like Submarine, Canary is much nicer with the reducing silver glass than it is with TerraNova2 Frit. The main difference here is that while I was able to get some decent colour out of the TerraNova2 frit on top of Submarine, on top of Canary it seems to have turned black/grey in places and has not struck very much at all.

Tuxedo bled into Submarine and turned it a greenish colour, but it doesn't really seem to do that on top of Canary. In fact, some of the dots of Tuxedo don't even show up very well in the bead on the left, above, and instead just look like grey circles around themselves. However, Canary on top of Tuxedo does have a slight greenish cast to it.

Copper Green and Canary have a reciprocal dark line reaction. With Submarine, this reaction was very crisp and defined, but with Canary it is sort of spready and not of a consistent width. The Copper Green itself exhibits the same tendency towards a pinkish colour that it did with Submarine, but without the shine.

Opal Yellow, Ivory and Peace all separate on top of Canary and form a double line, with some translucency in the middle. The Opal Yellow shows this effect the most prominently, and if the colours were nicer together I'd be really excited about that reaction.

Fun beads with Canary:

Here I used Canary as the core of my vine cane, and rather like the resulting way in which the cane has behaved, getting a dark line up one side almost like a real leaf or blade of thick grass. This is a perfect way to use Canary, since it has an interesting, desirable effect and you also don't really need to look directly at the yellow once it is safely hidden by the outer layers of the cane.