Test Results :: Smurfy

Smurfy (CiM569) is a medium to dark turquoise opaque colour. I found it really creamy and nice to work with, and vastly prefer it to the other dark turquoise opaques (Dark Turquoise, Dark Sky Blue) from Effetre because it doesn't easily develop that greyish dirty patina that other turquoises get, although you can make that happen if you really try.

You can see in the bead on the left that when I reduced Smurfy it got a greyish haze on its surface. I reduced this bead a few times trying to get it to change colour. I was hoping for that solid red brick coating you can sometimes get on turquoises, but that doesn't seem to happen with this one.

Smurfy is darker than both Light Turquoise and Fremen, more of a shade with Dark Sky Blue. Unlike Dark Sky Blue, it doesn't easily develop that grey sheen, although you can make it happen if you hold it in a reducing flame.

On top of Smurfy, silver leaf looks a greyish green colour. When you reduce and encase it, it turns yellow.

Smurfy seems like it is probably a decent base for silver glass.

Like other turquoises, Smurfy gets a dark line with Ivory. Smurfy separates on top of Tuxedo and Copper Green. Apart from that, there weren't very many reactions in these beads.

Here are some other beads made with Smurfy.

Test Results :: Tahitian Pearl

Tahitian Pearl (CiM827) is a dark greyish purple that gets shiny in the flame while you're working it. As you'll see, I went into my relationship with Tahitian Pearl expecting it to be similar to Adamantium, but ultimately found it quite a bit more like Effetre Dark Silver Plum, only with more interesting variation in surface texture.

With repeated heating and cooling, the surface of Tahitian Pearl gets all shiny, wrinkly, and uneven. I was alarmed by this when I was making these two beads together on the same mandrel. Then, I reduced the bead on the right and thought that all of the neat surface finish had gone away and was alarmed by that.

And then I took the beads out of the kiln the next morning. It turns out, the wrinkly, textured shiny finish of the unreduced Tahitian Pearl is awesome, and reducing does not take away the surface finish, it just smooths it out. Also awesome.

At first, I thought Tahitian Pearl was like a shiny version of Adamantium. Then, I made this bead and realized that Tahitian Pearl is purple while Adamantium is not, and that silly first impression of mine popped like a soap bubble.

On top of Tahitian Pearl, silver disappears. When the silver is reduced and encased on top of Tahitian Pearl, it turns yellow. Ignore the peach and pink you see on the leftmost bead. This colour doesn't turn silver leaf pink the way Dark Silver Plum does. What you're seeing there is my hand and my T-Shirt in the shiny finish. Reflective!

Tahitian Pearl makes an interesting base colour for silver glass. I got neat colours and reactions from both frit treatments here without much effort.

Here, you can see that Tahitian Pearl separates on top of Tuxedo, but apart from that it seems not to be very reactive with other colours.

This bead was made with Tahitian Pearl and Raku Mottleshards.

Test Results :: Amethyst

Amethyst (CiM629) is a light purple transparent. It's pretty with silver, and makes a deeper pink when layered over a light pink like Desert Pink. It's not very reactive.

I always struggle with the lightest CiM transparent colours. I was a bit surprised to find that I had different problems with this one than I have had in the past with colours like Larkspur and Count von Count, because I didn't experience any bubbling with this one.

I did get strange 'snail trails' of pale semi-opacity through this colour while I was working it, though. This is similar to the challenges I had with CiM Experimental, CiM's newest Clear. And that makes sense, since Clear is probably how this colour starts out before the purpliness is added to it.

Silver loves being on top of Amethyst, crusting up in interesting ways on its surface. Amethyst does not discolour silver when you encase with it, and a layer of silver leaf reduced and encased on top of Amethyst turns an ethereal silvery blue.

Silver Glass on top of Amethyst is pretty.

Amethyst lightens up considerably when used in thin layers. It is not very reactive, so there's not much to say about these beads.

Here's a long bicone that includes some Amethyst.