Test Results :: Lotis

Double Helix Lotis is a beautiful middle pink colour. It has gorgeous smoothness and clarity, and is not difficult to strike at all.

The larger the amount of Lotis in one place, the darker it looks.

Lotis is pinker, brighter, and lighter than Rubino Oro and Pink Lady, the other two pinks I had on hand to test it with.

In spite of it being a lighter pink, Lotis is still powerful in a handmixed colour. Here, I've paired it with one of the Double Helix semi-transparent whites for a beautiful, semi-opaque pink without much dilution of its colour.

Lotis is a bit reactive with silver, turning it a smokey, yellowish grey colour with blue fume around its edges. When the silver is reduced and encased, it looks lacier and the yellow goes away.

Lotis makes a pretty base colour for silver glass. I got a beautiful starting strike in my TerraNova2 frit.

Although Lotis is reactive with silver, it is mostly inert with these other colours I use for testing. Apart from a slight tendency for Copper Green to separate when used next to it, there isn't much to report about these beads.

Test Results :: American Beauty

It has taken me a long time to get around to using my American Beauty (EFF643). This Effetre "cool colour" is strange in the rod, looking more like a cloudy red filigrana than a streaky red transparent.

I liked this colour much more than I thought I would because the paddle pictures that are displayed for it at most online vendors make it look truly hideous. My core takeaway from these test beads? Try everything. The paddle colours unfortunately tell us almost nothing about a colour.

American Beauty is unfazed by a bit of reduction.

On top of American Beauty, silver crusts up and turns a patchy blue. When the silver is reduced and encased, the blue is more evident.

Silver Glass is really pretty on top of American Beauty. I got good results from both my reducing colours and my striking colours. The reactions are more subtle and the colours are much more vibrant than what I got performing the same tests with Striking Red.

American Beauty is not very reactive. I got a little fuzziness in my Ivory stringer dots and lines on top of it, but that's it.

Here are some other beads made with American Beauty.

Test Results :: Bayou

CiM Bayou (CiM469) is a beautifully reactive, light to medium grey opaque colour. On CiM's website, you will find it described as grey-green or as having a hint of green, but my experience of this colour is that it is grey. I didn't see any greenish tones in it at all until I tried it with silver.

Bayou is a bit of a striker, going a touch browner and a touch darker when I reduced it.

Silver leaf on top of Bayou makes it blush a greenish yellow colour. When the silver is reduced and encased, it looks white.

Bayou is a very interesting base colour for silver glass. I love the starting strike I got in my TerraNova2 frit with this colour.

Tuxedo makes Bayou rise up around it in little separation halos.

Bayou separates on top of Copper Green and Opal Yellow.

Ivory and Bayou have a mutual dark line reaction. On top of Ivory, Bayou both separates and develops a dark line against the Ivory. Putting Bayou on top of Ivory made it look darker and bluer.

Here are some other beads that contain Bayou: