Lauscha Thüringen Herb is a colour that has been languishing in my glass storage box for more than a year. If only I had understood how interesting it is! I only ever bought 1/2# of it, I only have just under two rods left, and Paula at
Flame Dame, where I originally bought it, seems to be fresh out. What a sad girl I'll be if I can't get any more of this. It looks like
Lauscha Lady still has some, so I guess my next glass order will be a Lauscha one. Don't go buy it all on me, please.
General Impressions
Thüringen Herb is a "Milky Way" colour, which means that it is by reputation meant to be both semi-opaque and reactive. I didn't have much luck keeping it semi-opaque -- all of the beads I've made so far are pretty small and I didn't do a lot of experimentation with striking it. I do have lots to report on the reactive properties I discovered though.
I really love the colour of it on its own. The best way to describe the unadulturated colour of the glass after annealing is a muted, pale yellow-green. It's pretty comparable in 'darkness' to Ivory (which, as we know, is not very dark at all), and less brilliant than Effetre Uranium Yellow Pastel.
I got all caught up with making Thüringen Herb do fun, reactive things and forgot to make a floral with it, but I'll do that next weekend so that I know how it behaves in a thin layer with Clear both underneath and above it, too.
Reduction
Reducing Thüringen Herb all by itself had absolutely no effect. (Bead #2)
Reactions
In the bead (Bead #4) where I used the silver foil, reduced it and then encased it with Clear, the silver seems to have turned pink. This is also fairly consistent with my test results with the other colours I mentioned. This indicates to me that there is significant fun to be had with this colour, both with silver and with other glass colours.
I finally got some colour out of Khaos in Bead #6, and I think I am pretty close to figuring out where I've been going wrong. Bead #5 is just pathetic, but I didn't remember I was making a frit bead until I had already pressed it once, so that's why. It didn't get enough heat or enough cooling to do anything nice. If I can wrap my head all the way around my stupid Khaos problem, I will dedicate a post to it so that no one else has to struggle the way I've been fighting with it for months. If I don't completely figure it out before my current supply of Khaos frit is gone, I'm going to shrug and move on. Stay tuned to see which it will be. lol.
The most interesting thing about these beads with silver glass is the colour change in the Thüringen Herb. I've never met a colour before that could go from a pale yellow-green to a vibrant French's mustard yellow before, but that's exactly what it seems to do. I didn't get as much yellow with the Khaos, but look at the mustardy strangeness of the Thüringen Herb in the bead with the silver glass frit reduced. (Bead #7) I'm not super-fond of bright yellow, but I am all cooled out by the fact that it happens.
On a whim, I made a quick bead with Leaky Pen dots, and I'm glad I did because I would never have known, otherwise, that Thüringen Herb is an "acquirer". (Bead #8) I have given this nickname to colours who like to suck in and 'acquire' the colours of the other glasses they are used with. The whole surface (except for a small area around the holes) of this bead changed from pale green to a pale baby blue, having stolen colour from the Leaky Pen. Neat, huh?
Ivory and Thüringen Herb are similarly light, and the Thüringen Herb seems to influence the Ivory slightly, curdling it a little. (Bead #10) It`s not easy to see the colours against each other, but in the picture below, the Thüringen Herb is on the left with Ivory dots and stringerwork on top, and the Ivory is on the right with Thüringen Herb dots and stringerwork on top. The Thüringen Herb is faintly green, where the Ivory is more of pale, pale peach/brown.
The reaction between Thüringen Herb and Copper Green is subtle, but I think with more heat and manipulation, it could get quite dramatic. (Bead #11) Thüringen Herb spread a little over Copper Green and activated Copper Green's turquoise notes really strongly when placed over top of it. Where the Copper Green is over Thüringen Herb, it's gone quite metallic and formed an irregular dark line. This is really interesting to me because usually when a dark line reaction forms, both colours do it reciprocally. I am making a mental note to play with this some more in the future.
Here are some 'fun beads' made with Thüringen Herb:
