Glass Testing: CiM 824 Pachyderm Ltd. Run

One more color for today - a soft shade of grey-ish tan called Pachyderm. As a rod, this glass looks like a medium grey. When melted it lightens and warms up into a sort of fawn grey - not completely brown and not completely grey. The CiM page says Pachyderm contains a lot of silver, but I didn't notice that when I used it, since I didn't test it with any other silver glass.

Pachyderm does tend to strike softly as you work it, warming up a little more the longer it's worked. They grey spots seem to disappear after a short while, leaving it a light tan.

I had no problems with shocking, pitting, spreading or bleeding. It does get somewhat streaky as you melt it in.

I paired Pachyderm with Eventide (a light neutral grey) to keep it from going too brown. It makes pretty encased stringer, but you can see where the Pachyderm tends to strike in some spots lighter than others, so the color is kind of spotty. Which can be lovely when used in organic and nature-based designs. I think this color would be fantastic as a sculptural glass for animals and skin tones as well as anything food-related. 

In the beads below, Pachyderm and Eventide are used alongside pinks and a little black for contrast. The beige quality of Pachyderm really shows up well next to black.

More colors to come soon!

Glass Testing: CiM 456 Eel Grass and 455 Troll Limited Runs.

A few new colors to blog about today!

The first two are muted green shades - one transparent and one opaque, and they pair perfectly together!

First up is the opaque, called Troll. This is a medium green that is a little grey-ish in tone, without the yellow undertones that would make it more of an olive. There's no other color like it in the 104 coe palette that I know of, which makes me happy.

Troll behaves nicely - no shocking in my experience, and not a lot of spreading or bleeding. It does, however, go quite streaky when left alone in a base. Once you encase it in clear, though, the streaks fade, and the color actually lightens up a bit.

I found this glass to be not too stiff and not too soupy, and easy to layer with. It doesn't overtake other colors when layered, and has no issues with pitting or discoloration. There's quite a bit of grey in it, making it a bit like Dirty Martini, only much darker.  It's a pretty shade alone, but really sings when paired with Eel Grass, which I will talk about next.

Eel Grass is a light but muted forest green shade that is just lovely. I am excited about this green because it is really understated and quite removed from the bright, grassy greens available.

There's a bit of grey in this shade as well, and like it's partner above, there aren't any yellow tones to push it into the olive green area. This makes it unique in the 104 palette.

Eel Grass, (which is an interesting name - I had to look it up!) has great consistency. It is just ever-so-slightly stiff. I had some small amounts of scumming when heated too quickly, but was able to gently burn that off. Stringer will scum up if you heat it too fast, so be careful of that.

It makes lovely encased stringer when used with Troll. However, when applying the stringer as scroll work, I had some issues with it popping off if I didn't immediately heat it to melt it down just a bit. Normally I can let a scroll sit on top of the bead for a few seconds, but this didn't work as well with this stringer. However, I had no problems once I melted it in.

The beads below were made with the Eel Grass and Troll, along with black, clear and purple, with some metallic accents. You can see here how well these colors layered together and stood out on the black, and with the purple. 

Glass Testing: CiM 823 Koala, CiM Aegean Limited Runs

Next in line today we have two colors - a brand new one called Koala, and one that came out last year (I think), called Aegean. Both are limited runs.

So when I got the new batch of glass last month, I thought for sure there were too many gray shades. However, when I actually melted each rod, most of the opaque gray rods struck to different shades of brown, green and golden. Koala was the one opaque that actually stayed gray to my eye!

I had no issues with shocking or pitting with this glass, and it wasn't too stiff or too soft. I also had no issues with this glass bleeding under encasement or spreading out when melted in.

Koala is a lovely true medium neutral grey - not too blue and not too brown. It's lighter and cooler than Adamantium. In rod form, it actually does have a bluish cast, but that goes away when melted, for the most part.  As a plain spacer, it retains much of its shade, but when encased in clear Koala lightens up quite a bit, as you can see here with the spacers I made.

When left alone as a base, Koala only streaks and separates a tiny bit - really nice for a layering color. After you layer it, the streaks pretty much go away completely. I liked the way it looked with the pale transparent color Bashful - it adds just a touch of warmth to Koala. It's a perfect neutral to add some interest to bright and/or dark color combinations.

In the same set of beads, I used Aegean, a gorgeous medium teal.  Since this is a color I hadn't yet blogged about I decided to test it, even though it came out a year or more ago. I was glad I did!

I love colors that sit between blue and green - and this one straddles those colors perfectly. It's not green or blue.  Aegean reminds me a bit of Effetre Light Teal - if perhaps a touch darker and a tiny bit bluer. It's so much more well-behaved, though!  Not much in the way of scumming or bubbling, and it isn't too stiff, which makes it nice for layering.

Speaking of layering, I did so with Aegean and Quetzal, the new turquoise I blogged about earlier. I think those two make a brilliant pair. Aegean and Quetzal make really lovely encased stringer and gorgeous flower petals, both raised and melted in. Together they make a vibrant medium teal that has a lot of depth and clarity.

The beads below are made with Quetzal, Aegean, Koala, Bashful, Lapis, Trapeze, and Effetre Ink Blue Violet, along with Zephyr clear and DH Triton for the metallic.

Glass Testing: CiM 822 Mockingbird Ltd. Run

Now that Thanksgiving is over, time to do some more glass testing! Today's blog is a short one - just one color - CiM's new neutral grey, called Mockingbird.

Mockingbird is a lovely grey that reminds me a lot of CiM Twilight, but slightly on the bluer side and just a hair lighter. There aren't a lot of cooler greys in the 104 palette, so this is a nice edition.

The rods look a little more blue than what the glass actually comes out as after being annealed. CiM also reports that Mockingbird is a color shifter, but the difference under fluorescent lights vs. daylight bulbs is very, very slight.

One nice thing about Mockingbird is that it's not as stiff as Twilight was, so layering it is pretty easy. And it's a nice, clean color without a lot of pitting or scumming - an added bonus. I also didn't have any shocking problems, or any bleeding or spreading of color. Working this glass was pretty effortless.

In the beads shown below, the bases are Mockingbird layered over Adamantium, then encased in clear. This cools the Adamantium a little, resulting in a nice charcoal grey color, which I just love.

Glass Color Testing: CiM 541 Denim and CiM 625 Bashful

So, I had planned on blogging about a completely different color scheme a couple of weeks ago. Then, my computer's new solid state hard drive took a complete dive and I lost all the pics and notes about the new Creation is Messy color I had tested the week before. Soooo, I'll have to redo that one!

In the meantime, I have a bunch of other colors ready to blog about - and here are the first two. Both are limited runs (as are all in the latest batch), and both are relatively neutral colors. These days, my mood is darker, so I am in the mood to make dark beads! :) 


First up is Denim, which is aptly named, as it's a very dark, transparent grayish color that sits between green and blue.  I personally prefer more of a blue cast to my denim, so I like to layer it with a bluer opaque color. This time, I used CiM Blue Steel as the opaque to layer Denim with, which turned out a little more grey than I was hoping for, but still bluer than when Denim is used alone. It's still really pretty, especially if you like those dark futuristic neutrals as much as I do.

For me, this color is too dark to work on it's own as a base, so layering it thinly on top of opaques or clear is the way to go. It made gorgeous encased stringer with the Blue Steel!

Denim is a nice smooth glass to work with. It didn't shock, pit, bleed or bubble at all, and it's not too stiff for layering - which is really nice! I actually really loved how it melted in when placed on top of the Blue Steel, on clear-encased black (below) - it created very crisp flowers.

Denim is definitely a winner in my book. There's no other color like it that I know of, and it fits right in to a neutral palette.


Next we have a pale tint called Bashful, which reminds me of sepia tones without the yellow. CiM calls this a pale purple - which personally, I just don't see. I see a very pale grey/brown that reminds me of the color of champagne, or black diamond crystals. It's however not as dark as CiM Chateau.

At any rate, this is a lovely tint that I thought looked really great layered on top of the paler cream colors that CiM has - in this case, Antique Lace or Butter Pecan. The result is a neutral off-white or ecru that doesn't have the yellowish cast to it that cream usually does.

This is another glass that is almost problem-free. I only saw the tiniest amount of scumming if I heated the end of a stringer too long or too hot. As with most pale transparents, use a delicate hand when heating, and you'll be fine.

Encasing stringer with Bashful over Antique Lace yielded a very pale color that was kind of an eggshell - almost white but not quite. Lovely on top of black, and paired with the Denim. This is a wonderful color if you're looking for light cream without the yellow cast, but don't want to go into the light brown range.

More CiM tests coming soon!

Glass Color Testing: CiM 725 Toto Ltd. Run and 721 Ceylon Ltd. Run

We're looking at some lovely shades of CiM brown today - one that is a bit familiar and one that is a brand new shade in the 104 coe color palette. The two colors work really well layered together.

Both colors are limited runs - in fact, most every color I've tested recently has been a limited run. CiM doesn't seem to be adding any new color to their existing line permanently. My guess is because it has been hard for them to duplicate their newer colors exactly, and they seem to be really concerned with the accuracy of their hues. I'm not complaining, though - I like consistency, and I love trying colors that are just slightly different.

First up is Toto, and opaque, light brown that is the color of a latte. This shade seems to be very similar to CiM Moccasin, at first glance, but can strike to a warmer shade if you work it long enough.

Toto is a really nice glass to work with - smooth and easy to melt, with no apparent shocking or bubbling. This makes it a fantastic alternative to Effetre Sage Handmade, which is a similar color, but is shocky and can contain bubbles.

When first melted, Toto stays light brown/tan and is somewhat muted. After working it for a few minutes, it can strike to a more caramel shade, darkening and warming a bit - especially if you melt other colors on top of it. By itself, as in spacers, it can take awhile to strike.

Like many opaque light browns (and greens and blues...), melting scrolls into Toto will create separation - little ghost lines that can be really pretty.

For a nice chocolate/coffee color, layer Maple on top and encase in Chateau or clear.

For a cooler, softer brown, pair Toto with this next color, Ceylon.

I actually really love this shade! Ceylon is a transparent medium color that sits halfway between grey and brown, and is really muted, making it a wonderful layering color. It's kind of a transparent lighter Adamantium, I think.

The glass itself is a nice consistency - not too stiff and not too soft. I had no real bubbling or scumming issues, and no shocking at all. The clarity of this color is wonderful.

Layering Ceylon on top of Toto creates a soft sable brown that's a really nice neutral.

In these sets, Ceylon and Toto are paired with shades of pink. You can see where the Toto darkens under some of the layers, but stays lighter when closer to the top.