Tuesday, October 31, 2017

CiM 911 Venus - over Silver foil

CiM Venus - as I suspected, turns silver foil to a golden hue. Actually - more of a rose gold or a bright copper appearance. As with encasing silver foil - do your best to keep the encasing cool and keep the silver foil out of the flame until it is completely covered.

Very pretty.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

CiM 911 Venus

CiM Venus reminds me exactly of Effetre 068 - a pale transparent pink that comes out a salmony rosaline after heating.

The Effetre is famous for it's ability to turn silver foil into a rich gold colour when encasing it, so the first thing I would suggest is to try that.

You can see here, there is a significant difference in colour from the rod and the worked glass.

I did notice it forming small bubbles too, although not as pronounced as Siren. 

Definitely need to try it over silver foil. 

Sunday, October 22, 2017

CiM 627 Rapunzel

CiM's Rapunzel was formulated to be an opaque version of Crocus. While it is not an opaque version of crocus, being much lighter, it does go beautifully with Crocus.


Some people are reporting colour shift in different types of lighting, but I'm not seeing anything significant.






From the left, Rapunzel, Crocus, and Gelly's Sty on top. With maybe a blob of something else. Yes - the old, wonderful Gelly's Sty. Gorgeous, n'est pas?



Friday, October 20, 2017

Comparison: CiM Siren, Apple Pie, Juniper, Turtle Power

Here are the latest greens from CiM, side by side.

From the left, Siren; Apple Pie; Juniper; and Turtle Power.


Wednesday, October 18, 2017

CiM 460 Turtle Power

Sadly - my sample of Turtle Power (Heroes on the Halfshell) was less than heroic. In fact, it shocked like a turtle dropped on its shell, quietly blowing off an inch at a time. It was a challenge to make anything.

It's possible that the entire batch is not all like this - in fact - other testers had no problem at all - and say it is a dead ringer for Split Pea.

However, if you are having shocking problems, I would suggest you treat it like Celadon*, and put the rods in the kiln to pre-heat. I usually put three rods in the kiln at a time, with about a third of the rod sticking out of the door. I pick them up in a rod holder, wipe the kiln dust off with a folded paper towel, and use them from there.

My verdict is - "Splinter" has too much influence on this Turtle Power. ;-)



*Also good for EDP - if you have any.

Monday, October 16, 2017

CiM 459 Juniper

CiM Juniper - a bluey green opaque.

It is a well-behaved, somewhat streaky green with no overtones of yellow - in the bluer sage family of greens. It doesn't remind me of anything, so it may be a unique color to the glass palette. It doesn't seem as dark as it shows on the CiM green palette page, though.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

CiM 728 Canoe

Canoe - what a beautiful colour! It reminds me of Canyon de Chelly. I strongly suspect that this will do some interesting things with silver, but until I try it - I'm not sure what. Other testers are also loving it, and reporting nice reactions.

I tried working this at different temperatures, and I have to say - across the board, I got pretty consistent results.

This little unicorn horn was worked quite cool - just warm enough to twist.



This pressed starburst - I worked it very hot - this glass goes clear when very hot, then white, and back to brown as it cools. This was heated to clear, and then stamped with a graphite press tool, on a a graphite marver, which  cooled it very rapidly.

There is some variation in colour - I didn't get it quite as hot at the wire end when firepolishing it, but for a streaky glass - this compared to the other pieces are pretty consistent.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with this one some more!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

CiM 315 Buttermilk

CiM Buttermilk is an attempt to re-make CiM Cake Batter (307). I think that is a more neutral shade, and, in fact, may be the non-reactive ivory you've been looking for. I haven't been looking for it, I like the reaction, but it is nice to have the option!

I didn't care for the recent CiM Bone as much, because while it is a nice cream neutral - I like the warmer shade of the Effetre Ivory. In fact, I adore Effetre Ivory - it is one of my faves. And the CiM Bone can look similar if you reduce it, but otherwise - it seems to be a rather cool colour.

However, the Buttermilk might be right on the money. It not overtly coloured, but it has a slight hint of warmth to it. But, if you read the other tester's reactions on the CiM site, you will see there is a certain amount of variation of opinion.

CiM classifies this with the yellows, but for me - it is in the neutral family.







And it really hasn't reacted with the turquoise. That is a flat dot with a raised dot - so that is not extreme bleeding.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

CiM 458 Apple Pie


Why oh Why
Is an opaque green
labeled "Apple Pie"
Honestly - I don't have an answer for that.

I do know that Apple Pie is a light green opaque in the family with Mint Chip, Primavera, It Ain't Easy Being, Sherbert, Cardamom, Sprout. I highly recommend the CiM page for comparisons, because I don't have any of those with labels on!

Overall - I found it easy to work and trouble free.
There are quite a number of greens in this latest batch - so stay tuned! Posts come every other day or so, or if you subscribe to my facebook page - you can see them there!

Sunday, October 08, 2017

CiM 463 Siren

The Siren call of the sea, or the Sirens of the Sea. This is a sea-green. It is supposed to be a re-make of CiM Aloe Juice (422) - but as I have no reliably labeled Aloe Juice, I can't speak to that. Other testers do report that it is a dead ringer though.

However, like Aloe Juice, I did have problems with it boiling and scumming a little. I tried working it cooler and slower, and it helped a little.








 You can see from this close-up - quite a lot of bubbling at the edges.

Whether you can use this to your advantage in your designs, i.e. a trail of bubbles from a fish in an aquarium bead, or if it will just make you crazy - that is up to you.