DragonJools

Making a Dichroic Bead

2008-11-17T12:32:00.004-05:00

Here's another little video - this one is about 8 minutes long - and shows making a dichro bead. LMK if it plays, is clear, etc. For this one, I went with brief subtitles, instead of a voice-over. Mostly, the target audience is people who know little or nothing about beadmaking - but maybe experienced beadmakers will enjoy it too.

Further thoughts on Kelp (Mor 090)

2008-11-06T23:20:00.002-05:00

I was just winding off a few Nyx beads last night, and encasing them in clear - and I had a thought about how reactive Kelp had been over the silver foil, and I thought - gee - most of these exotic reactive colours like the Double Helix colours are loaded with silver - what happens if I encase Nyx with Kelp?

The green bead on the left is Nyx, encased with Kelp, the blue bead on the right is Nyx, encased with clear.

I did flash them through a reducing flame, but I that didn't influence the encased colours - just the unencased part by the hole.

Interesting, eh?

New Video Test

2008-11-06T09:48:00.004-05:00

OK - trying again. This time I got the raw HDV source to play with. It's dark, but I can lighten it a little, but I thought I'd try it without. Notice the lack of the annoying pixelation in the background.

If this goes well, the thankless task of reviewing hours of video begins. Urk.

Mor 090 Kelp (Verde Algae)

2008-11-04T10:47:00.004-05:00

A big bundle of this colour emerged recently in a clean up - Moretti 090. Some websites refer to this as "Kelp" - but the original packaging refers to it as (in Italian) Verde Algae. Algae Green I can just about buy - but I've lived on the west coast - and my first thought was: "Kelp this ain't!" Kelp is a truly amazing plant - it can grow a couple of feet a day - but it tends to be more of an iridescent brown when it washes up on the beach.

However, a quick trip to Wikipedia on the topic of kelp, reveals that kelp used to be burned in quantity to produce the soda ash used in soda glass production - so there may be a connection that way. I just thought it was a faulty translation!

Anyhoo - it's a colour that could spark arguments about whether is it more of a dirty yellow, or a very light green. It's a very organic colour - a little too green to be a real yellow, IMHO, and not really green enough to be a green. In the second pic - the two beads have trace bits of white, for a slightly cloudy effect. Upon even further contemplation - you could call it a light gold colour. Which brings us to our third picture!

This encased silver foil bead is Mor. Rose Quartz on the left (notice there is hardly any yellowing of the foil!!!!) and on the right, that rich golden brown, that's Kelp over silver foil! How'd ya like that! What a great colour! I'm really impressed with that! If nothing else - you're going to want to experiment with this for other cool reactions!

This is a test

2008-10-29T10:14:00.005-04:00

This is just a little test clip (about 40 seconds) - I just want to see how this is looking online. I'm currently working w Catherine Winter (aka Sailorgirl) to produce a short video clip on making beads - as a general info for the non-beadmaker - and I'm concerned about the mpeg compression artifacts (the pixelation in the background) - just wanted to see if it looked as bad online.

I had the original files compressed because of the massive amount of space that video files take - but I may have overdone it. Drat!

Effetre/Moretti 067: Rose Quartz

2008-10-25T19:54:00.002-04:00

Because we need the confusion of two similar colors from two different manufacturers called their glass by the same name. Hello glass producers - I'm declaring a moratorium on the use of the name "Rose Quartz" - enough already!

This is the Effetre/Moretti Rose Quartz - 067. A very, very pale pink. Think pale like the pale emerald, pale aqua, etc. Small beads might get mistaken for clear unless on a white background. You can encase with it and get a very subtle colour effect. Haven't tried it on silver foil yet - could be interesting.

Seems to be a very nice clear transparent too, not really scummy or bubbly.

If you are looking for a barest hint of pink colour - this could be what you are looking for. It is in the true pink family, btw - not the more orangey-salmony rosaline colour range.

Zooii Press: Wiggle

2008-10-25T19:39:00.003-04:00

This was another press shape that intrigued me - what a cool idea, what a cool shape. It wasn't till I got it home that I looked at it and thought - wait a minute - what the heck is the pre-press shape going to have to be for this?

So - making that bead into something else - all right, it wasn't when I got home - it was went I got on the torch that I realized that I had no idea what the pre-press shape should be! - I then went to the zooiis.com website, and found they have an excellent tutorial for the Wiggle press.

In a nutshell - you make a bead the right length, flatten it, turn it on it's side, and mash it, and then clean up the glass that ends up sticking out of the side of the press. The tutorial has excellent instructions and pictures - these are attempts one and two - (the ivory was number one). You can see they turned out well for beginner beads.

Kind of a fun shape - and I can certainly see using it as a component in a necklace. Too large and heavy to be an earring, too long to be comfortable in a bracelet. But fun in a necklace.

The optical illusion of a non-straight hole will mostly be appreciated by other bead makers - complete novices and non-beads don't see a non-straight hole as a technical challenge. ;-)

You could also use it to make arms and legs for an assembled bead doll. Point up one end and add a stacked heel and you could make boots too!

Hmmmm.

Zoozii Press: Shell

2008-10-25T19:34:00.003-04:00

I'm not really much of a press person - I have too short an attention span to use presses, as a general rule. I was intrigued by this one though - and thought I would give it a whirl.

I have to say - this is the most forgiving press-shape I have ever used. The real key to using the presses is the pre-press shape - and for this one - I went with what was essentially a mushroom shape. I was quite happy with the shape I got, and I found that having a little too much glass wasn't a big deal - the resulting ridge can melted in quite easily.

I also experimented with deeping the grooves with a small, sharp blade, and I like that effect too.

Overall - this is fairly satisfying press to use. Now, if I could only figure out what to do with scallop-shell beads!

CIM Purple Faceoff: Grape Ape vs Evil Queen

2008-10-25T19:01:00.003-04:00

It was brought to my attention that the new CIM colour Evil Queen should be more different from the Grape Ape than I reviewed it to be - so I decided to take another run at it.

This bead is Grape Ape on the ends, and Evil Queen in the middle.

You can see from this picture that there is a difference - they are a very similar value (shades of light and dark) - but the Grape Ape is a little redder, and the Evil Queen is closer to a balance between red and blue.

I think perhaps the difference is growing on me - or I am getting more tuned to it - when I made it and first took it out of the kiln, they still looked pretty similar to me - but as I look at them more and more - I think I prefer the Evil Queen.

But, as I said before - they are close. Not interchangeable for sure - my apols if I gave that impression!

Thoughts on Kandinsky Green Exotic 09

2008-09-24T18:26:00.004-04:00

When the silver saturated colours first came out - I tried the Kandinsky Green - and frankly - it baffled the heck out of me.

Recently, I got a chance to sit down with someone who has some experience with some of the high-metal content glasses - and picked their brains on this one.

My issue with the glass has been that it boils when you heat it. Now, I know that you need to go for a cooler flame and/or less oxygenated flame in these cases - it never occurred to me that it needed to be this low.

We introduced this glass into the flame, and it started to bubble and boil. So we turned down the oxygen, and it still boiled. And we turned it down. And it boiled. And we turned it down some more. And it still boiled.

By the time we found a flame that the glass would just melt happily in, we were just a heart-beat away from the yellow flame spouting up in the middle of the flame - we'd turned down the oxygen that much! (This was a tanked oxygen/boosted natural gas on a Mega Minor set up.) The flame was wide and bushy, but at least the glass wasn't boiling!

Further experimenting with cooling, heating, and adjusting the flame, and we discovered we could take it from a variety of greens to metallics - including this bead in the second photo, which shows a very shiny band of the Kad. Green on ivory. So shiny - it's actually reflecting the camera. ;-)

The first photo is my attempts to reproduce this effect - not successfully - but at least I got some interesting colours and not craters, which is what I was getting before. (You can see the bicone has fumed from the silver in the Kad. Grn glass. )

So, the key with this one is to use way less oxygen than you would think. Once we had it on the bead and had worked it awhile - we could turn the oxygen back up to more normal levels.

At least I have some better ideas now of what to try with this glass.

Mor 257 - Sedona

2008-09-24T17:30:00.005-04:00

Moretti 257 - Wait a minute! WTF? There's no 257!!?!!

Well - apparently there is. Mor 257, Sedona - a kissing cousin to Mor 256 - Orchid - otherwise know as EDP (Evil Devitrifying Purple) or Evil Purple.

The unworked rods do resemble EDP, not quite as vibrant in colour.

EDP is known for being very reactive and devitrifying (losing it's glossy, glassy look and taking on a matt appearance) when it is lightly heated. It would seem that 257 shares those characteristics.

In the background, a pressed paddle - showing a range of colours.

In front of that, two beads made with Sedona. The bead on the left was "struck" (waved in the flame for a gentle reheating after it cools to not glowing) - the bead on the right received no additional heat. You can see it has stayed a purple colour, while the struck bead has developed some overtones of orange and chestnut.

And, finally - in front, a Sedona bead with dots of Light Turquoise, melted in. The Turquoise has reacted with the Sedona and separated to form 3 distinct rings - a very thin ring of devitrification where the Turquoise and Sedona touch, and a dark aqua transparent in the centre of opaque turquoise. No aqua transparent was used - this is a reaction. I think we can conclude that this is apparently a reactive glass. ;-)

Here are the same three beads, seen from the end - there has been some devitrification at the mandrel - but not as much as one usually sees in the EDP.

Here's another look at the paddle - it was annealled. The rainbow of colours is very nice - very Sedona Sunsety. It's probably at least partially due to the rapid cooling of mashing it flat.

And just for fun, a marble made with Sedona, Crocus, and clear.

Interesting colour - I'm definitely looking forward to experimenting with this some more!

Mor 456 - Rubino Oro

2008-09-24T17:05:00.003-04:00

Seems like every batch of Rubino Oro (Literally - Ruby Gold) has it's own personality. The last batch was clear - this is a dark, translucent cranberry colour in the unheated rod.

One thing that is interesting about this batch is that it kiln strikes.

For those you unfamilar with the classic Moretti 456, it is a rich cranberry pink that is uber expensive, a very very dark colour - so usually needs to be "diluted" by working it in a thin layer over clear or white or other colors and makes people crazy with it's promise of a gorgeous pink. It is often used with great effect in cased cane. It also will reduce and develop silvery or smokey or black sooty marks if the oxygen is not turned up enough in your torch.

This pair went into the kiln dramatically different colours - the bead on the left was struck to dark pink, and the bead on the right was a very light pink.

The flame striking was very nice, it struck fast enough that you had positive feedback that you were doing something, but not so fast that you couldn't control it.

So, imagine my surprise when they both came out of the kiln so dark that they are almost black!

Here you see the rods, in the back, next is a bead in white, striped with rubino, encased, and dotted with trans. aqua. The process of encasing this and dotting it, with repeated heating, will naturally strike the Rubino.

These beads are from my second test batch - I wanted to confirm the results of the first.

This is a very thin trail of Rubino over white, melted down, and put into the kiln with NO PINK showing at all.

I like this batch. If you are struggling with striking Rubino - you will like this - just melt it in and throw it in the kiln.

But remember to use it thin! It should be excellent for those cased cane spiral roses!

CIM 660 Crocus

2008-09-23T08:43:00.005-04:00

Hocus Pocus - let's focus on Crocus. CIM 660 Crocus is the colour Heffalump should have been. It's a wonderful, translucent purple. Is it a red purple, or a blue purple. Weeeell - that depends on your lighting.

Again. A lovely colour that is a b----- to photograph.

First shot - on my desk, with a flash. Probably the most accurate colour. A distinctly reddish purple. Very lovely.

Second pic - in my hand, colour balance set to correct for any colour cast, under an Ott-lite(tm). More bluish to the purple.

Third pic - shot on my notebook, colour balance set to correct for colour cast, shot under a 60W GE Reveal (Natural Light) Bulb.

Fourth and fifth pics - shot in "studio" set up, white balance set, Using high colour temp fluorescents. (My usual set up.)

You can see the rods behind - the annealled beads are the same colour as the rods.

The final picture shows the translucency nicely.

Truly a yummy, spectacular colour - a very "pretty" colour - that doesn't have to be too girly - but it can be if you want.

A nice strong colour too - didn't wash out the way Heffalump did.

But, pay attention when photographing it. You might have to follow the light around the house to get good pictures.

It's not a dramatic colour change, like Alexandrite. More of a "what the heck?" kind of colour change.

I like it. Let's say it's prettier in person. Not photogenic, so to speak.

CIM 859 Marshmallow (Marahmallow)

2008-09-23T08:26:00.005-04:00

CIM 859 Marshmallow - the factory label said "Marahmallow." You know what, I'm going to leap to the conclusion that most people are going to read this as Marshmallow and call it that. Marahmallow isn't totally without precedent, it's just really obscure. (At this point, I'm not sure if it's a typo, or what - but the CIM home site isn't listing it yet - so hard to say.)

Anyhoo - it's a really nice white - a little translucent, and seems to me to be a very nice white - white. It's also a little stiffer than the opaque whites - i.e. the Moretti/Effetre White.

Here is the Marshmallow with a wrap of Cranberry-1 (CIM 926-1 Cranberry Unique). Notice the pinkish cast to the white -that is a reflection of the Cranberry in the Marshmallow. (OK, take that phrase out of context to confuse your friends.)

And finally, one of my painted beads, wrapped around a core of Marshmallow. I'm liking this white a lot!

CIM 661 Evil Queen

2008-09-23T07:49:00.003-04:00

Pictured here, from the left,

CIM 654 Grape Ape, (which we've already seen)
CIM 661 Evil Queen (new colour)
and CIM 658 Plum (which we have also already seen)
and a little snippet of CIM 926-1 Cranberry Unique (which we have also already seen too.)

The focus here is on the Evil Queen (and she wouldn't have it any other way.)

However - do you see a difference between the Grape Ape and the Evil Queen? (Sounds like the plot of a movie!). Not much of one - that's for sure, and you're thinking it might be all in your head.

The Plum looks pretty similar in this setting too, but the Plum is, as we've already learned, translucent. Here's some more of the Plum as small spacers.

And, as a small, sculptural piece.

And, finally, here is a shot of all of them again (Plus CIM 859 Marshmallow - more on that in a bit). The rods are, from the top, Grape Ape, Evil Queen, Cranberry 1. The beads are in the same order, from the top.

Evil Queen? Looks pretty much the same as Grape Ape. Some kinda profound statement there.

Moretti 276 Dark Ivory - New batch - Curdled Ivory

2008-09-23T07:38:00.003-04:00

New batch of Dark Ivory. Moretti 276 - Dark Ivory is one of my favourite colours, and has been from the day I first sat down at a torch. I love it's reactiveness - it's variability, and it's character.

So I am just delighted to see this batch. The rods are oddly textured, bumpy - like many of the Vetro rods - but I am assured that this is actually Moretti.

Sometimes with the Dark Ivory, you will see wonderful colour striations in the glass, but when it comes out of the kiln, it is much less pronounced. This batch seems to retain it's multi-coloured character.

In fact - it resembled what your tea looks like when you absently-mindedly add cream to tea that you have already laced with lemon - curdled, tea-coloured milk. I know, that sounds nasty, but who amongst us hasn't suddenly thought, it the middle of some other train of thought - "That would make a great bead!"

This will be great for goddess and amphorae - great ancient look. I'm gonna stock up on this! I can hardly wait to use it with silver and turquoise and all the other reactive "tricks."

Moretti 644 - Marine Wave - New Batch

2008-09-22T22:04:00.002-04:00

Here it is again - a second wave of Marine Wave - but this batch seems greener to me - I'll have to dig out the old sample to check.

Here is a spacer on the left, and in fact - it looks more aqua in the picture - so I really will have to compare. It does appear to be as bubbly as the first.

The second bead is a layer of that highly textured dichro, encased with Marine Wave and grooved. (Hold the sharp end of a stump shaper in place and "lathe" the molten glass into ridges. It appears to be a spiral but is actually 4 separate lines.)

This picture has been altered to show what appears to me to be more accurate colour on my monitor. Yep - that and a $1.50 will get you a cuppa coffee, I realize. Monitors, lightening conditions, etc., vary.

I would say what this most reminds me of is the "natural" colour of glass - you know that faintly bottle green that hasn't had anything added to it to make it truly clear. Which is a pretty cool colour. If you were making an homage to sea glass - this would be a good colour choice.

I still really like it - bubbles and all!

Black Pearl

2008-09-15T22:34:00.004-04:00

Black Pearl - arrr Meti - this is the Black Pearl you've been wanting.

Looks pretty much like Nyx to me. Reduces to a metallic teal - and reduces easily.

Didn't kiln-strike for me the way Nyx does, however. An un-reduced bead (the black one with the blue marker) went on black and stayed black.

The saucer bead was reduced, encased and shaped - unfortunately, I "un-reduced" it in the encasing process and it has some colour, but is mostly just very, very dark.

However, the big spiral disk reduced up a treat and has some wonderfully rich blues, more blues than teals. Not sure if this is because the flame slides over the sides instead of hitting it straight on. Anyway - it bears further investigation and experimentation.

Moretti 065 Metallic Black

2008-08-13T16:50:00.004-04:00

Oh my - I may be in love again. You might call me fickle, after all, I was head-over-heels for the truly parallel mashers only days ago - but this is a glass. It's different!

Metallic Black - looks like a nice fat rod of black. But, just look at what it does! Like the dark silver plum, that is so near and dear to my heart, this glass forms a metallic layer. Not sure what the actual mechanism is - it is much like devitrifying - let the bead cool and then flash in the flame and voila! You don't have to think about doing it really, as normal working processes with have it occur naturally. Unless you wind off a bead and let it cool and never touch it with the flame again, it will probably just happen.

Notice the first bead has a purpley lustre - I made that, flashed it, and went onto the second bead, so it didn't get a lot of re-working. Note, in the second pic, the shiny spot where the effect was incomplete. The bead on the right was made and never reintroduced into the flame, and has stayed a nice, shiny black.

This bead, however, I played with, heating and cooling and reheating and reducing. Not sure which of those steps did it, multiple heating and cooling cycles, or the reduction, but it has taken on a distinctly golden hue. Stunning!

Then - to experiment further this bead is a base of Laucha Thuringen Herb, with threads of Metallic Black, super heated.

And finally, the last bead is a "gravity wave" - a base of ivory, 3 horizontal stripes of Met. Black., heated to very molten and stretching out the black, and then mashed flat. Notice the colours in it. And there is some webbing and break up, on the second side. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a significant quantity of this stuff and really start playing with it. And doing scupltural beads. Oh my!

CIM 653 Larkspur; CIM 957 Desert Pink

2008-08-13T16:38:00.004-04:00

Larkspur (left bead) is another colour-shift - Like Count von Count - only by the time I used this one, I was fairly sure that it was. It is a strong blue/pink colour shift. It is a little lighter and a slightly bluer hue than Count. As you can see from these pics, the light makes a huge difference.

The bead on the right is Desert Pink - a delightful pale pink rose colour. There were some significant airbubbles in the rod, that resulted in it blowing bead sized gathers off and into my other rods on the table, but it wasn't extremely shocky - just enough to make it frustrating to get a large gather.

The final photo has been photoshopped to give a somewhat more accurate rendering of the colour of the Larkspur. You can see that it is dramatically different from the first photo, in cool light.

CIM 655 Eggplant; CIM 652 Count von Count; CIM 915 Pink Champage

2008-08-13T16:13:00.005-04:00

There's gonna be hair pulled out over these!

First up, on the left, a dark opaque purple called Eggplant. It looks slightly translucent in the rod, but works up to be functionally opaque, although it would probably be worth it to try it as a thin layer over clear. The new purples, Plum, Grape Ape and Eggplant form a harmonious colour range, really being varying shades of the same purple (see previous posts.) Eggplant is the darkest, and I don't really see a lot of translucency in the Grape Ape, which is in the middle of the range.
Count von Count - in the middle of all these pics, and Pink Champagne are lovely, lovely colours - in some lights. Hoo boy - those of you who sell online are going to go crazy trying to shoot these colour change glasses.

The top pic was shot in my professional lighting setup - colour balanced lights. As you can see, Count is blue and Champagne is light brown.

However, toddle over to the el cheapo incandescent bulb at the computer, and with colour correction turned on in the camera (white balance) - They appear purple and dark rose. (2nd pic.)

Setting the camera to auto colour correct for indoor lighting doesn't do much better.

The final photo has been adjusted in photoshop, and shows more of what the colours actually look like in indoor lighting - the Count is a pretty yummy pale transparent lilac, and the Pink Champagne is a dark, dusky pink diluted cranberry juice colour.

Incidentally - the Pink Champagne kiln-struck - it went into the kiln much lighter than that.

The Count is like the Mor. dark Lavendar transparent - and Pink Champagne puts me in mind of CIM Dusk and Sepia, only darker.

Some glass is hard to shoot than others. ;-)

CIM 651 Grape Ape; CIM 703-3 Butter Pecan Unique

2008-08-13T16:06:00.003-04:00

Some great grapes coming from CIM - some very nice purples.

First up, we have an opaque purple, very reminiscent of the Mor. Dark Violet - even down to the slight grey discolouration it develops. And the slight streakiness. (Left bead)

On the right, we have an oddlot (Unique) of Butter Pecan. Much richer in colour than the original butter pecan, I would categorize this as a dusty rose. It goes grey when hot, like the coral family of glasses. Nice colour, a little streaky - could be a good tanned skin colour for sculptural work. Would probably look awesome w Turquoise. Might have to try that.

CIM 658: Plum

2008-08-13T15:58:00.002-04:00

Plum - Plum Good.

I bet you'll have fun plumbing the depths of this one! This is a totally yummy glass - slightly translucent in the rod - and if you use it thick - it will be more or less opaque - two beads on the left - but if you layer it thin over clear - oh boy - a lovely opaly plum colour. Oh my. This is gorgeous. Gonna get me pounds of this!

True Parallel Love

2008-08-11T07:15:00.004-04:00

Oh my!!! Is love at first sight truly possible? Can you fall truly, madly, deeply in love at the first glimpse?

You better believe it! Especially if the item in question is a tool. Not just any tool, but a beautiful tool. A wonderfully well-crafted, well thought out tool. A beautifully balanced tool. An exquisite expression of humanity's destiny as a tool-making ape. Oh my.

This stunning baby, that looks like it perhaps should be on the space shuttle, next to the Canadarm - is the TP Mashers - and TP stands for truly parallel.

And in the best tradition of the best tools, it is immediately obvious that mash parallelly is exactly what it is designed to do.

Note the scissor action. Note how the head - the mashy part - stays completely parallel. Have I mentioned the sheer parallelity of these?

But wait - there's more. Not only do these mash your bead with complete and utter even action - they have switchable graphite pads - so you can change shapes.

Here are 4 different shapes, and the tiny, tiny Allen key that you need to undo the screw that holds them in place. Which I now live in fear of losing because it's so small.

Changing the graphite shaping "pucks" is simple - undo the screws, turn the masher to point the now loosened puck downward, and have it slide into your hand. (Graphite ain't particularly strong - I wouldn't suggest dropping it.) Good news - due to all the lubricating graphite, I think we can assume that the screw will never get stuck!

In addition, the heads (where the pucks are contained) can be released and unscrewed. I haven't actually found a use for this yet, but I like lots of options, so it's cool.

There is a set screw that you can use to prevent mashing too thin, or to get consistent thicknesses. I personally never use this, but some people like them.

The pucks come in flat, lentil, and large and small cushion, or maybe bar. Note, in these pics, and in real life, the cushion masher appears to have a disfiguring ridge down the centre. This is completely an optical illusion, but you have to use your fingers to reassure yourself there is no ridge there.

The flat is, well, flat. The lentil is a nice curve, w/o being so deep that you need 3 rods to fill it.

The cushion press is possibly the most versatile - as most of the shape control starts with whatever shape you start with. You can see from this handful of mandrels - all done with the large cushion press - that every thing from large rectangular tabs (teal over silver - also see last post), bracelet tabs, slender tubes, and even more drop like shapes all lead to interesting shapes when mashed.

This is the lentil shape. I usually flatten off that little scoopy bit at the end - I really don't like the "wings" on lentils - some people adore 'em though.

But of course, one of the first things I did was swap out one of the flat pucks for a lentil puck, and start making flat-back lentils - or turtle-back shapes. Half the glass for one thing. And I'm not sure, but I think that they may resist flipping over when worn as a pendant (the heavier side - the lentil side - should, in theory, stay at the back - so this would make the flat side the focal side - but I'll be stringing these and testing that theory.)

My only problem with this masher is that I will need more than one, as you just can't swap pucks in the middle of a bead, and I will probably want one set up for flat mashing at all time, and ideally, 3 more or 4 more (lentil, cushion, turtle-back, other cushion), but I might have to build up to that.

If you do spend a lot of time mashing a single bead from very hot, you might find that, when you go to pick it back up - the heat has transmitted to the handles, and they are warmish. Not really warm, but warmer than expected. Or maybe I just put a hot tool down them and didn't notice.

Anyway - I think these are fabulous - I hope they made a lot of them! Woohoo! I also hope that more puck options will become available too. Maybe some to impress designs, like spirals?

Postscript: As I have had requests from multiple sources as to where to get these - I got mine from Jean Robichaud at Nortel Mfg in Toronto - I know she has more coming - so if you are in Canada - that's a good option. Email her at jean [!at] nortelmfg.com

They are being made and distributed by Wale in the US, so if you are in the States, they are a good choice.

Outside of continental North America, email both and see who's shipping is cheaper. ;-)

Lauscha: Tr. Copper Green, Forest Green, Olive over Silver

2008-08-10T23:32:00.005-04:00

So, after mentioning that I thought these transparent Lauscha greens would look good over silver foil - I thought I would give it a shot.

On the left, the Tr. Copper Green, or, as I think of it, Teal, over silver with a hint of emerald green (Moretti) to add interest (streaked with Sasha's silver and intense black.) Love it!

Next up - the Forest Green (086) and Olive or Moss Green-Grey (087) over silver. Forest green on the RIGHT, Olive on the left. (Thur. Herb is the base colour, under the foil, with some teal striped on (under the foil) for good measure. As I observed before - they are pretty similar.

All of them look wonderful over the silver! I thought they might!