CiM Testing: Tuscan Teal, Trade Winds & Absinthe

Yet more beautiful glasses from my CiM testing bundle.

This time I put Tuscan Teal, Trade Winds and Absinthe together. All three of them next to one another screamed "Mermaids! Underwater! Marine!" at me so I decided to listen to them and I made this 'Aqua Marina' set.

The patterned beads have cores of Tuscan Teal and Trade Winds encased in Effetre Pale Aquamarine and are decorated with Effetre Periwinkle. The heart is CiM Absinthe.

These three CiM colours are all similar to others in the existing CiM palette but they're just a little bit different at the same time.

*Tomorrow's World face* Let's have a look ...

Tuscan Teal

The Tuscan Teal is similar to Great Bluedini but in my opinion, Tuscan Teal is a touch more blue. This greenish-blue (or is it a blueish-green?) is pretty intense on its own so using it in moderation really allows the colour to do its thing. It's another no-fuss CiM colour and it melted smoothly. It also etches very well. If you like making ocean-underwater-marine type beads then this one is a definite must.

Trade Winds

A beautiful transparent blue that's very much like Leaky Pen except again, I'd say Trade Winds is a tad bluer. It's not quite as intense as Leaky Pen but it's still best used in moderation as opposed to on its own. This deep kingfisher blue is gorgeous but like Leaky Pen it does have a tendency to pit and fizz whilst in the flame; you just need to keep working it and the pitty-fizziness will stop happening. It etches with no trouble at all.

Absinthe

Now, when I looked at this in rod form I was all "Absinthe? But it's a bit blue?" and I've seen enough Moulin Rouge and read enough books about 1800s French art to know that Absinthe is green. Not just green but greeeeen. Admittedly, this glass loses a lot of its blue and becomes more green when heated but it still has a blueish hint about it but ... hey, that's just its name, Laura, now can we talk about the actual factual glass itself, please?

Why, yes, of course we can. The glass is a stunner. I love it. I want to buy all the Absinthe glass because it's truly magnificent. This is one of CiM's 'moonstone' glasses which means that when used for anything more than about a 10mm plain round, it'll start to develop milky, translucent wisps. The greenish 9mm spacers in the 'Aqua Marina' set at the top are Absinthe and they are transparent but the heart is a different story.

The more you work and re-work this glass (the act of striking, I guess, whether intentional or not) the more likely you are to achieve the 'moonstone' effects. I've tried my best to capture these effects in a photograph but nope, it's one of those things that your eyes have to look upon in real life. 

It's a pretty similar glass to CiM Peacock Green and just like Peacock Green, Absinthe won't etch. Mind you, that's no bad thing because the light playing through shiny Absinthe beads is a thing of eye-pleasing wonder.