More heart things

I've been quiet because I've been juggling making beads with looking after my unwell guinea pig. She had an operation a few days ago and she's not recovered very well. I think I'll be off to the vet again later. But here I be now with a little bead update.

There are two more Rose heart sets and some new Steel grey ones. There are also two more of the lavender Prettiness bracelets made up. All of these are available here.

I'll have some more beady things very soon. I just need to clean, string/assemble and photograph them. I don't know if that'll be tonight or tomorrow; depends on how things go with Ruth pig.

Heart Sets

I've just put some little heart sets in the shop. Each set contains a dozen 7mm spacers and a 15mm heart and they're great for making bracelets. These heart sets are £8.00 each and are available here.

Pretty simple, simply pretty

I know this 'Red' bracelet is a very simple one but sometimes simple things can be nice.

It's made in CiM Bing which is a rich orange-red. I'll have a bit more to say about this glass in my next CiM testing post which will be up in a couple of days.

I've currently got three of these bracelets, two are in the shop and I'm giving the third one away in a Facebook contest. 

I hope that the current weather isn't affecting you too much. If you're in one of the flood-stricken areas then I'm sending you my bestest wishes.

CiM Testing: Marine

This is the colour from the latest Creation Is Messy testing batch that really made my eyes light up. Marine. It is just beautiful.

CiM describe Marine as 'a dark transparent aqua blue' which I agree with but I'd say it's got a hint of teal green about it too. Remember Tuscan Teal and Trade Winds from a previous testing post? Well, it's like those two colours mixed together to create a rich, deep oceanic blue of utter wonder. (I love it, can you tell?)

The beads in this set are Marine thinly encased with CiM clear and Effetre white thinly encased with Marine. The decoration is Effetre turquoise. The spacers are just plain Marine and turquoise.

I always fear that a green-blue glass will bubble and pit when heated but Marine didn't. It's smooth and bubble free and is lovely to work with. It reacted with the turquoise and this can be seen very well in the polka dotty bead; the turquoise has done its darker-in-the-middle thing but more than it usually does.

I had a funny feeling that Marine wouldn't etch very well because it's quite similar to Leaky Pen and I've not had brilliant etching results with that. Sure enough, even after fifteen minutes in the Dip 'n' Etch, this plain Marine bead is still a bit patchy in places.

But heck, why would you want to etch such a vibrant, gorgeous colour anyway? This glass just sings when the sun shines through it and even though I've tried my best I've still not captured its gloriousness in these photographs.

I think Marine would look superb with oranges, ambers and purples. I'll have to get me some more to play with so I can see if that's so.

Marine is available now and I reckon it's a definite must for your glass stash.


EDIT: Another CiM glass tester has reported incompatibility issues betwixt Marine and Effetre white. I made these test beads on Monday morning and at the time of this edit I have had no such issues. I'll report back if that changes.

CiM Testing: Flax & Hazelnut Mousse

My latest bundle of Creation Is Messy testing glass arrived last week and yesterday I finally got the chance to sit and have a play with two of the new colours. The Flax and Hazelnut Mousse just seemed to want to go together so who was I to argue?

A few years back I bought an odd lot of Vetrofond amber. It was a really pale champagne colour. It was in 10mm diameter rods which made it hard to work with but because the colour was so pretty I persevered and the few bead sets I made with that glass were really popular. CiM Flax is almost identical to that Vetrofond odd lot. Flax is a very pale yellow; think white wine or champagne. Unlike champers, the glass is bubble free and it's a superb consistency. It etches like a dream too.

I paired the Flax with Hazelnut Mousse which is a light beige, pale sand colour. It's gorgeous. Streak free, perfect for stringerwork, a nice base for encasing. It kept nice crisp edges even when pulled out really thinly for the scrollwork beads. Again, it etches really well too.

I made this set of beads using just Flax and Hazelnut Mousse. 

From left to right ...

• Small cylindrical core of Hazelnut Mousse heavily encased in Flax, Hazelnut Mousse decoration and etched
• Small cylindrical core of Hazelnut Mousse heavily encased in Flax, Hazelnut Mousse decoration
• Round core of Hazelnut Mousse thinly encased in Flax, Hazelnut Mousse decoration and etched
• Round core of Hazelnut Mousse thinly encased in Flax, Hazelnut Mousse decoration

The spacers are a mix of normal and etched.

I absolutely love this pairing of two fantastic CiM  glasses. It's delicate, neutral and ever so pretty.

Both of these colours are limited runs. The Flax is available now and I think I'm correct in saying that the Hazelnut Mousse will be available later in the spring, so keep your eyes open for that one.