CiM Testing: Clear with Dichro

When I posted this glass in my Instagram stories yesterday a few of you thought I’d added the dichroic to some clear myself. Nope, this is a new CiM glass that is clear with dichro inclusions – tiny little particles of it. Thing is, there’s not enough of them and what there is scums up if it comes into contact with the flame so I ended up with a bead that has a few silver sparkly bits here and there but also some bits which look like flecks of stuff that shouldn’t be there.

The glass itself was fine to use; nice clarity, smooth, and no shocking.

The bead was photographed indoors in natural daylight.

CiM Testing: Avonlea

This is a green – a very green – misty opal. It’s so bright and springy!

Again, no trouble with this one on the shocking front but I did have a bit of a bubbly rod. Nothing major and bubbly rods do happen (you can normally tell by holding the rod up to the light and checking for the telltale line/s inside that run along the length of it) but I just thought I’d say. I doubt all rods of Avonlea will have this; I guess it’s all dependent on if there was any air trapped in the original pull at the factory. (I’m guessing here: I don’t make glass – I just melt it.)

The heart bead photo above is just Avonlea on its own and the photo of the big hole bead below is Avonlea with CiM Dirty Martin.

The beads were photographed indoors in natural daylight.

CiM Testing: Lunar

This blue opal was an attempt at recreating CiM Tardis and think they’ve done a great job. I’d say Lunar is maybe just a touch darker.

The photo at the top of the post shows Lunar with Effetre Periwinkle Blue 220 and the one below is just Lunar on its own.

Lunar is not at all shocky. I say this a lot so I must point out here that I do take a while warming my glass rods before using them. You know, just wafting it in and out of the top part of the flame before getting it fully hot.

The beads were photographed indoors in natural daylight.

CiM Testing: Cotton

Cotton is a slightly off-white opal. A very pretty glass. I love the pale neutrals, me.

There’s not a lot else to say about it other than it was a doddle to use and it hates stringer with a fiery passion.

The beads were photographed indoors in natural daylight.

CiM Testing: Peacock Feather

Peacock Feather is an opal teal green-blue and I love it. It’s not like any other colour I’ve used.

No shocking, no bubbles, very well-behaved.

The photo at the top of this post shows a heart made of just Peacock Feather next to a pair of white heart spacers where I put Peacock Feather over Effetre White 204.

You know how in the last post I said that a lot of the CiM opals absolutely hate stringer? Well, the ones that only have a mild dislike of it can be handy because you can use this to your advantage to create stringer designs that have a sort of batik feel to them. The stringer loses its defined edges slightly and it separates to give a darker line through the centre of it. You can see this effect in the second and third photos.

The photo above is Peacock Feather over Lady of the Lake, with scrolls in Effetre Light Turquoise 232. The picture below is Peacock Feather with Effetre Periwinkle Blue 220.

The beads were photographed indoors in natural daylight.