Honey Mustard vs Opal Yellow

Another color testing thread from me. I read a post by DragonJools about a newish color from CIM called Honey Mustard. As soon as I could get some I ordered it from Frantz. I was intrigued by her comments about Opal Yellow and this color having some of the similar properties, especially with EDP. I made some of these lentils that I last made in 2006. What I liked about these beads is that the EDP reacts with the Opal Yellow to form a bright orange color where they meet. In this set the center three beads are made with Opal Yellow and the three on the far left are Honey Mustard (the three on the right I can't remember). I think the bright yellow and orange color is similar in both, but a tad more orange on the Opal Yellow. The Honey Mustard didn't get as pink as the Opal Yellow, however, because I can't tell on the other three, it is really close.   Click on the photo to find these beads on Etsy.

Here is a focal on the left with the Honey Mustard (HM) and Intense Black IB) and the other two are some older Opal Yellow (OY) and Intense Black beads.  It is a little hard to compare these exactly as I find that Intense Black worked differently on my Hot Head torch that I know the 2004 bead was made on (can't remember on the 2007).  I found that the IB didn't web as much on the HM, but more like a spreading all over the bead. You can see some cool blue and green colors on the HM bead and I think that is worth trying to replicate. You can see similar colors on the top OY bead.  The yellow colors are very similar and I did get some pink blush on the HM bead, which is encouraging.

 I am not an official color testing for any glass companies, so my opinions are mine alone.

Color Comparasion

I bought a newish color from CIM called Laguana. I tested it against Mermaid. It is so smiliar, I'm not sure it is worth getting both colors (especially when the price at Frantz for the Laguana is more than the Mermaid)..  The mermaid is on the left on these beads and the Laguana is on the right. I would say that Lagunana is an odd lot of unique Mermaid . It is about 1/2 shade lighter than Mermaid. It is, as most of the CIM colors, nice and creamy and buttery soft.  It is a lovely color.

New Reds from CIM

I got some new reds in the mail from CIM a couple weeks ago. I am not an official tester but did some of my own testing to see what they were like.

The first one is Crimson. Here seen from left to right : over clear, plain (with raised dots), over white (for two) and mixed with CIM Peace (white). It is an orange red leaning towards brown. I found it hard to strike. Some areas on the white hearts didn't strike as far as the other areas it took a lot longer than Effetre or BE striking reds. I do not have a problem getting those to strike as other lampworkers say they have

Here seen as a cased stringer over CIM Peace. I have not made a rose with Effetre Red (not sure why), but this leans towards orange and I was disapointed it didn't get darker, but I'm thinking that with such a thin layer of red, it just isn't dark.

This is Ruby Shoes (ok, great name by the way). It too was hard to strike. Seen here from L to R: plain bead, over clear, over CIM Peace (white) and mixed with white. Also leans towards orange or brown compared to Effetre Transparent Red, but a bit brighter than Crimson, at least in person. Dorky me, didn't make any Effetre or BE red beads to put next to these.

Here Ruby Shoes is seen as a cased stringer over Peace, again looks very orange. Same issues as above, perhaps a thicker casing layer when making the stringer would look darker. However, even though the rose isn't a deep dark red, I like the lighter color, it is a nice color for flowers. Too bad I get this one too cold and it cracked (AUGH).

Are Gaffer 198 and 199 new Zimmerman 99? (Also a comparison between the Gaffer colors and the recent new Reichenbach color R733 and Z99).

I received some samples of Gaffer’s new glass to work with this week and I was super excited. The new colors are Gaffer 198 Royal Purple (G198 on the top above) and Gaffer 199 Purple Rose (G199 on the bottom above). I am always excited by the possibility of new colors. With the very cool Zimmerman 99 Purple Rose Special (Z99) no longer being made, it is neat that the other companies are trying to create something similar. Even if not exactly the same, they are all pretty cool on their own.

I found both new colors VERY SOFT. As I work fairly hot, this can be interesting. I also found the Gaffer glass some how less think or less sticky than the Zimmerman. Not sure how else to describe this. I have read on some Facebook and LE posts that this glass does not devitrify. Well, that is not the case, it does, just like Z99 and R733 and EDP. I find that all of these 96 COE purples do not devit as badly as EDP and the shiny is very easily recovered by heating up the bead. I found G198, R733 and Z851 devit the quickest. I got devit on these purple colors only after cooling and reheating and it is worse when cooled with a tool.

Above you can see a group of beads from each of the new Gaffer colors. You can see the G198 as more red undertones and the G199 is bluer. I like the blue better. Not just because it is closer to the original z99, but I like a blue purple over a red purple. In each grouping you can see a set of solid colored spacer beads on the left hand side, these are were cooled quickly (as was the chubby focal in the G198 set). After talking with Gaffer, I was told to get more color use a cool slow down, not quick with tools. The other two focals of the G198 group and the one in the G199 group were made with this slow cool down. I formed the bead, shaped it, then let it cool down, then spot reheated, let cool and reheated again, I got more colors to develop this way. I even got some peach on the tall barrel bead. The pinker spacer beads in the front of each photo were also treated this way.

FOCALS

Above is Z99 frit on Opal Yellow Effetre (OY) and shaped with gravity. You can see a lot of orange and red forming. Also seen here is the pitting I got a lot when super heating furnace glass frit. You can see this more on the bead below. Find this bead on Etsy.

G198 on Opal Yellow. Bead shows the reaction between the purple frit and Opal Yellow being medium orange.. You can see in this bead some lighter areas of color, this is devit (I could not heat it out without getting rid of the raised twist. I actually like how it looks. It adds some texture to the bead. G199 on Opal Yellow. You can see the blue showing up on this bead and a little bit of reaction between the frit and the Opal yellow. I like that the dark yellow hasn’t taken over the entire bead. I think because it was not worked as long as the G198 or Z99 bead.

R733 frit on Opal Yellow and shaped with gravity. This bead has a lot of blue left over and not as much mustard. Again, I think if it was worked longer, more dark yellow would have developed, you can see it starting on top. Check out this bead on Etsy.

ROUNDS

All of these round beads were made the same way: a twisty of Opal Yellow and the purple color on top of Copper Green Effetre. These were the first beads I made with this technique and they are the Z99. This is what is so cool with this glass, you can do the same technique and the same colors and get something different. You can see here more yellow that orange and that one bead with the fuchsia.

On the R733 beads the Opal Yellow turned very mustard, much darker than the Z99. I think they are not as pretty as the Z99 beads, but still very interesting. A couple of the beads didn’t turn mustard at all (they are hiding in the back). Check these out on Etsy.
These G198 beads were made before I heard about the slow cooling. I made these beads, shaped in the roller tool, heated to get the chill marks off and then put them in the kiln. As you can see they have a lot of mustard/orange, no blue and lots of pits.
These beads made with G198 show a lot more variation in color than the original set. With these I shaped in the roller, then reheated, cooled and reheated to get the colors to bloom. Still a lot of orange reaction color between the OY and the G198.
These beads used G199. You can see a lot more blue and light purple variations in these beads. In fact these are the areas that devitrified (but has been reheated to a shine). This is the type of reaction I like to see with these purple 96 COE glasses. Also there is not as much orange than the previous beads.
Here is a bead I made with all the colors of purple I have. I think I have the lines drawn correctly on this bead, but it was a little hard to find the difference between the G199 and R733. I think that it maybe the line below the black line, but I really can’t tell. As you can see the G198 really looks redder in this photo. Typically my Z851 is bluer than seen here too. Just goes to show you that the colors are pretty close to each other. Finally I have a side by side comparison of beads made separately. Top = Z99, 2nd from top = R733, 3rd from top = G199 and bottom =G198

Conclusion – I think G198 is the most similar to Z99, but I love having the variety of colors the play with and there is a color that will work for everyone’s like and style. Pick one you like and have fun. I think

Is Reichenbach 733 Purple Rose the new Zimmerman 99?

Left bead = Z99, Right bead R733

On Olympic Color Rod’s (OCR) website I saw this new color (I don't know how new it is, but it is new to me), Reichenbach 733 (R733) in lampworking cane. I was excited by the possibility that Reichenbach was trying to recreate the beloved and in very short supply Zimmerman 99 (Z99)which is no longer being made. Despite my trying to not buy glass this year, I caved. Not only is purple my favorite color but, Z99 is so cool. On the website OCR said: “Purple Rose, similar to Zimmermann's "Purple Rose Special."

I got my Reichenbach 733 (R733) very quickly (as I live less than an hour from OCR) and it was in my hot little hands. Here you will see a group of R733 beads all together. You can see the undertones are very blue (maybe even some greens), but check out that dark purple disk on the top! YUMMERS.

At the very top you will see 2 peace sign beads in Z99 and R733, here you can see the real difference. These are solid colors so no reactions between anything. I don’t have any Z851 Lilac Blue but I think R733 maybe closer to that color, if my memory is correct.

FOCALS

First bead Z99 frit on Opal Yellow Effetre and shaped with gravity (not the best photo of a cool bead). This bead has been etched.

Second bead R733 frit on Opal Yellow Effetre and shaped with gravity.

On the Z 99 bead you can see a lot of pink. I’m not sure this is a super fair comparison as the Z99 bead was really heated a lot and worked on a lot longer than the R733 bead. On the top of the R733 bead you can see some dark pink coming out, but there is a lot more blue.

ROUNDS

All of these round beads were made the same way: a twisty of Opal Yellow and the purple color on top of Copper Green Effetre.

On these Z99 beads you see a lot of pink coming out on the beads and a tiny little bit or orange peeking through (it was there, I promise). I think I had a lot more purple in these twisties.

These were the first beads I made with this technique and they are the Z99. This is what is so cool with this glass, you can do the same technique and the same colors and get something different. These beads made the same way had more orange/mustard colors.

On the R733 beads the Opal Yellow turned very mustard, much darker than the Z99. I think they are not as pretty as the Z99 beads, but still very interesting. A couple of the beads didn’t turn mustard at all (they are hiding in the back). Check these out on Etsy.

Conclusion: While it is not the same, it is cool on it’s own, and a good first start. I hope that Reichenbach continues to tweet the formula. It has a lot of possibilities and I’m excited about what I’m seeing.

Color Testing

Hi there. I don't do a lot of color testing, but bought some new glass and wanted to see how it worked. Frantz was out of Vetrofond light ivory when I was there last week. This is my favorite ivory and was so disappointed. I bought a new Odd lot: Vetrofond Cream.

The color of off white is fairly close to V. light ivory (not as yellow), so I was hoping it would react similarly with dark lines and little curdling. On each of these beads the Cream is the top color and V. light ivory on the bottom. The top bead has CIM Freeman and the bottom bead Gaia. You can see that on the top bead the reaction on the cream is faint and brown and on the ivory dark grey/black. On the bottom bead you can see that the reaction is more spread out (I was surprised with this reaction), but still has the dark line around the stringer.

I think I need to play more with this color to find out what cool reactions I can get.