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.

Aspire to Wire #14 Corralled Bangle

This is my "Corralled Bangle" from my Aspire to Wire course. I am way behind as I caught the crud last week. I finally got to this one. It is really cute and I just love it with my chevron necklace. I was worried that the bracelet would not fit my wrist, which I suspect is larger than the bracelet was designed for, but I wanted to make it to see how much larger I needed to go. I am out of 16 gauge wire so I used. 18 gauge. To my astonishment, the bracelet is PERFECT for my wrist. It is the most perfectly sized bracelet I have ever made (I typically make them too large). The only thing I don't like is that the support silver pieces are too long. I think next time I would use a shorter wire or larger loops (or try fine silver and ball the ends (which would be hard on the one side...)

Aspire to Wire Day #13 - Chevron Pendant

I am a little backed up on my Aspire to Wire projects, but here is Day 13, a chevron pendant. I'm the first to admit, I don't get the whole big deal with chevrons. Sure, it is an ancient symbol, a military rank symbol, and  apparently an architectural word (which was new to me).  I'm not a big fan in jewelry and it seems that I am seeing the chevron pop up everywhere these days in jewelry. When Kerry included her Chevron in the e-course I was a bit disappointment. I thought: "I'm not going to wear this, it isn't my style." But, since I'm trying to push my boundries and make as many of the projects as I can (there are a couple that I don't have the tools for), I thought I would make it.

Guess what, I love it! Kerry had an Ombre version in the instructions and I had almost the same colors so I made it and I should have worn it today, it totally matched my scrub top.

It wasn't the easiest wire project I have done, but once I finished it was a very satisfactory project. Kerry has great instructions and is a great motivator.

Aspire to Wire Day #11 - Biker Babe Earrings

I'm a little behind in projects and postings on my Aspire to Wire e-course. Day 11's project was called Biker Babe Earring. I was glad to see the project as I had a lot of these horseshoe loops from the bracelet I made (see below). Kerry's earrings had a very long top piece that hooked to the earwire. 

These were already HUGE compared to what I normally wear, so the top arch in the original was just too much for me (also the shape was not my style). So, for the top piece I made a round wire the same size as the central circle, then made a loop in the center and used that to hold the ear wire, snipped most of the wire off and attached it to the center wire. I'm pleased with the shape. Still had tons of chipping with this color of wire. Photo with iPad, not the best quality, sorry. 

Also I made another bangle, this time with a button that had been languishing in my Etsy shop. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out.