Vetrofond must love orange….

So Vetrofond, our favorite Odd Lot glass maker, has come out with yet another huge assortment of weird colors for us to try out.  This is what…the fifth batch?  I do applaud them for listening to their customers and for really trying to put out new and inventive glass for us. 

But enough with the orange filigrana, please!!  I mean, have you SEEN the latest batch of odds?  Almost all oranges and greens.  And ALL filigrana - a dark color covered in a contrasting lighter color, for a marbled look.

I say that with love and hope that Vetrofond will soon hear me and come out with some great new opaque purples and pinks.  Actual pinks.  Not faded out pale translucent pinks. Stellar purples. Not greyed out, reactive purples.

It’s true that Vetrofond is likely catering to those beadmakers who really love reactive glass - who adore making organic beads and messing with different metallic reactions.  I guess I am just one of those rare glass-lovers that love plain, pure, stable colors that I can combine and layer without reactions.

Don’t get me wrong - I do love reactions, sometimes.  But not with every color. 

We have enough of those now, I think.  Double Helix, Vetrofond, ASK, Lauscha and other makers are really pumping out the silver based, filigrana, reactive, organic and weird. It’s fun to experiment with them - to a point.

One other thing - if you’ve been buying all this new glass, you’ve probably realized by now that the paddle pics shown on the vendors web sites do not often relate to the real thing when you personally melt the glass.  I’ve still not been able to get that sweet marbly pink and cream from Sweet Strawberry. Just a rusty, tomato red. Pink #3 Pastel was nothing but almost white for me. Orange Punch never looked like the paddle pic - it stayed a translucent red, no matter what I did.  And the gorgeous Poppy?  Hard to turn pink, like the paddle - mostly a luscious…..yep, you guessed it……orange.  I am afraid to buy the brand new Jupiter - it looks so yummy in the paddle, but who knows if I will actually get that color for reals.

So…. Vetrofond?  Please?  A deep, vivid opaque purple. A bright opaque pink. A sweet opaque apricot or peach.  Pretty please.  And no more orange. For the love of GOD no more orange.

Tried & True: Lauscha Cocoa

Nothing warms me on chilly, icy evenings like a cup of cocoa!  This glass color from the german Lauscha line is just like that - warm, dense and deep. It has less of a yellow/brown tone in the later batches, making it a cross between deep brown and deep grey - perfect for winter! Pairing Lauscha Cocoa with pale pinks and blues is just blissful!

The rods come in a variety of diameters - I personally like the smaller rods, as they are easier to work with.  The color of the rods is often darker than when the glass has been melted - almost black in the latest batch.

Like most other Lauscha colors, Cocoa is a bit stiff to work with. It takes a bit longer to melt than other opaques, and cools pretty quickly.  I haven’t experienced any shockiness, though.  The later batches encase well with the clears and pale transparents I have used. The stiffness of this glass makes it particularly nice to use in stringer work and raised dots.

One thing you should know about this enigmatic color is the way it reacts with other colors.  First, it tends to envelop any other color that is layered over it.  This can create some stunning effects with pale opaque shades. Conversely, Cocoa will spread like wildfire on top of most other opaques and transparents, and leave ghostly reaction lines.

Cocoa is a striking color, and will actually get paler as you strike it.  It starts out a deep, glossy color.  Striking can be a bit tricky and it takes some time to learn the feel of it.

One last thing - remember - Cocoa isn’t edible, so don’t let anyone catch you licking it, as tempting as that may be.  And I speak from experience.