Monthly Archives May 2009

Five New Glass Colors from Effetre (5/29/09)

A week ago, my husband Mike Frantz came back from a trip to Murano, Italy.  Mike made many visits to the Effetre glass factory while he was there and he found five new colors for the lampworking community.  They are: Very Cherry Butternut Dark Matter Rosewood Lace Agate   These new colors will be available on our website in a few weeks as they will be winging their way via air to the U.S. and more will arrive a bit later by sea.  We will be having a few auctions the first week of June to introduce these new colors,
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Categories: 104 COE Glass Review, Flameworking 104 Glass, and Lampworking.

Great colors for for the Bead makers and Lampworkers (05/22/2009)

Great colors for for the Bead makers and Lampworkers. I am happy to announce that there are five new Messy Colors from CiM that have arrived. (05/22/2009) Olive (511476) Commando (511475) Phoenix (511277) Adamantium (511874) Tamarind (511773) They are “Olive”, a wonderful pastel olive yellowish green,“ Commando” that is also a pastel green that is a similar tonality as the Olive but has a bluish over tone instead of  yellow.   There is a dark, dark chocolate brown that is called “Adamantium” after the comic book metal that makes the Wolverine character in X-Men so strong, “Tamarind” that is a mocha
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Categories: 104 COE Glass Review, Flameworking 104 Glass, and Lampworking.

Vetrofond – the Other Italian Glass Factory

Most beadmakers have heard of the Effetre (Moretti) glass factory on Murano near Venice, Italy, but fewer beadmakers know about the other Italian 104 COE glass rod manufacturer Vetrofond.  Vetrofond is located across the lagoon from Venice on the main land in a suburb of Mestre, which is the main industrial port of the area. Vetrofond is mostly involved with making custom modern looking blown glass lamp fixtures, but they have a large set up for producing 104 COE glass rods.  In past years, they have gone out of their way to produce interesting limited runs of odd lot colored
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Categories: 104 COE Glass Review, Flameworking 104 Glass, Lampworking, and Promotion.

Review of New Messy Color Blues

I talk a lot about Messy Color glass because I really like the quality of the glass and how wonderful it handles in the flame. A few months ago, Messy Color came out with a group of new blues to add to their line of colors.  They are Freman (turquoise pastel), Smurfy (dark turquoise), Grumpy Bear (periwinkle) and Cornflower (dark blue).  All four colors are of the pastel variety. The two turquoise colors are a fabulous addition to the current lampworking palette because of their working proprieties.  If you have ever used one of the Italian turquoises, you know that
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Categories: 104 COE Glass Review, Flameworking 104 Glass, Lampworking, and Promotion.