104 COE Black

Are All 104 COE Blacks the Same?

December 3, 2010 | Posted by Keith in Bead Photography Tutorial, Lampworking One comment

I have gotten a lot of questions about what is the best 104 COE black glass to use, so I decided to address this recurring question with this blog posting. Read more

Tags: 104 COE Black

Review of New Messy Color Blues

May 8, 2009 | Posted by Keith in 104 COE Glass Review, Flameworking 104 Glass, Lampworking, Promotion 3 comments

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.

Smurfy with Triton Flower

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 they have a tendency to pit as you work with them. The Italian dark turquoise turns black /gray on the surface the more you heat it in the flame and is such a frustrating color to work with, that I stopped using it 15 years ago.

Cornflower & Pumpkin with Triton

The good news is that both Freman and Smurfy are wonderful creamy pastel turquoise colors that don’t pit or turn black. I was thrilled when I tried them out and discovered this fact.

Freman -Triton – Hades

Smurfy with Ivory

Cornflower is a dark, rich blue and the Grumpy Bear is a periwinkle blue, both colors have the same fabulous working proprieties as the other blues mentioned above.

These four new blues are the latest addition to the Messy Color palette of blues of which there are ten. The other blues are mostly transparent or Messy Colors fabulous opal colors, with the exception of three opaque blues. The other blues in the Messy Color palette are as follows:

For those who have not noticed, Glacier looks a lot like that infamous Italian Odd Lot color that was call Frosty Blue that you can’t find for sale any more.