#cimtesting

CiM Testing: Egg White

Oooh, hello, this is a nice one. Egg White is a translucent opal and it’s a thing of beauty. It’s got a sort of softest-hint-of-yellow creaminess to it that reminds me of ivory or antique lace.

Egg White was soft and smooth to work with and I had no shockiness problems with it. I work very cool and I found that if I heated the glass too much for too long it scummed a bit so I’m guessing that this one likes to be handled with care.

I love this glass and will definitely be adding it to my bead shopping list.

CiM Testing: Lemonade

Lemonade is a beautiful colour - it’s clear with a hint of misty creaminess. It’s like a misty opal version of CiM Egg White.

The rod I had was quite shocky with a couple of big bubbles in it but after I nipped off the end couple of inches I had no more shocky-poppy issues with it. The glass did have a few microbubbles in it but these are nothing terrible. Lemonade goes a really bright yellow while it’s heated which I found amusing and novel. (I’m easily pleased.)

Lemonade has a nice level of opal mistiness to it. It’s subtle but it’s there. Lovely glass.

CiM Testing: Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is a misty opal version of CiM Poison Apple. Wheatgrass is so very green and as I was cleaning these beads I was reminded of Lord Percy Percy when he creates “a nugget of purest green” in Blackadder II.

The glass is only a tiny bit misty and you can see this best in the heart bead, probably because it is larger and was worked for longer in the flame, along with some cooling and reheating. The spacers are pretty much transparent.

Wheatgrass melted well, although the rod I had was a tad bubblesome but not so much that it is distractingly bubbly. No shocking and no scumming.

CiM Testing: Heartthrob

CiM describe Heartthrob as a transparent red but when used as densely as I used it here, it ends up more not-quite-opaque and it has this tremendous glossiness to it. Like most red glasses, it has a streaky quality but the streaks are not the livery brown ones that sometimes occur with red glass; they are just a slightly darker red.

The red colour itself is glorious. A true bright red. I didn’t experience any shocking or scumming with the glass but I did work it slightly cooler than I usually do. I didn’t do any kind of striking - I didn’t need to. The glass does all the work for you. Beautiful colour, beautiful glass.

CiM Testing: Pixie

Well, this one was a mighty pleasant surprise! Pixie is a vibrant green with a touch of blue to it. It’s very similar to CiM Celadon in hue but it’s less streaky which pleases me no end. Very smooth, no pitting and no bleeding when encased.

I’m going to play with Pixie a little more and if I have any more findings I shall come back and update this post.

The beads here are Pixie encased with CiM Celeste, then decorated with Effetre opaque Light Sky Blue 224. 

CiM Testing: Sea Mist

Sea Mist is a rod of clear, encased in transparent blue and then encased in clear. When the glass is worked, you get a floaty, misty, ethereal thing happening. Very pretty.

I feel like I should get this printed on a t-shirt or something because I always feel like I’m repeating myself with it, but I work pretty much every glass cool and slow: I’m like a sloth in YEEZYs; like a snail wearing Oakleys; like a person who learnt to make beads on a Hot Head and has never snapped out of it. I swear that the key to everything in lampwork is to slow the heck down. That advice nugget is yours to take heed of or dismiss as you see fit, but when it comes to working delicate glass like this, you’ll avoid micro-trouble-bubbles and burning the colour out of the glass by working higher in the flame or by—*gasp*—turning your flame down.

Sea Mist is lovely, delicate, pretty, and apparently sold out, so if you have some, do enjoy using it.

CiM Testing: Poolside

Poolside is glorious. It’s a paler version of CiM Aegean, which is a beautiful green-blue teal, and is one of my absolute favourite glasses. I wore a bracelet of CiM Aegean beads on my wedding day, I love it that much. But anyway, back to Poolside. I could not get over the clarity of it - it had no bubbles in it and it melted like a dream. It catches the light in such a pretty way. Perfect.