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August 3, 2010

Test Results :: Silver Brown

I'm sure this little problem is only going to get worse as time passes and more and more glass colours get created, but isn't it irritating how there is that tiny bit of overlap between manufacturers with regard to naming? The glass I'll be talking about in this post is Kugler Silver Brown (B-181) which used to be called Silver Cinnamon when it was distributed through Arrow Springs and was an ASK (Arrow Springs + Kugler) colour.  It should not be confused with Reichenbach Silver Brown or Dark Silver Brown, because those colours are completely different.
1 - Plain, 2 - Plain (reduced), 3 - w/ Silver Leaf, 4 - w/ Silver Leaf (reduced & encased), 5 - w/ Silver Glass Frit Blend (reduced), 6 - w/ Terranova2 Frit, 7 - w/ Copper Green, 8 - w/ Tuxedo, 9 - w/ Opal Yellow, 10 - w/ Ivory, 11 - w/ White

General Impressions
When it is hot, Kugler Silver Brown is transparent, but it cools to a yummy chocolate brown opaque. This colour is very reactive, and it is also quite soft.

My results with Kugler Silver Brown are not very reminiscent of pictures of other people's beads that I've seen using ASK Silver Cinnamon, but I guess batch-to-batch variability could be to blame for that, as well as my relative inexperience with the colour.  These are my first beads with Silver Brown, and there won't be many more since I've only got two short rods of it left.

Reduction
The effect does not photograph well, but in Beads #2 and #5, reducing the Silver Brown did result in a slight mirroring of the brown colour and a slight milkiness to its finish.  In Bead #4, where I reduced and encased the silver leaf, I feel sure that the blue colour is the result of the reduced and encased Silver Brown, but it's hard to be positive without more in-depth testing.

Reactions


In the bead on the left, the silver pretty much just balled up and didn't do much. However, in the bead on the right, reducing and encasing the silver on top of the Silver Brown resulted in something a little more noteworthy.  Th Silver Brown portions of the bead have turned blue, and the silver has stayed silver. Usually when I get blue in this particular test bead, it is the silver itself turning blue. I need to do some more work with this someday, but it seems like it might be the Silver Brown that turns blue here.


The colours and shine on the reduced silver glass frit in the bead on the left developed well too, but I don't much like that bead.  The bead on the right (in spite of its deformities) has something cool going on. Silver Brown is a GORGEOUS base for striking silver glass.  I got amazing colour out of my TerraNova2 frit on this colour.


Copper Green makes Silver Brown bleed. On the left side of the bead, dark brown halos surround the Silver Brown where it is on top of Copper Green, and brown smears mar the surface.  On the right-hand side of the bead, the Silver Brown infiltrates the Copper Green lines and dots, giving an aged effect to the scrollwork. This reaction probably has its uses, but I don't think I'm a big fan.  (To get a better look at the bead, click on it to see it enlarged)


On the left side of the bead, you can see how Opal Yellow likes to spread on top of Silver Brown.  The Opal Yellow stringer that I used was approximately the same diameter as all of the other stringers I use in this test, but when I used Opal Yellow on top of Silver Brown, the best word I can think of to describe the results is 'bulbous'. On the Opal Yellow side of this bead, an interesting, pinkish outline has formed around the Silver Brown that I find intriguing.  Silver Brown has more of a reddish hue when used with Opal Yellow.


This is my favourite reaction with Silver Brown so far. It's not every glass reaction combination that gives you three reactions for the price of one.

Putting these two colours together yields both a shimmering, thin silver outline AND a thicker black one. It happened on both sides of the bead, but doesn't look quite the same because the black part of the reaction happens next to the Ivory, whereas the silver portion of the reaction happens between the Black and the Silver Brown.  Neat, right?

Also. look at what happened to the Ivory on both sides of the bead. On the left, in the dots and lines, the Ivory has separated and formed a translucent line down it's center.  On the right side of the bead, it's curdled like crazy. Yum.


In this bead, White has separated a little and left a translucent outline around itself wherever the Silver Brown touches it. I've christened this the 'Milk Mustache' reaction. Like with Opal Yellow, Silver Brown has more of a reddish hue when used with White.

Here are some of the other beads I've made with this colour so far.
   

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