Wow....huge difference. I was a distributor for TAG Glass so I have a boat load of colors still. The rod I used last night was opaque. Really opaque! I did what you did and got it really hot to the point of droopy (yes some too droopy that's on my work bench now) and took it out to cool. Some beads went clear and some were a pale grey green. Then I struck the bead and they either turned a brown color or went so dark that I couldn't tell ya what color it was. When I encased, I could see some blue in it (very little) but it was still dark. That's the color they ended up. I'll take a few pics! I did use fire lotus as well because I used to be able to get great color from that a few times but darn it, this time not so much. I think the easiest glass to use is Transcendental. That color is easy but then again, as soon as I encase, it's gone
