Newest Italian colors

[MaureenKennedy]

I am surprised that not many people have posted about the latest colors from Italy via Frantz art glass - so I thought I would pop my reactions to them here in Family Room.

As I mentioned briefly in another room, I am for the most part, very satisfied with the colors I got. I do have a problem with the super clear, but perhaps it's me rather than the glass?

The pic below shows the first pink 256 New Batch of Dark Pink - I adore this color!!!!!!! This is the pink of 5-6 years ago. It has minimal amount of white in it and if a smidge of white should show in your bead, a mild wafting in the flame will "strike" it out perfectly. I am definitely loading up on this color as it will probably take the Italians another 5-6 years to replicate the same color again!

The second pink is the 260-BP Bubblegum pink. It has a lot more white in it (the amount of white reminds me of streaky pink) It's shade is in between the old 260 and the old 256. I am glad I only got one pound of this - because the pink above is the one I really want a lot of.

The next is wonderful shade of 222 Periwinkle Dark. It's a shade In between regular periwinkle and medium lapis. (I tried handmixing once to try and arrive at this color and couldn't do it. So this is a nice addition to the color pallete!

The next is the Vetrofond 976 Green Key Lime Pastel Odd. My pic makes it look tooo yellow - but it is a very yellow green and I like it very much. Don't know exactly what I am going to do with it - because I am not sure it's an "IN" color for clothing designers! LOL

Then we have 977 Parrot Green which is a fantastic color - but again, except for making Parrots, I am not sure I am creative enough to make something to really show this color off and make people want it. I did use stringers of it in beads that were semi-florals and it did not spread out an take over like other greens do unless you encase them.

Then next is 937 Arencio Perfecto - it's a clear rod. At first I didn't know what to make of this - and finally realized it's a striking rod of orange transparent. You can see the slight striking in the paddle. I haven't worked this into a bead yet - but from what I see on the paddle it may be a wonderful CLEAR orange color.

Then next is 939 Tangerine Intense - I just love this bright clear orange (no blue shades in it). From the paddle I am excited about it as you seem to be able to get almost a transparency to it. I only made a paddle and then was "striking" it to get chill marks out of it. A couple of years ago Effetre had a orange that went almost transluscent and a lot of customers liked that with ivory - but alas - you know Effetre. This is Vetrofond so perhaps we will be able to get it again in the future.

The last is Effetre 420-P Coral Persimmon Special. It is a dark Coral and a color sort of half way between coral and red.

One color not shown is the Vetrofond 983 Blue Ocean Pale transparent. I had thought this would be in the color ranges of the other Ocean put out by vetrofond, such as the ocean green (no longer in stock) and the Ocean Aqua color - but it is not. It's just the same shade of medium blue transparent that we have from Effetre (held both rods up to white paper to make sure of that).

Now as to the clear - YOu can see the problem with the clear. I got the same result in 3 different rods pulled from different areas in the 5 pounds that I ordered. I was working with a Mid-range and one onxy concentrator - and I had wiped each rod carefully with rubbing alcohol. Now in the past I have thought that rubbing alcohol leaves a film on the glass and I am wondering if that is what I am seeing in this clear???? Anybody have any suggestions for me on this?

[MaureenKennedy]

Someone pm'd me saying their bubblegum pink looks like the 256 above - so all I can say is that I got the glass direct from Frantz last thurday and I typed above descriptions looking at the rod with the labels on them.

[hotflashwanda]

Thanks for the color show, Maureen! I hadn't got around to ordering those new ones. Though I did recently get 5 pounds of the new Super Clear--I sure hope it isn't all bubbly! Haven't used it yet, maybe I'd better try it out.
Anita
www.fireflybeads.com

[Kevan]

I just got some key lime and parrot green in a trade. It looks pretty cool!

[Sherry]

Thanks Maureen!

[Laurie L]

Yaeh my bubblegum is really alot darker than your showing yours to be. I ordered it a while back - when it first came out. I actually like the bubblegum I got. I would love to get some of the new dark pink.

[nagibeads]

Hi Maureen-
thanks for this post--very cool.
My BG pink looks like yours, so maybe there is variation in the rods?
The new dark pink is wonderful--I love this color too--their shipment is supposed to come in today but haven't heard if it is in yet...but yup, gotta load up on that one too
The arancio is one of my favorite colors--such a clean orange that doesn't get murky!
I just got the ocean blue pale trans too thinking it was the czech denim look alike and the rods I got were also like regular pale blue transparent...pretty though.
The dark periwinkle is gorgeous and the new greens are nice and vibrant. My parrot green worked up much lighter in a bead than the rod....I will try striking it to get the deeper color, but anyone else experience that?
Barbara Logan posted some of the streaky coral from B&B recently and I am so looking forward to that one....don't think it is out yet, but it looks like a brighter version of the old tequila sunrise--woohoo! New glass is so much fun!

[artwhim]

Thanks Maureen. It is always helpful to see and hear other peoples experiences with the new offerings.
Kathy

[elle]

Thanks Maureen! I'm glad I read this before ordering the $20 Pale Ocean Transparent.

Sarah

[barb]

Maureen,

Thank you - I am holding off until the Gathering but it's nice to see new colors.

Barb

[Bubbyanne]

Huh, I bought some bubblegum pink off an ebay seller when it first came out. Then I bought the dark pink from frantzart recently and to be honest I can't tell the difference between them at all, besides the price. They both look like your dark pink.

I may have to check into getting some of the greens.

[BeadMaven]

Maureen,
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this color information,
I Really appreciate it!

[GinaJ]

Thanks, Maureen! I was going to try the Moretti clear....but I think I will wait now.......

[Rose Leslie]

Have you tried peroxide to clean your rods off with. Just an idea. Colors look great.

[shawnette]

I use window cleaner wipes. They sell them at the $1 store in little popup containers. When mine got low, Icut a stack of paper towels into 1/4s, stuffed them into the container and dumped in some window cleaner. Instant refill, lol. They're no longer popups, but they work great.

[MaureenKennedy]

Hi Everyone - I finally torched the glass into spacer beads last night and this is the results.

Clear - I think perhaps the washcloth I was using to wipe down clear was contaminated - so I used a new washcloth last night and used the clear to encase a marble size bead - and the transparent clear looks wonderful on it. I used rubbing alcohol. So like I said, perhaps I was at fault.

New Batch Pink versus Bubblegum pink - looking at them here on the mandrel they appear ALMOST the same color but - the bubblegum pink took more time striking out the whitish areas, and the sides of the BP spacer is whitish while the face of the bead is nice pink. (saying all that, it reminds me of streaky pink and rod has line down the middle of it). You know how you make 3-4 spacers on one mandrel - that's what I did with BP first bead so it got losts of residual heat from back and forth warming of beads. The New Batch pink is pink all the way through - sides the same color as the face of bead.When you really look at both beads - there IS a tiny slight difference in the color - the New Batch pink seems to be a clearer more solid color.

The Persimmon coral reminds me of the ends of the first batch of red roof tiles, you know how the ochre color turned reddish at the end where it had been heated and cooled? YOu can see the wrap lines on it - the sides of bead are more reddish than the face of the bead, and you can see wrap lines on the face. Since this was last bead on the mandrel it did not get any "striking". It reminds me alot of Struck Powder pink, this is a very nice terra cotta warm color.

Parrot green did not remain that nice darker shade of green and is lighter than the rod or paddle of glass. Lime green is about one shade lighter than the parrot green.

Tangerine intense did get some parts of it translucent - you can see the wraps on it and the edge of the wraps is translucent - it ended up slightly darker than the cold rod.

Arencio did give me a nice clear orange but you can see areas of lighter color like yellow in it. It looks like the orange color is susended inside the bead - like if it was yellow base with orange mixed into it. I was afraid to strike it too long thinking I would screw it up - so perhaps I need to strike it longer.

Will try to take pics of the beads later today.