TAG and Double Helix testing

The monthly theme challenge on CP is monsoon, I confess I don't have much in the way of inspiration for this. Usually something comes to mind straight away but apart from something to do with Monsoon the clothes shop rather than buckets of rain as we have had enough of that lately. So bright and cheerful with lots of sparkle got me playing with TAG (Trautman Art Glass) and Double Helix glasses to see what I could get out of them.

I also love using my disc roller and this was good practice.

With most of these beads I highly reduced them to get the irridescence to show itself.

From the left to the right Double Helix Electra: I seem to remember this had a lovely sheen on it when it went into the kiln, sadly it was missing when I pulled it out. Maybe the kiln wasn't hot enough, I must admit I rarely wait for it to come up to temperature before I start putting beads in.

Double Helix Gaia:  This has a lovely oil slick blue to the green, really nice.

TAG Golden Emerald: A pale green in the rod, this glass has turned an oil slick opally pale green.

TAG Montreux: This one looks exactly like a puddle of water with an oil slick in it. Yum.

TAG Zeus: Disappointingly this has no oil slick at all. A lovely golden colour in the rod, it now has an opaque sheen to it.

According to the tips and tricks on Tag http://www.taglass.com/working_ips_ricks.html Zeus should make a great electric purple over red and a peachy colour over gold ruby. As you can see from beads 6 and 7 this didn't happen for me.

TAG Cezanne: I tried do the reduction with no oxygen at all as I couldn't seem to get anything to happen. Didn't work though.

TAG Lake Geneva: another gorgeous greeny bluey shiny oilslick.

DH Helios: no surprises here a lovely shiny golden colour.

The next two weren't silver glass. Effetre Cobalt Blue 060 and Light Tourquoise 034.

The disc in the top photo was TAG Dali Lama, I didn't have much luck with this.

A while back I visited a stain glass studio to see if I could cadge any offcuts. This is some of the pieces I was given.

I had a go at making some beads using them.

As you can see, there was a lot of pitting on the sides. I am going to etch them, I think they will have a sea glass quality when done.