Nyx

[Mary]

My new DH glass Nyx arrived yesterday! I only got under an hour's play, but I am going to love this stuff (till I try to photograph it!). Can you see the pearl effect under the encasing? Excuse the bead release!

[Mary]

Julie, I didn't try the kiln annealing colour change, these are all torch created effects.

[Mary]

Sarah, sorry I should have been more specific! Yes the bottom 3 are (left to right) Nyx stringer on black, reduced. Nyx on ivory, reduced (lovely magenta and green flashes on those two). And Nyx with clear stringer, reduced. The top ones are Nyx on black, reduced then encased.
Must get on my torch later, want to play some more!

[Mary]

Glad you like!
Nyx is the newest colour by Double Helix http://www.doublehelixglassworks.com/ They aim to make silver-rich glass that acts like boro, but I think they are even better than boro. This one starts very dark blue/black and is supposed to kiln-strike to paler blues, but I got all those effects just in the torch. I used to love their green Gaia best for the iridescence, but I could never encase it and keep the effects.

[Mary]

Sarah, I do very little to get the results. You sort of reduce and strike. The main trick is to let the bead cool before "treating" it. Then wave it in the tip of a reduction flame to get the sheen, and gently rewarm it in an ordinary flame to make the colours bloom, if you want. You can heat the effects away again and repeat if you don't like it. Great fun!