What fancy glass should I try first?

[noora]

Great tips, I was just going to ask the same thing myself :-)

What can you do with copper green? I have a (thick!) rod of it and I can only make it go a dull silvery grey colour.

[MadelineBunyan]

put rubino oro with it!

make a base bead (I use my scummy clear) then a layer of copper green over that, then some dots of rubino, melt in flat, try them alternating so they go to triangles.you may need to strike the rubino, or it may have already struck itself at this point, the rubino pushes the green into 2 shades, hard to explain, just go and play!

the aim with copper green is not to reduce it, but to use it to encourage reactions out of other colours.

you can make a twistie out of rubino and copper green, put it on a copper green base (or copper green over cheap base glass, wouldn't wanna waste it now!) swirl it on randomly and melt in, yummy!

the copper in the name is more to do with what's in it than what colours you are meant to get out of it I believe.

[Pegasus]

I have to vote for DH Terranova. It has to be one of the easiest striking colours. Use over white, preferably thinly, this way you get the rich reds & purples. Shape bead as you want to before starting the striking sequence. When you have your finished shape, let the bead cool to the point where the glow just goes (you will need a dark area to see this, under bench is good), now heat the bead to the point where your terranova is so hot that it turns translucent. Once you do this, remove from flame and let cool until the glow just goes. This will take anything between 15-30 seconds so hold your nerve!!! Once cooled, put bead back into flame to strike the colours. Heat the bead normally and watch carefully until you start to see dark colours appear. Once you see the dark tan colour, this is the start of your colour sequence. Remove the bead from the flame when you see the dark tan appear. Very important bit - once you remove your bead from the flame during striking, ALWAYS cool the bead (glow just goes as before) before putting back into the flame. As the bead is cooling you will see colours appear, it is now up to you to strike the bead until you reach your desired colour. You can start the whole sequence again at any time by reverting to the stage where you heat until translucent etc.

I guarantee that you will see results with this glass so if you don't, let me know and I'll help you to get fabby colours!! Hope that helps. XX

[noora]

Thank you, I'll have to try that I haven't dared to use my rubino oro yet since I seem to have a tendency to overheat striking glass and rubino is expensive, but I have to give it a shot now

[MadelineBunyan]

start with a twistie then, that way you wont use lots!

[Josephine]

I love copper green. Just etch it once its out of the kiln and you get a fantastic turquoise green. Its nice with silver foil, raku silvered ivory....

These are copper green and ivory.

Sun, sea and beads. by Josephine Wadman, on Flickr

[turnedlight]

I agree, Triton or Psyche are fab. I also like Magic, hadn't realised it was unpopular - it reduces to a nice coppery shine. If you want colours it's best to keep the bead slim, and keep it hot for a good while whilst raking it for interest. Don't leave the flame quickly, move it out to the end really slowly to keep the colours.