Effetra Red's

[james M knox]

Hi All,

Got a bit of an issue with the effetra reds.

Making small beads (approx 10-15 mm diameter),

Dark red ends up being so dark it looks like brown
Medium red ends up being almost burgandy,
as does light red.

If I make larger beads, (20 + mm) the colours seem to work OK.

Any Advice please

JMKnox

[Pat from Canvey]

You could try making a clear or white bead and encasing in the red of your choice and see if you like the result.

[Barnacle Bay]

I have had the same problem in the past with the dark red to the extent it almost looks black.

You could try making a clear or white bead and encasing in the red of your choice and see if you like the result.

I do exactly what Pat recommends and it does make a difference, but not a huge one.

[julieHB]

The fact that the big beads are ok colour-wise indicates that these glasses like to be "worked" a bit for the colour to develop. Either the bead needs to go through several hot/cold cycles (as if you are striking), or it needs to be in the heat for longer. The difficulty with reds is, of course, that you cannot judge when it's enough, as it's black when it's hot.

I had similar problems with cim Sangria (my favourite red), and found that I just had to work it more, letting it cool and heat several times. All the red beads below is Sangria:

Red Bracelet (view 3) by JulieHB, on Flickr

[Lynnybobs]

They are lovely Julie and it is gorgeous shade of red !

[Barnacle Bay]

The fact that the big beads are ok colour-wise indicates that these glasses like to be "worked" a bit for the colour to develop. Either the bead needs to go through several hot/cold cycles (as if you are striking), or it needs to be in the heat for longer. The difficulty with reds is, of course, that you cannot judge when it's enough, as it's black when it's hot.

I had similar problems with cim Sangria (my favourite red), and found that I just had to work it more, letting it cool and heat several times. All the red beads below is Sangria:

Red Bracelet (view 3) by JulieHB, on Flickr

Good advice will try this. Though, having received in the past a batch of dark reds and receiving 'one off's' of the same, I can see the one offs are lighter, so I suppose it may also depend on the batch, and that (as we know) cannot always be consistent.  I personally have found Coral can be fairly inconsistent too in shade depth  

Not the suppliers fault 

[julieHB]

Good advice will try this. Though, having received in the past a batch of dark reds and receiving 'one off's' of the same, I can see the one offs are lighter, so I suppose it may also depend on the batch, and that (as we know) cannot always be consistent.  I personally have found Coral can be fairly inconsistent too in shade depth  

Not the suppliers fault 

This is very true!

[james M knox]

Thanks all for the advice.
I will give it a go this weekend and hopefully have a necklace set (60 beads) that are red and not burgundy

JMKnox

[babyshoes]

I've been having a similar problem with a recent batch of Effetre transparent red - when I work it in the same way as a previous batch it goes dark burgundy or brown, whereas the previous batch was a nice bright red. If I put it over white or clear and strike it very, very carefully it goes orangey... I've got some quite nice orange beads, but they aren't what I wanted! The size of the bead seems to have little impact on the final colour, though without a kiln I'm not making huge beads.

Got another batch (which they've tested) coming from Tuffers soon, hoping it is just a tricky batch that I've got and not me being a numpty! If I'm still struggling with the tested batch when it arrives, I'll try working it for longer, heating and cooling a few times.

[Mand]

HI, just red this ...a bit late to the party, as usual!   I also adore CIM Sangria but have found it is the most tricky one to get the colour right, as Julie says.  Recently I have been using CIM Valentine, which I prefer over my bog standard Effetre reds.  It's a lovely red and is so easy to work with compared to Sangria. 

mand