|
SOME OF
MY FAVORITE COLOR COMBOS AND
WORKING TIPS BY PIPYR
|
BLUE CARAMEL & STORMY WEATHER
|
Northstar's
Blue Caramel teams up beautifully with
Momka's Stormy Weather. As a side note,
Momka's Purple Thunder can yield a very
similar effect.
Start by fully
coating a rod with Blue Caramel. Melt in, and
then add 4 stripes of Stormy Weather. As you
melt the stripes in, allow one hand to lag behind
the other as you rotate. I use a hot, neutral
to oxidizing flame for these colors. The tighter
the twist, the more metallics I get out of this
combo. Play around with it!
|
|
|
|
BLUE FLAMBE'
|
|
Ah, Momka's
Blue Flambé!! It is such a bright and lively
blue and plays so beautifully as a surface color
in sculpture!! Work in a neutral flame… not
too oxidizing for this one. Part of the beauty
is in the haze that develops, yielding sky blues
and purples and bright, royal blues. Mmmmm.
You can
add some haze at the end with a reducing flame
if you don't have enough, but I find that this
color generally develops beautifully just as
it is worked. |
|
|
|
CLOUD
|
|
This fabulous
new color from Momka yields a beautiful translucent
pale green. In the left beast, the color coating
is thicker, and you can see that the color on
the finished piece is more dense and creamy.
In the second beast, the color is more ethereal
and swirly. This is achieved by leaving a tiny
bit of clear in between the color stripes and
then twisting the cane up tightly as you melt
it in by dragging one hand while you rotate
(be sure the color of any given section is melted
smooth before twisting so you don't trap air
bubbles!). |
|
|
|
GREEN FLAMBÉ
|
|
I work this
color just like Blue Flambé. If you
find that this color (or any of the flambés)
develops too much haze, you can hit it with
a sharp, oxidizing pinpoint flame until
the haze burns away. You can see this effect
in the beast directly above, on his back
where it is bright blue. |
|
|
|
LEMON YELLOW & FRIENDS
|
|
Oh,
Lemon Yellow… how I love thee!!
Seriously… if you hate working with
crayon colors as much as I do, this
is the yellow for you! I couldn't believe
how well this yellow resisted boiling.
I still work it a bit further out in
the flame than most colors, but it is
brilliantly easy to work. It also have
a beautiful slight translucency to it.
If it does boil on you a bit, just let
that area cool and then dip in and out
of the flame a few times. I have found
that the little bubbles will often sink
in so the surface does not appear marred.
My favorite thing to do with this color
is to use it as a base to lay stripes
over!! Here I have shown stripes of
Momka's Blue Treasure (top left),
Momka's Stormy Weather (top right),
and Momka's Yellow Pearl (bottom
2). You will notice that there are black
lines on the edges of the stripes. That
is a reaction that I find particularly
delicious, and is also why I don't like
to encase the Lemon Yellow. |
|
|
|
SILVER FLAMBÉ
|
SILVER TEARS |
|
Yep, the third
of the 3 Flambés. I work this just the same
as the other two… neutral flame… let the colors
develop as you go ! |
Momka's Silver
Tears is such a unique color in the world
of boro. Its beauty lies in the subtle tones
and metallic shimmers. I work this color with
an oxidizing flame and hit it with reduction
at the end as needed (and often I don't need
to). This one is loaded with metal, so be careful
not to overdo it! |
|
SILVER TEARS & YELLOW PEARL
|
STORMY WEATHER & SILVER FLAMBÉ
|
| Silver
Tears with 4 thick bands of Momka's Yellow
Pearl over it. I worked this piece in a
neutral to slightly oxidizing flame. With the
addition of the stormy weather pod and sphere,
I really felt that this piece had an "old world"
appeal to it. |
Momka's Stormy
Weather striped over a base of Silver
Flambé. I worked this in an oxidizing flame
and otherwise did nothing worth noting. I just
thought the color combo turned out pretty stellar
and wanted to share. |
|
|
|
STORMY WEATHER & TAN STRINGER
|
|
You can't
go wrong with this combo. Start with a base
of Momka's Stormy Weather, melt smooth.
Add 2-4 fairly thick stringers of whatever
tan you have laying around. Northstar's
Caramel and Glass Alchemy's Silver
Strike 5 are always good, but it has
been my experience that any tan will give
good results ! |
|
|
|
VIOLET MEDLEY
|
|
Ah, Momka's
Blue Flambé!! It is such a bright and lively
blue and plays so beautifully as a surface color
in sculpture!! Work in a neutral flame… not
too oxidizing for this one. Part of the beauty
is in the haze that develops, yielding sky blues
and purples and bright, royal blues. Mmmmm.
You can
add some haze at the end with a reducing flame
if you don't have enough, but I find that this
color generally develops beautifully just as
it is worked. |
|
Momka's Yellow
Pearl!!!!!! Hooray! This color is magical.
You have to see it in person to fully appreciate
it. I say it looks like moonstone. It can be
a dense, creamy color with a hint of yellow
or it can be made to look like moonstone… swirly
and wispy and opalescent. For the dense, creamy
effect, just be sure to use a thick enough coat.
I try for this effect when I am striping the
yellow pearl over another color. For the opalescent
effect, I like to coat a 15mm rod with a fairly
thin layer. Twist the cane as you melt in (by
letting one hand lag behind the other). Work
in a hot neutral flame. Too much oxygen
will chase away that pretty blue haze. Too much
propane will cloud it too much. I especially
love to use Northstar's Blue Caramel
stringer on a piece made with yellow pearl.
For some reason, the colors just work so well
together. Yellow pearl is a soft, buttery color
to work, and I find it to be fantastic to sculpt
with!!
|
YELLOW PEARL
|
|
WINTER SKY |
Momka's Winter
Sky… a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get).
I rarely use colors without silver, but I just
love this one! Beautiful translucent blue with
tiny bubbles… like seeded glass. Just work in
a neutral flame and be sure to go directly into
the kiln with it. This one is a no-brainer!
|
|
|
|
|
WINTER SKY AS AN OVERCOAT
|
|
Up top we have
Winter Sky over brown glitter. Directly above
is Winter Sky over Trautman Art Glass Experimental
Slyme. As you can see, the Winter Sky makes
a beautiful translucent overcoat. Just start
with whatever base color you want, and melt
it down smooth. Then cover completely with Winter
Sky. Keep it as thin as you can, because if
it is too thick, it doesn't show the undercoat.
Again, be sure to get your piece right into
the kiln… these colors tend to shock more easily. |
|
|
