Thursday, April 3, 2008

Luna 2 Beads

I've had a chance to try the new glass from Double Helix, Luna 2! It has taken me a few tries to get the hang of it. Now that I'm finally getting it to strike, I'm loving the rainbow of colors in this glass! Here is a set of beads I have up in my Etsy shop right now:
Luna 2 and Silver Plum Beads
The base color of these beads is Dark Silver Plum. When I put the Luna over it I really got the colors to pop! Maybe it's just because I've practiced enough with the Luna, or maybe it's the chemical reaction between the Luna and the Silver Plum that did it. Either way I'm happy with the results and I can't wait to play with this glass some more!

4 comments:

Patty said...

GORGEOUS, Karolen. I've got to try this. I've had some Luna for a while but my first couple of tries were flops. Have you tried Khaos? That one's a little easier for me.

Very nice beads!

Karolen said...

Thanks Patty!
I've tried Khaos and that is easier for me than the Luna, but I think I like the Luna colors better than the Khaos colors. I haven't played enough with Khaos really.
All of my Luna beads have been total flops until I tried it over DSP. I also read the thread on LE about Luna2 which had some helpful tips.
Sometimes adding some sort of silver to the silver glasses helps their colors pop. "!ngridh" on LE had great success with Gaia over DSP, which gave me the idea for these beads.
I tried Terra over DSP but there was no significant difference. No difference with Terranova over DSP either. But Gaia or Kronos over DSP is stunning!

Patty said...

Karolen -
I hear you on the colors of Luna being better (anything worthwhile takes a lot of work!). Thanks for referring me back to LE - I did find a good thread or two on these new colors. Tonight I tried Luna (guess I have "1") over DSP as well as ASK Silver Cinnamon, plus Terra Nova over DSP. The morning will bring truth.

Regarding !ngridh's tip on Gaia - I've always just used this color mostly for raised dots, and reducing them briefly is all it takes to get a very nice blue-green shimmery look. Very easy color for me.

I wish I kept a cleaner work table, or at least good notes - you seem way more organized at all of this than me! Far too often I just pick up something that I *think* is one color, and it turns out to be another. For example, I encased some Luna with Aion, I'm sure, thinking it was clear! Kind of an adventure, but doesn't make for predictable results.

Thanks for sharing. :-)

Patty

Karolen said...

Hi Patty, how did your Luna and other beads turn out? I haven't tried Luna 1 over DSP.

I agree that Gaia is an easy glass to get color from, but the color that comes out when it's over DSP is a little different... a more brilliant blue. It's very pretty.

With all the new glass colors that can look so much alike, I've taken to labeling some rods before I set them down on my bench. For my Double Helix glass, I just twist a small rubber band around the end of a rod to distinguish it from the other glasses. Otherwise, Kronos and Cobalt or Aion and Clear are impossible to tell apart! My workbench is utter creative chaos, so I have to have a system or it gets too frustrating for me.