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Reichenbach Dark Silver Brown RL 5011

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Lampwork Glass Color Review Name a 104 COE glass color that is often overlooked but is secretly one of your favorites. I'll go first. Reichenbach Dark Silver Brown RL 5011 This color did have its moment in the spotlight when Reichenbach first started producing glass lampworking cane in 104 COE. They are more well known for their furnace glass in 96 COE, but when this glass first came on the scene there were plenty of artists who figured out pretty quickly that its high silver content gives it magic appeal. What looks like an unassuming transparent brown is actually one of the prettiest navy blues in my stash. Huh? How does a brown glass become navy blue? Quite simply it is magic . More precisely it is chemistry . The metal content (silver) in the glass reacts to flame chemistry and changes colors. I would classify it as both a striking and reducing glass color. Maybe not as predictable to work as other popular striking and reducing glass colors available today, but an ol...
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Color Palettes: Fall-esque

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Lampworking Glass Color Recipes A creative challenge I frequently embark on is matching glass colors to random things I find laying around. If I don't have a ready to go color palette, I will hunt for objects to use as inspiration and then match the glass to the color palette. This is a fun way to stretch your color knowledge with the various glass manufacturers. Color inspiration literally exists in everything. My eyeglass case was the source of inspiration for this color series. These base glass colors were used in the beads: Effetre 212 Pea Green Effetre 073 Green Apple Effetre 260 Light Pink Reichenbach RL2012 Gold Violet Effetre 224 Medium Lapis Effetre 058 Ink Blue Effetre 418 Yellow Effetre 420 Orange Effetre 014 Topaz Looking for more glass color combinations and layering recipes? Download my  color recipes e-book  or check out these additional blog posts: Color Palettes: Mid-Century Modern Color Palettes: How to Incorporate Brown Color Palettes: What to Pair with the...
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Color Palettes: Primary Pop

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Soft Glass Color Inspiration What better way to re-ignite your color muse than to go back to the very basics. Why are rainbow color palettes so thoroughly pleasing to the eye? The primary colors.   There is just something about red, yellow, and blue ... and the rest of their 2nd tier friends that makes your heart sing just a little bit. And perhaps bring out that childhood joy elicited from your first fresh box of Crayola crayons. While those colors together might be a little too bold for your home decor, a slight deviation in tonality and suddenly you've got a bohemian or rustic flair. From a fashionista standpoint, what better way to complement that chic black and white outfit than to add a bold ensemble of jewels in the primary color palette?  And quite frankly, if you are even the slightest fan of pop or modern art you simply have to incorporate the primary colors in there a bit. Try it. I think you'll like it. These base glass colors were used in the beads: Effetre 212 P...
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Color Recipes: Mix Match Make

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Have you ever found yourself at a loss for what to make?  Do you struggle putting together color combinations? Are you looking for ideas on what colors go good together? Introducing my first e-book for lampworking.  A collection of some of my favorite bead designs with color recipes by manufacturer. Including my favorite color schemes and combinations along with working tips and studio notes on how I use color theory to achieve winning bead combinations. Come along on a colorful journey with me as we look back on some of my favorite and most popular combinations over the years, with all the glass colors listed in detail by manufacturer name and number. In my first e-book I share recipes to 37 different sets of beads along with snippets on color theory and how to pick winning combinations in glass. This book contains 23 pages of information. This e-book does not teach any specific technique, nor does it include any general information about lampworking safety and setup. Basic ...
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Color Palettes: Mid-Century Modern

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Soft Glass Color Inspiration Is there a more quintessential color scheme that represents the mid-century modern vibe as well as teal and ocher yellow? No. There is not. My second choice would be throwing down some orange and ocher green with a coffee brown, but if we are to take the vibe of mid-century modern and match it up against the current 'everything is gray' trend ... then teal and yellow wins. While the glass beads don't contain any actual gray, after I snapped the photo [ against a gray backdrop ] I had a moment ... and realized the overall combination made the most perfect mid mod color palette. swoon . And if I'm being transparent, this palette matches my current home decor so it needed to be made into a color swatch.  If you are looking for paint colors that might match this vibe ... consider Benjamin Moore Citrus Burst or Chartreuse for the ocher, and Oceanfront or Caribbean Cool for the teal. Stonington Gray looks good with both. Pretty close match would...
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Striking Glass: How to Get Color

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Lampworking Tips & Techniques Any lampworker who has ever attempted to work with 'striking' glass has experienced the struggle. How do you get all those fabulous color ranges and not just boring tan? Not that tan is a bad color ... but when you spend a small fortune on premium striking glass, tan is not the desired outcome. If we go way back into the glass time machine, the whole striking glass frenzy started with a furnace glass:  Reichenbach R-108 Iris Orange - lovingly nicknamed 'Raku' by the lampworking community ...  now I'm sounding like a food blogger 😉 There have been countless forum threads, e-books, tutorials, and conversations around how to get Raku to do its magic. Every single one of them has excellent information that anyone who chooses to work with this glass will benefit by reading and watching. I am no expert. I still can't get the full color range I want out of this glass after all this time. However, if we break down the already kno...
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Color Palettes: How to Incorporate Brown

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Lampworking Glass Color Reference Brown has not been a trendy color in glass for quite some time ... except with those beadmakers who make adorable critter beads or decadent sweet treats. It has been difficult to find brown clothing as well. It seems when grey became the new ' it ' color for literally everything from fashion to home decor, brown ceased to exist. Trying to find a nice pair of dark brown slacks has been next to impossible. I've all but given up and banished my blouses that need brown slacks to the back of the closet. For those of us whose natural skin and hair coloring pairs better with warm palettes over cool palettes, the struggle is real. I actually prefer grey and cool tones myself, but my person looks better in warm colors. So for the other warm palette people out there like me, I'm single-handedly bringing brown back in style. And if the rest of the world chooses not to hop on board that is okay. At least folks looking for warm colors know they ca...
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