from back to front (more or less) we have: Bullseye glass, in experimental or new colors I haven't got; creation station; F lot series 7000/8000 Thompson enamels to test; Zippy-Z bead release; etchall resist; and zapp-z hole cleaner/polishing compound and sample beads made while at Gathering. Not shown are the 3/8” Emiko-style big-hole mandrels from Arrow Springs.

So, what about all this stuff? Well, I love the new bullseye opaques. When I first started using this glass, it basically came in cathedrals (what stained glass people call transparents) and opalescents, which ran from greasy translucent to more-or-less opaque. But Bullseye has added a great many new colors to their palette, and some of the new, truly opaque hues, which have that Effetre look-and-feel, come in some really lovely tertiary colors, as for these butterscotch golden browns and seafoam green tints. Yummy! Also shown, a couple of intriguing transparents in the purple line, as it's impossible, in my view, to have too many pinks and purples—one place where the bullseye palette has always been strong.

I have yet to try the etching resist, which supposedly sticks even when using the cream, (this was recommended to me by the artist in ConneXtions who did the lovely hollow etched beads with shiny leaves atop—she's perhaps better known for cool waffle ‘pinched-disk’ bead she demoed at Gathering last year) or the hole cleaning stuff, but I love the new zipp-Z bead release. Like the krag mudd I've been using for the past couple of years or so, it's a heavy-graphite super easy releasing forumula, which obligingly turns to slime when the bead is dunked—no chunks! Since I tend to work on 1/16” mandrels, which makes for holes that are really too small for the pins of my magnetic polisher to whirl out bits of bead release, having it dissolve is a big plus; and I like this stuff even better than krag mudd. Plus, it comes in 16oz containers, something the krag mudd people have been very uninterested in doing. Since I'm the kind of beadmaker who starts to get nervous when I have less than 300 mandrels in my standard size on hand, I really prefer to purchase my bead release in bulk.

I purchased all these compounds, as well as the creation station, from ABR imagery with whom I've not worked before. They promised to ship the items they couldn't find (and obligingly shipped the stuff I didn't want to cart home, free of charge), which arrived promptly on my doorstep, nicely packed, as promised, so my first impression of them is quite favorable. The guy I worked with was clearly frazzled, but still very pleasant, so I'd definitely do business with them again.

Still in the middle of testing the TE, so that, along with my experiences with the big holed mandrels, the shiny-wet-hole miracle compound and resist will have to be subjects of future posts.

file created 16aug07

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