This is one of those reds I just had to have. It is a bit too much of a good thing, though. The first bead on the wire is a plain self bead to see if it can be used on its own, and the answer is probably not. Bead 2 is over white and struck, looking kinda orange. This doesn't go away over ivory in bead 3, which I tried to leave unstruck so I could see if there was any reaction over the ivory. The fourth is with silver foil melted in, and it looks ok, but the base bead could be black. 5 is with silver foil melted in and encased in clear. I like the blue effect. The copper leaf bead is looking very unattractive, and it doesn't get much better in the next bead, which is encased. 8 is over clear and this is a better example if a transparent bead is desired. Wow, is this dark. I deliberately made the bordello half of this bead over white and I might as well have not bothered, since no light transmission has occurred. No reaction with the copper green, though. 10 is over white to show off the color and with silver foil melted in, and at least I can see the base bead is very dark red. 11 is with plum silver and 12 is with aurae, which is a nice combination.
I plan on more experimentation with silver glass, possibly some of the stronger lustre ones under encasement. I believe the blue reaction with the silver foil will be repeated.
Will I buy this color again? Probably not. Its darkness limits its usefulness and I bet the glass I have will last a very long time.
I just used this today and I have a feeling it will all come out of the kiln all dark and goth-feeling. Not sure if I can figure out what to DO with that, but maybe.
You will find something. I think this will work best in combination with other elements. I've been doing this just over 6 months and my encasement technique is very wobbly.