[beadlvr]

Thank you so much for the tips, Dawn. I think I am getting the hang of it with encasing but wanted some clarification on something (hope I can do this clearly).

After melting it in, I super heat it to the white/orange glow, then marver it and it is really really dark. Then I reheat it and gently marver it a couple of times. I noticed as I am marvering during this stage it is not as dark, and looking closely I can see some beautiful colors through that darkness.

At this point, if I don't want to encase, if do the final shaping and put it in the kiln, would it come out with those pretty colors or would it still be dark? Should the bead be heated and cooled more to remove some more darkness or would I lose the colors. At this point it is not black but like a dark brown but I can see blues and greens and I think purples shining through.