shards secret santa advice

[smpalmer85]

what color's make good shard combinations?

I'm making some reactive shards for secret santa stuff. Wondering about glass combinations though.

so far I'm making a clear core with either clear, light ivory, or black (gunmetal unique currently but have others available) encasement. Then either dotting on or fully encasing with the silver color. Then I blow them out. I'm not really sure what color combinations will look good, or how thin I can blow them out though before they will lose their abilities.

Do I need to work them first say with striking or reducing sequences or do I leave that for the user of the shard?

I have just about every currently available double helix, messy, or effetre color.

Basically looking for shard making technique tips and recommended color combinations.

Thanks!

[killerbeedz1]

I've bought some tutorials in the past getting tutorial recipes for shards, but have since moved on. I just experiment to see what I like. I have had a lot of bombs, but I've had successes too. SIS always looks cool when you combine it in shards. So do enamels. It's up to the end user to work your shard. So don't worry about that aspect of it. Just remember if you use SIS that it's reactive and doesn't like a lot of colors and will turn black. That's why I like to use enamels with it.

[Dott]

I did a copper green and rubino combo. CG base with the rubino spiraled without touching from one end of the gather to to other. It worked well enough that this bracelet sold in less than a minute at work, LOL.

[CathysCreations]

Buy Jacqueline Parks Magic Mosaic Shards tut. Love it!

[allicat]

Hrmm...the silver glass shards I made a while back were just that. Psyche and Elektra and nothing else. I blew them pretty thin and they worked fine. Can't speak to striking glasses tho.

And the Magic Mosaic shards are WAY cool.

Alli

[misty]

You can also try combining frit, or twisties and shards. They're not reactive (unless you use reactive frit) but you can get some neat patterns to choose from.

I'm pretty sure silver glass shards are usually just the one silver glass, reducing is done after it's applied. Using some in combos is a good idea though, you may find some great new recipes.

Plain clear shards also work well with silver glass base beads.

[smpalmer85]

Awesome, thanks everyone. That's given me some fun ideas to try. Here are the first few attempts with many more to follow:

[Ravenesque]

silver leaf or foil is always cool, and no don't reduce or strike any of it.