How to tell Dk. Sky Blue and Dk. Turquoise apart?

Pia Kaven · #1 2011-11-16, 11:50pm

Yes, hanging my head in shame... I should have known better... and yada yada yaa... but I did store a little too long a bundle of dk. sky blue and dk. turquoise side by side, and they havent been labeled... and the rubber band broke, on both colors (DANG IT!)! Now I have a bunch of rods that all look exactly the same, and I dont know how to tell them apart. I think I might have to do some actual melting to test them... but is there even then a way to tell which is which? Seriously, I dont see anything different in those rods...
So frustrating!

Lisi · #2 2011-11-17, 12:05am

The dark turquoise is slightly darker and a little brighter, like there is more green in it. The dark sky is more of a pure bluey blue. Am I making sense?? I just woke up and need to get that first cup of coffee.

DarkFlowerBead · #3 2011-11-17, 3:40am

Won't tourquoise reduce with a copper red haze and dark sky blue won't? maybe you could touch the tips in a reduction flame or something? I clearly am just guessing. you could try a dot with ivory also, tourquoise will react and sky blue wont...

Elizabeth Beads · #4 2011-11-17, 7:42am

In my opinion they are indistinguishable (how is that for a big word). Dark Sky will reduce to copper just like Dark Turquoise and both are prone to that silver scum. I can't see a difference in the beads, although I probably wouldn't mix them if I was making spacers.

I try to avoid both colors myself. I do like Light Sky and Light Turquoise and I adore CiM Freman which is more stable in both respects (copper and silver reduction).

clan tabby · #5 2011-11-17, 8:07am

Invest in a bunch (I DO mean a bunch; I need to get more again) of large & small hair elastic thingies. They won't break down like rubber bands. I know, it doesn't help you right now, but you will bless me in the future if you follow my advice!

Moth · #6 2011-11-17, 8:45am

I think the dark turquoise reduces more easily.

Both of them will reduce to copper, but it takes more work to get it out of the sky blue than the turquoise. The sucky part is that you'd have to test every rod.

You might could test one rod, and then look at the cut ends of the rods and see if you can tell which ones match. Like with certain colors they have tree rings in them and if your batch all looks the same, you will be able to tell which rods are which. Once you have tested one of them anyway. And that is assuming they're from the same batch.

Oy...what a mess.

The good news is that working-wise, you probably won't be able to tell much difference even if you never do sort them out. As long as you end up with the color you want on the beads, it won't matter what the name is.

~~Mary

BrownGirl · #7 2011-11-17, 9:41am

Quote:

Originally Posted by clan tabby

Invest in a bunch (I DO mean a bunch; I need to get more again) of large & small hair elastic thingies. They won't break down like rubber bands. I know, it doesn't help you right now, but you will bless me in the future if you follow my advice!

I trade some stuff for a bunch of glass with SuzyQ and all of it came wrapped in cover ponytail holders. I though it was strange at the time but, I'm a newb and had never heard this trick before. As I read other posts I figured it out and... She's just a smartypance! LOL. I've been switching over to the covered ones as needed.

Pia Kaven · #8 2011-11-17, 10:29am

Thanks everyone, thankfully I shouldnt need to do this in the future, since I now have my storage units... and I figured it wont probably make any difference to use them in beads, if I cant tell them apart, nobody else should be either... I just am kinda OCD about certain stuff and it just more annoys me than anything.

Mary had very good point... looking at their cut ends... I have one labeled rod on both bundles, so if the cut ends are different, I might be able to solve the riddle.

Pia Kaven · #9 2011-11-17, 11:19am

ok, I think I give up! I had on part of the rods distinctive dark striation go through the whole cane, so I divided them according to that... but then I decided to go with the color... and I divided them according to greener ones and ones not so green... but then when I turned the rods, they were all different color on the other side.
So I thought that the striation was the way to go, until I noticed that they all have it, some just more noticeable. AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!

So the distinctive striation is one and the rest is the other. And if you want to buy from me beads made with them, dont count on it being either one!

Lyssa · #10 2011-11-17, 11:26am

I'm still slightly new and quite ignorant. If they look exactly the same why do you need to keep them separate? Is there something about the way the two glasses melt or react to other glass that makes it necessary to distinguish between the two?

Also, under what kind of lights are you looking at these rods? I have a GE Reveal bulb next to my workbench that reveals all sorts of color variation that I can't otherwise see under fluorescent. Or maybe you could take the glass out into the sunlight, that might help too.

JavaGirlBT · #11 2011-11-17, 11:56am

Sometimes if you put on your Didymium glasses, it's easier to see the difference between the two colors and you can separate them from each other. Telling which is which I have no idea, unless a rod of each is labeled.

Pia Kaven · #12 2011-11-17, 1:58pm

I do have one rod of each labeled... I will try to look at them through my shield... Thanks for the tip. I do look at them in the direct sunlight, but at least that way I cant see other than some of them have more defined striation in them.

Lyssa, I am thinking myself that there probably isnt any reason to sweat it, I dont think they will look, or behave any different. And if I knew before I ordered the d. sky blue, that it was identical to the d. turquoise, I wouldnt even have bothered.

essiemessy · #13 2011-11-17, 8:40pm

Mine are labelled (at least their little cubby holes are), but the main difference I find is that the sky blues will go translucent, almost transparent when melted, even after being worked for a little while. A really cool thing to see while you're making a bead

But I haven't noticed that in any of my turquoises.

Pia Kaven · #14 2011-11-17, 9:24pm

Thank you Di, this is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to find. Not sure if it will matter, but I will have a better peace of mind if I get them sorted out properly. I will let you know then later on how wrong I divided them!

Pia Kaven · #15 2011-11-17, 9:25pm

This is what happens with MCD too... it turns transparent, and before it cools down, it looks like you burnt the color, and ruined your work.

I cant wait to get back on torch on Sunday to try stuff out... and sort out my glass

Lyssa · #16 2011-11-18, 11:15am

MCD?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia Kaven

This is what happens with MCD too... it turns transparent, and before it cools down, it looks like you burnt the color, and ruined your work.

I cant wait to get back on torch on Sunday to try stuff out... and sort out my glass

SuzyQ · #17 2011-11-18, 11:33am

The covered hair elastics do break down over time. They lose their stretch, but they don't stick to the glass.

Pia Kaven · #18 2011-11-18, 12:15pm

MCD= Multicolor dark. Reichenback color... I think I got couple examples...

DarkFlowerBead · #19 2011-11-18, 12:16pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyssa

MCD?

MCD= mulitcolor dark

Lyssa · #20 2011-11-18, 12:31pm

Ah, if i recall correctly I have a rod of that. Maybe. Maybe not.

BrownGirl · #21 2011-11-18, 1:43pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia Kaven

MCD= Multicolor dark. Reichenback color... I think I got couple examples...

Oh. My. When I saw this pic, my eyes got as wide as plates. It was cartoonlike! That is beautiful. Mama want. LOL

Lyssa · #22 2011-11-18, 1:51pm

So sad, those pics are "broken" for me. I can't see images that are hosted on websites like Photobucket or Flickr (while I am at work, I mean, which I am right now). Can't wait to get home to see them! Heck, I just can't wait to get home!

Pia Kaven · #23 2011-11-18, 2:42pm

Aimee, I have the same problem when I'm at work... I hate when I can't see the pictures in gallery... Or anywhere else. This is just a picture of a nugget with nothing else but MCD. Nothing special, but I appreciate Monica's comment.

Kym · #24 2011-11-18, 3:11pm

What about silicon stretch bands? I notice some around the hair sections of the supermarket and wondered if they would break down like the rubber bands do?

Kym

Eileen · #25 2011-11-18, 3:37pm

Can't look, can't look, can't look, already bought 2 things this week ~ she says, looking & drooling anyway!

Ali Oops · #26 2011-11-19, 6:06pm

You can get the little stretchy ponytail bands at the Dollar store 300 for $1.00. So much better than rubberband goo on the glass rods.

Pia Kaven · #27 2011-11-19, 10:42pm

Oooooh, I hate that petrofied rubberband on the rods... hate it!

PurpleCatJewels · #28 2011-11-20, 11:08pm

Okay…ONE of these two colors has a reduction that WILL NOT come off even after a good soaking in all but etching solution!

I can't tell which blue it is without making more spacers but ONE of them is making me pull my hair out!

I just thought Dark Sky Blue was a mislabeled rod of Dark Turquoise. LOVE the color, hate the scummy reduction

This topic helped me realize that I have delayed crazy for at least another day…now I know there really IS a Dark Sky Blue and the universe isn't playing crummy jokes on me.

P.S. I started using the little "no pull" hair elastics. They're cloth-coverd and black-colored but they don't hold a very big bundle or a very small bundle. I haven't had any stretch out after almost three years. the rubber bands…all dead and in the bottom of my glass bin.

jaci · #29 2011-11-21, 7:52am

Dk sky blue is 100% smurf!!! And is probably the one giving you the reduction!
If that helps... How's the sort going??

Oh and maybe take a picture. The camera may pick up the shades better.

Pia Kaven · #30 2011-11-21, 1:05pm

The sort is still on just the base of visual stuff... I am planning on melting that stuff and hopefully see some differences then. So far all my torching plans have gone to shreds because of the new storing system... cant really complain, but I am just little OCD with organizing. No, dont understand wrong, I am not necessarily organizing freak, but certain things I just need to get right, and Ive been spending some time with the storage units...