Color reactions of glass (list)

Another quick one, mostly so I can always find it.

I’ve talked frequently about “reactivity” of glass, i.e., the tendency of one glass to change color and other properties when combined with, or in close proximity to, another glass. In compatible glasses the concern is more about color change than anything else…and the color changes can be something of a shock.

Early on, I put a lot of work into a glasspic I called “snow maiden,” mostly made out of BE French Vanilla. I sifted BE Salmon Pink powder all over her face to add a healthy blush. On firing she became “Tahitian maiden,” and taught me the lovely dark reaction you get when you combine FV and Salmon Pink.

Since then I’ve done a LOT of color tests. (in the picture above you see a lovely reaction between Medium Amber and Salmon Pink)
I mostly try sifting frits over one another, as above, or combining them in deeper cubes to test colors for casting. I tend to slip a couple into firings when there’s space in the kiln (and I have time–measuring out minute quantities of frit gets to be a pain), so I wind up with lots of tiles and cubes that are invaluable references for my work. At some point I’m going to catalog them, get them up on my walls and do something about making a visual tool on my website…but that’s in the future.

There are several resources available to help you figure out color reactions before they happen. Probably the most definitive is Bullseye’s own, which they revamped in the last few months. They’ve built charts broadly defining the characteristics of their glasses, one for transparents, one for opals. There’s good firing data in there, as well as notes on chemical composition and potential for reaction.

Lauri Levanto, a Finnish glass artist, has charted the Bullseye info into cross-referenced tables in both English and Suomish. If you’re willing to be a bit adventurous, check here first and you’ll see a lot more links to very useful things like a glass glossery and such. Not all of it is English, but I can usually puzzle out what isn’t in because it’s very logically (for me, anyway) organized.

Torchworkers/beadmakers uses these reactions quite a bit, and most of the online discussions I’ve found about this involve beadmaking. I’m still looking for additional information on reactivities, with Bullseye or just about any other glass used in art. If someone has additional links, lemme know and I’ll post them here.

Thanks!

–cynthia

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