A week ago, my husband Mike Frantz came back from a trip to Murano, Italy.  Mike made many visits to the Effetre glass factory while he was there and he found five new colors for the lampworking community.  They are:

• Very Cherry
• Butternut
• Dark Matter
• Rosewood
• Lace Agate

 
These new colors will be available on our website in a few weeks as they will be winging their way via air to the U.S. and more will arrive a bit later by sea.  We will be having a few auctions the first week of June to introduce these new colors, which will be auctioned off as assortments.  Mike will be showing the paddles and beads I have made out of these new colors at the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee as well.

I have had the pleasure of making for display, a paddle and bead out of each of these five new colors and I really like this group of new colors.  The Very Cherry is a bright transparent Christmas red that looks very dark in the sample bead I made, but would come out a fabulous red used over white to make a White-heart bead or used for detail work where you need a bright Christmas red.   This red is a blue red and not an orange  red, which is what is usually available to lampworkers.   Butternut is a rich, warm golden yellow with streaks of soft orange running through it and looks good enough to eat!  Dark Matter is a mysterious and surprising dark brown/gray that will blush a little dark green here and there on the surface.  Rosewood looks a lot like its namesake when you heat it up and make a bead out of it and it is a truly unique blend of warm reddish brown tones swirled together.  Last but not least is Lace Agate; this color is one of those organic WOW glass colors, it reminds me of variegated beach rocks that I have collected since I was a kid.