CiM: Messy Color™ Bordello, An intense transparent garnet red.

Messy Color™ Bordello

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An intense transparent garnet red.

"Effetre Very Cherry and Bordello look pretty close. These beads have a small barrel of white under half of the bead, but the reds are more translucent and you can't really tell I have white underneath except by the bead hole. Bordello looks a bit more red." – Genea Crivello

Click here for other interesting Bordello discoveries.

Teri Yount

Messy Bordello, Slytherin, Elphaba, Mojito, and Oz

Genea Crivello

Ellen Gaimari

Darlene Collette

Robin Poff

JC Herrell

CiM Tester Feedback

Testers found Bordello easy to strike but too dark, and best if layered over white or clear in an oxidized flame.

“I don’t have any trouble striking Bordello. I let it cool and then introduce the bead into the tip of the flame. The deep red blooms almost immediately and continues to darken the more you work it. My biggest problem is that it becomes so dark that it appears more black than red. The longer it’s in the flame the more problems I have with it. Also some of my annealed beads stayed very dark, almost black. I LOVE it when it stays a clear garnet color, but this is hard to maintain. It’s fun to see what you get out of the kiln if you aren’t too fussy about the results." – Gail Witt

“Striking Bordello is not a problem. I do it the same as Sangre. But for me Bordello is too dark. It is not very popular among customers; it is probably too expensive.” – Angela Hadorn

“I have problems with Bordello turning brown when worked. I have had some OK luck using it as a base for silver colors, but not on its own.” – Carol Oliver

"Bordello is probably my least favorite Messy Color. It tends to turn out a bit too brown or livery colored for me." – Kathy Coon

"Bordello is easy to strike. My test beads matched the rod in color." – Katrina Knauss

“I found Bordello the easiest to strike red glass I have ever used. It was very dense and I had to apply it over white or clear to get it to appear red. I did find that it was lighter coming out of the kiln than it was going in. The glass reduces very easily, so I had to work it cool to prevent a livery color.” – Janice Laster

“I have a terrible time striking Bordello. It is usually colored on the inside and variable on the outside. And the color I get is not what I want.” – Chris Haussler

"I have tried Bordello a little bit and I love it so far! Beautiful DARK red with blue tones, easy to strike. I have encased it, used it as stringer, used it over clear and over white. I initially was concerned as it seemed cloudy when I was working it, but it came out of the kiln very clear and nice. I like it much more that Effetre striking red as it is more saturated and doesn't tend to the orange side of the palette so much. I did find that in thicker applications that are worked more heavily, it tends to brown and go a little livery, but I haven't found a striking red yet that won't do that eventually." – Kimberly Affleck

“Bordello is dark and hard to tell what was going on. And some of it didn’t strike for me and went orange transparent. Such a pretty color in rod form.” – Marcy Lamberson

“I was able to strike Bordello pretty much just by working it into a bead. Any small areas that had’t struck yet, I let cool a bit, then struck easily. I pretty much just get the really dark blood red like the rod color.” – Lori Bergmann

“I don’t like it. I can get the colour I want in the flame but it goes haywire in the kiln and for that reason I don’t use it.” – Laura Sparling

“I think Bordello is the easiest to strike of transparent reds. Earlier I nagged about it turning brownish, but I have started to like it that way.” – Maija-Leena Autio

“I made a ribbon cane with transparent cobalt blue and Bordello on white. Then I did the same with Moretti red. Then I made beads with them both. On the Bordello bead, I have one thin spot where I couldn't make it strike to red. The Moretti bead is all orange stripes and looks burned out. I tried and tried to strike it to red. Couldn't do it. We're talking 5-6 attempts to get this out of it. Bordello? Twice.” – Evil Glass

Testers found Bordello difficult to photograph.

"Bordello photographs best outside." – Teri Yount

"Transparent reds hate artificial light – it always shows up as brown. Try using daylight to photograph." – Laura Sparling

“When photographing dark red transparents, I make sure my lighting is going through the beads, and I also have a reflector to shine light in from the front to bring out the color. Sometimes if that isn’t enough, I increase the 'Fill Light' level in my Lightroom program too.” – Lori Bergmann

“Shoot against the light or as a thin encasing of Bordello on white.” – Angela Hadorn

Testers found Bordello turns brown in reduction.

"Bordello turned a yucky brown in reduction." – Gail Witt

“When reducing, Bordello turned a muddy brown color.” – Stephanie Risberg

"Bordello needs lots of oxy." – Teri Yount

“The changes in this glass were interesting. I found that you heat the color almost completely out of it and then bring it back with reduction to almost any shade you wanted. It could become a cloudy brown to a rich red shade, just by reduction. This is one of my favorite colors.” – Jan Whitesel-Keeton

Special thanks to Elasia and Maija-Leena Autio for providing the photos in this section.

See beads Darlene Collette created with Bordello and Leaky Pen on ivory.

Genea Crivello-Knable used Bordello to make Flower Lantern earrings.

Darlene Collette's autumn inspired beads were created with Canyon de Chelly, Bordello, & Maple.

Join Trudi Doherty's FB group Lampwork Colour Resource Sharing Information for a catalogue of color study.
Claudia Eidenbenz’s "Vetrothek" (glass library) is a great resource for color comparisons.
See Kay Powell’s frit testing samples.
Browse Serena Thomas’ color gallery.
Check out Miriam Steger’s CiM color charts.
Consult Jolene Wolfe's glass testing resource page.

"CiM's colours are about the colour they are already in the rod, but other glass producers' rods can be very light, almost light amber, so if rods are unmarked, you cannot know their colour before heating them. . . . I was more interested in spacer beads and white beads with a thick layering over them in a hope to see their 'real' colour. This time even Bordello wanted to be red instead of brown it sometimes is. I took photos of the beads in natural winterly light, as photographing reds in artificial light can make them look browner than they are." Read more at Maikki's blog.

– Maija-Leena Autio

"This colour is very saturated and dark in colour, but lightens up beautifully over White/Ivory. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, but I find this colour oddly appealing. Because it is so dark, it's not a great colour for applications like flower petals in encased florals, but it does layer really nicely over colours like coral, adding depth to the colour and making a deep, warm red." Read more at Melanie's blog.

– Melanie Graham

Lighting made with Bordello, Sangre, Sangre Unique, Simply Berry, and Cranberry Pink.

– Stacy Harshman

"This one is Bordello and Marble. I was just enchanted with the range of color I got from mixing the deep red of Bordello with the creamy, pale Marble. Some beads are a deep burgundy, some a rich, true red...and some are a streaky warm red-brown color."

– Dana George

"Here is Bordello in a sculptural piece. You can really see a lot of colour variation, due to its striking. Areas that are re-heated are darkest, areas that are not - stay shades of light red and amber." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

– Genea Crivello

“You can see in the set of plain rounds how Bordello looks when struck slightly less or more – the red really comes out the more you strike it. It is a really fantastic red in my opinion.” Read more at Two Glassy Ladies’ blog.

– Amy Hall

"Ruby Slipper frit blend is made from Messy Bordello, a gorgeous rich dark transparent garnet red, but we've coated it in a glittery gold powder for an awesome new effect." Read more at JetAge Studio's site.

– Renee Wiggins

Bordello in a reduction flame.

– Elasia

"This glass definitely needs to be struck! The bead on the left is struck, the one on the right is not. This means letting the bead cool until basically not glowing anymore, then put it back in the flame for a few seconds/few turns." Read more about Bordello on Two Glassy Ladies' site.

– Amy Hall