CiM: Messy Color™ Chalcedony, A periwinkle blue opal.

Messy Color™ Chalcedony

511550 -

A periwinkle blue opal.

Vickie Christian uses Chalcedony frit to create 104 compatible frit blends. Find more blends at Vickie's Emporium.

Click here for other interesting Chalcedony discoveries.

Darlene Collette

Lori Bergmann

Carol Oliver

Debora Cox

Jolene Wolfe

Laura Sparling

CiM Tester Feedback

Testers agreed that Chalcedony is unique to the 104 glass lampworking palette.

“It’s a gorgeous color that I haven’t seen anywhere else! It seems closest to regular Periwinkle, but I love the dreamy character it has.” – Jan Whitesel-Keeton

“There are a couple of colors that are similar, Effetre Pajama Blue for one, but nothing really comes that close to its color, ease of use and workability.” – Starleen Colon

“Chalcedony has more depth than Effetre or Vetrofond Periwinkle blue but may ‘frazzle’ when worked in higher heat.” – Carol Oliver

“Chalcedony isn't as shocky and is a little darker than Moretti's equivalent color.” – Teri Yount

“No other colors compare.” – Sue Stewart

Testers found this opal easy to work.

“Effetre’s opalinos are very shocky and burn/boil easily; neither of these were a problem with Messy Chalcedony.” – Carol Oliver

“I had no issues if annealed high, no devit and no cracking.” – Starleen Colon

“Effetre’s opalinos are very stiff and hard to work without heating the snot out of them which can affect the finished piece. They boil, devit, change colors, and some are hard if not impossible to encase. Messy’s new opal like colors including Chalcedony don’t do that at all. I like that you can control the opal effect, going opaque to opaly depending on how you work it. I like the fact that they don’t devitrify and get that ‘dry,’ over cooked look. I’ve been able to encase most of them without incident.” – Sue Stewart

Testers generally agreed that encasing Chalcedony, or using it on a clear base, or working it fast & cool, resulted in more opalescence.

“Chalcedony stayed opalescent when working, but stayed opaque enough to maintain its color over a transparent glass. It did tend to frazzle out when hot and spreading was noted on transparent glass.” – Carol Oliver

“For the most part, Chalcedony kept the same translucent quality, no matter how long or hot I worked it.” – Lori Bergmann

“It does not seem to be an opalescent in my opinion, more solid.” – Starleen Colon

“I’ve made Chalcedony both stay opalescent and turn opaque. The working temp and the amount of manipulation seem to play the major role in controlling the end result. Yes, Chalcedony likes cooler temps and less work to get the opalino look but . . . there is nothing really wrong with going to the opaque side.” – Sue Stewart

“Chalcedony tends to stay opaque.” – Teri Yount

“Chalcedony can be semi translucent or opaque depending on the amount of work in the flame.” – Jan Whitesel-Keeton

Special thanks to Genea Crivello-Knable & Teri Wathan for providing the photos in this section.

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.

Handmix of Chalcedony and Pink Champagne.

– Gloria Sevey

Vickie Christian uses Chalcedony frit to create 104 compatible frit blends. Find more blends at Vickie's Emporium.

“It’s such a lovely translucent glass…especially since I’ve learned to treat it more gently and not let it get reheated while I’m making the next spacer.”

– Gloria Sevey

"Chalcedony is a great color to work with! Gorgeous color, easy to work and not temperamental to sculpt like some glass can be."

– Joy Munshower

"These are Chalcedony with a Clio overwrap that has been reduced. The base beads have become somewhat greener with the yellow fuming effect of the reduced Clio." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

"Here’s CiM Chalcedony – an opalino light blue. Less translucent than Crocus and tends to opacify if you work it for a long time. I also found it tricky to photograph – it should be slightly more translucent than it appears here." Read more at Heather's blog.

– Heather Kelly

“Out of the nine Messy opals that I tested, five of them remained translucent and they were Plum, Rose Quartz, Ghee, Chalcedony and Crocus.” Read more about keeping opal glass translucent at the Frantz Art Glass blog.

– Patricia Frantz

"The colour is such a dead-on match for blue Chalcedony that I am now deeply suspicious of the last batch of blue chalcedony that I bought." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

"Here are my Chalcedony [silvered] shard test beads. The subtle veiled effect is preserved after application and there is very little further organic reactions created by further heating of the silvered Chalcedony shards." Read more on Craft Pimp.

– Jolene Wolfe