CiM: Messy Color™ Stone Ground, An opaque silver yellow that strikes to a variety of hues.

Messy Color™ Stone Ground

511351 -

An opaque silver yellow that strikes to a variety of hues.

Click here to view Stone Ground Uniques

"I just love the effects of silver and raku on Stone Ground." – Genea Crivello

Click here for other interesting Stone Ground discoveries.

Genea Crivello

Joy Munshower

Kevan Aponte

Gail Witt

Canyon de Chelly & Stone Ground cat beads

Elizabeth Bunn

Sarah Bedwell

CiM Tester Feedback

Testers are divided on whether or not Stone Ground is significantly different from Effetre Opal Yellow.

"I tested Stone Ground & Opal Yellow under oxidation and without silver leaf, as well as rolled in silver leaf and in reduction. They are very similar to each other. Stone Ground has more yellow/brown tones, Opal Yellow has more yellow/orange tones." – Bonnie Polinski

"It might be a fair generalization to say that the Opal Yellow tends to look a little lighter. In terms of reactivity and 'cool effects' - both of them react strongly - the Stone Ground possibly more so - perhaps just as it is a little darker. I'd say they are pretty comparable." Read more and see comparison beads at DragonJools blog. – Dwyn Tomlinson

"Stone Ground gives more surface color variation when worked and it is a bit darker in general compared to Opal Yellow. I like the variation that I get from working Stone Ground on the surface. Opal Yellow stays a single color for me." – Chris Haussler

"Stone Ground is less yellowy, and less reactive. I don't use it in place of Opal Yellow." – Claire Morris

"I liked Stone Ground very much, but in comparing it to my current batch of Opal Yellow [which has the pink/peach center rings to the rods], I slightly preferred Opal Yellow. I found Cranberry Pink and rubino oro were prettier on the Opal Yellow; they seemed to turn much darker on the Stone Ground, and the Stone Ground took on a beige tone when they were added." – Donna Dorman

"They’re sort of siblings, somewhat the same but each holds its own pros and cons. The really ‘good’ Opal Yellow [pink rings inside] is more reactive than Stone Ground and has more colors to it. But the current Opal Yellow is a lot like Stone Ground." – Elasia

"I don’t think of them as interchangeable colors. Each has its own unique qualities. Stone Ground makes a great base bead on which to decorate with other colors. It’s so neutral it almost disappears. If kept in the fire for a prolonged period, Stone Ground develops a darker more aged looking appearance that is really beautiful. I use lots of stringer decoration on Stone Ground and was delighted to see my stringers becoming attached to the base glass with having to melt them in, and none of them have had any issues with popping off." – Gail Witt

"This is my very favorite color and I love using it with rubino and also Da Vinci. It is very lovely etched. I am able to bring out some darker hues as well as some pinks when worked a long time in the flame. I prefer Stone Ground over Opal Yellow." – Jan Whitesel-Keeton

"Truthfully, I don’t see them as being comparable at all. I use the Italian OY for its reactive properties, and I use Stone Ground as an organic-looking base color." – Kathy Coon

"I can't tell any difference. The color is nearly identical [if not identical] and it strikes the same." – Elizabeth Long

"Stone Ground melts so much nicer [my OY is really shocky] and it seems to be more reactive with silver colors. I also noticed that it turns brown rather quickly while working and ends up being darker than OY." – Lori Bergmann

"I use these mostly with silver glass or silver foil and I think they act about the same." – Maija-Leena Autio

"I like Stone Ground for organics and with silver glasses. It is a little browner than OY. Raku gets more color on OY than Stone Ground." – Pat O'Brien

"Stone Ground is very similar. I do like this earthy creamy yellow. I have not found it to react with silver foil in my tests." – Renee Wiggins

"Stone Ground seems richer to me - Opal Yellow is a little washed out." – Robin Aragon

"I love Stone Ground. It is a dead on match to Opal Yellow, yet easier to pull brownish hues from the glass with multiple striking in an ever so slight reduction flame." – Starleen Colon

"Opal Yellow cannot be worked as long in the flame like Stone Ground. When working with Stone Ground I can get from white hot to a beautiful golden strike, every time! So I am able to play more with Stone Ground than with Opal Yellow." – Vonna Maslanka

Testers generally agreed that Stone Ground is easy to strike but difficult to reproduce the exact struck hues each time.

Special thanks to Bonnie Polinski (x 3), Genea Crivello-Knable (x 2), Gail Witt, & Trudi Doherty for providing the photos in this section.

See how Darlene Collette used Stone Ground as a base for DH Olympic Rain and other silver glasses.

Darlene Collette included Stone Ground in her set of organic etched Rock Candy beads.

Julie Fountain made beads with Stone Ground & Fremen.

Darlene Collette used DH Psyche on top of Stone Ground to make botanical scrolls.

Genea Crivello-Knable used Stone Ground as a base for teddy bears.

Check out Darlene Collette's beads made with Stone Ground & DH frits.

Darlene Collette made a set capturing the colors of the harvest using Stone Ground.

See how Darlene Collette mixed Stone Ground with DH Luna & silver foil.

Darlene Collette used Stone Ground with various DH & TAG glasses.

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 comparison with reduced DH Aurae streams. See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

CiM comparison with 99% fine silver wire. See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

Stone Ground and Smurfy.

– Jolene Wolfe

Check out Jolene's "Mandy the Mud Crab Seaside Hearts" bead tutorial using Stone Ground in the January 2015 issue of the Soda Lime Times.

– Jolene Wolfe

"I just love the effects of silver and raku on Stone Ground."

– Genea Crivello

"Much of my focus lately has been on making beads that will appeal to the boys in the Beads of Courage program, and boys love snakes!" Check out Diane's snake bead tutorial using Stone Ground in the June 2012 issue of the Soda Lime Times.

– Diane Woodall

Check out Claudia's puppies tutorial with Stone Ground in her book Glass Bead Trip.

– Claudia Trimbur-Pagel

"This is the Stone Ground twistie [with stripes of Kalypso, Psyche, Terra 2, & Aurae] on a white opalino base. Reduced and it has a lot of shine and fuming." See more on Heather's blog.

– Heather Kelly

"I did a color study called 'Other than Ivory' using some Messy Colors in those wonderful earthy tones." Read more at Genea's blog.

– Genea Crivello

"This set of 11 flat nugget beads was created on a base of Stone Ground, an opaque silver yellow on which rare Trautman Art Glass named JD Mix was striped and dotted." See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

Acorn made with Stone Ground. Check out Lori's acorn tutorial.

– Lori Bergmann

Stone Ground face cabochons with varying re strike amounts.

– Robert Jennik

"A base of Stone Ground, an opaque silver yellow glass sprinkled with Double Helix Terranova silver glass frit. The result created a mottled pattern of blues, greens and magenta." Read more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

"This dramatic combo is using CiM Stone Ground [with EDP]. It has formed a darker line, and gone a very rich antiqued colour. Stone Ground is similar to Effetre Opal Yellow, in case you were wondering." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

Stone Ground as a base for Double Helix HE-379. See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

Stone Ground with silvered Hades & TAG Fire Lotus.

– Carol Oliver

Stone Ground with OK 381. "The glittering shine from these beads is amazing!"

– Darlene Collette

"WOW is silvered Stone Ground PRETTY!"

– Genea Crivello

"What I love about Stone Ground is that just a touch of flame to the edges of your piece brings out a toasted look . . . like your item was just singed on the edges, or browned with age."

– Bethany Lemasters

Psyche over Stone Ground.

– Lea Avroch

"I decided to make simple dotty beads using Effetre handpulled Copper Green, Effetre Dark Turquoise with Cranberry Pink, Effetre Opal Yellow and Stone Ground. The beads in the left row use CiM Stone Ground; the beads in the right hand row use Effetre Opal Yellow. It is very difficult to gauge the difference between the relative reactiveness of the two by simply looking at the beads side by side after annealing. Once I had mixed the two sets of beads together I couldn't tell which were which anymore at all." Read more at Craft Pimp.

– Jolene Wolfe

"Opal yellow is much lighter and creamier in color than Stone Ground. I still get reactions with it with my silver reactive glass but if you are after the lighter color, you need to stick with Opal Yellow."

– Sue Stewart

Stone Ground with Aurae.

– Sue Stewart

"Stone Ground and Raku play very nicely together with more muted colors [at least in this bead]."

– Leslie Anne Bitgood

"I’m so grooving on Gunmetal stringer. Works wonderfully with Stone Ground." [pictured here with dark ivory as well]

– Leslie Anne Bitgood

"Twistie of Dark Turquoise and EDP on Stone Ground and Opal Yellow. The Stone Ground has a wonderful warm golden brown color and nice spread/reaction. The Opal Yellow is almost white in color."

– Leslie Anne Bitgood

“A generous wrapping of 99% pure silver foil was burnished into the Stone Ground creating microdrops of silver to which Double Helix, silver infused striking glass was sprinkled. The glass when struck in the flame, gently fumed the silver to a golden glow, outlining each droplet of Terra Nova silver glass.”

– Darlene Collette

"I tried fuming it - the left end of the bead is fumed with silver, and the right end with gold. You can see that it has developed a lovely warm, nutty brown, a little more so on the gold-fumed end. Not really the same as fumed opal yellow - which goes more pinky. It's a nice earthy colour, and worth playing with if you are working with an earthtone colour palette." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

"I wanted to make some cake beads, but was having such a hard time finding the right colour for baked pastry and sponge! Until I tried Stone Ground - I should have guessed by the name that it was going to work just perfectly. Not only is it THE perfect colour, it even has a wonderful 'baked' look to it! These beads are Stone Ground, Effetre white and Lauscha Cocoa with a dusting of white enamel."

– Claire Morris

"Deeper than opal yellow, Stone Ground gives us a shade we don’t exactly have. I used it for hair on an angel. It makes a great blonde, but it does somewhat fume the face color and make it more golden. I would also use it for animal fur and other sculptural pieces."

– Marcy Lamberson

"Stone Ground works up as a similar color to a darker Effetre Opal Yellow. Stone Ground is not quite as reactive, but less shocky, harder to burn, and the color is more consistent. Makes an excellent base color for silver and reactive glasses."

– Carol Oliver