CiM: Messy Color™ Chocolate Ltd Run, A cloudy chocolate brown transparent.

Messy Color™ Chocolate Ltd Run

511731 - Sold Out

A cloudy chocolate brown transparent.

"Chocolate is a gorgeous, swirly, slightly grayed brown. The two front beads were made with a thicker, more dense rod and the back two were made with a thin rod. The disc shows swirls but the second bead is very dense except when viewed at the hole." – Gloria Sevey

Click here for other interesting Chocolate Ltd Run discoveries.

Suzy Hannabuss

Melanie Graham

Long bead – base of various neutral colour glasses with wraps of Chocolate. Smaller bead is all CiM colours as a base with Chocolate and Watermelon wrapped around.

Heather Johnson

Darlene Collette

Melanie Graham

Gloria Sevey

CiM Tester Feedback

Chocolate is a cloudy transparent.

Testers were divided on whether or not they liked the cloudy transparents.

"I like the cloudy transparents. Lots!" – Carol Ann Savage

"I didn't get on with the cloudy transparents. If you can add more pigment and they are not shocky, I think they would be good." – Suzy Hannabuss

"I found the cloudy transparent glass to be much stiffer than other glass so it was a bit hard to sculpt with." – Lori Peterson

"I had rods of cloudy transparent colors that were light as well as rods that were very dark. I made some beads with the dark rod of Watermelon and very little light came through the glass and the color was unappealing to me. However, the dark rod of Chocolate is a very nice brown. With such a huge difference between rods, I think it’s kind of a confusing sale if dark and light rods are presented as the same color." – Gloria Sevey

Many testers reported that our cloudy transparents were prone to shockiness or breakage. **Please pre-warm / pre-anneal rods accordingly.**

"In general, I have found the Cloudy Transparent colours to be a bit shocky. For the most part, this was quite manageable and well worth the effort, at least for the colours I've tried so far." Read more at Melanie's blog. – Melanie Graham

"I experienced neither shockiness nor boiling with the cloudy transparents. I did use a cool flame though. I’ve changed my method of introducing glass rods to the flame which reduces shocking considerably [almost non-existent unless there are holes in the rod]. I rotate the tip of my rod way above the flame for a short time and then slowly rotate it downward into the flame. It’s usually starting to melt by that time. That said, not everyone uses this cautious of a method and might have rods being shocky because of being put into the flame when they’re still cold." – Gloria Sevey

"In the new cloudy colors it does seem the thicker the rod the more saturated the color seems to be. I had zero issue with Heather, Morgan and Watermelon. However my beloved Pink Lemonade and Vintage Rose were super shocky even with kiln warming." – Michelle Veizaga

"Heather is a little shocky so a little pre-warming and careful introduction to the flame is all that’s needed. I’ve not had a lot of luck as Heather layered over Effetre White cracked [probably thermal] and when I tried over CiM Peace I got all sorts of crazy cracks. I found Chocolate a bit shocky, certainly more so than Watermelon which surprised me since they are both cloudy transparents and made in the same way. However pre-warming the rod seemed to help and the shocky-ness certainly wouldn’t put me off." – Heather Johnson

"I agree with the mostly-too-shocky." – Dwyn Tomlinson

"I made a clear base and encased with the cloudy transparents, but sadly the beads cracked." – Trudi Doherty

"I experienced micro cracks when combining several of the cloudy transparents with 96 COE frit." – Darlene Collette

"I didn’t have any problems with the cloudy transparents! They weren’t shocky or boiled, but I have to admit, that I work in a cold flame and very carefully to prevent any bad incident." – Claudia Eidenbenz

"I found them intolerably shocky." – Laurie Nessel

"I preheated all the testing rods in a Devardi rod warmer as it was particularly cold in the UK at that time and this is something I always do that time of year. By doing this I didn't experience any shockiness. I also used a very thin encasement of Effetre Superclear 006 before applying cloudy transparents as an encasement - no issues." – Juliette Mullett

"I found the cloudy transparents shocky, that they boiled easily in the flame which created micro bubbles on the surface of beads, and that under clear encasement some of them cracked." – Jolene Wolfe

Some testers reported that our cloudy transparents were prone to boiling.

"I did find some cloudy transparents could boil if you worked them too hot. I like to work them cooler and with not too much oxygen in the flame." – Trudi Doherty

"I had no issues with any of the cloudy transparents apart from a little bubbling in 1 or 2 of them." – Juliette Mullett

"Another thing common to all of these colours [so far] is that they can be easy to boil, so you really have to watch your heat. This is true not only with fine stringer, but also when applying the glass from the rod to your bead. Work higher up in the flame and a bit cooler to avoid this problem." Read more at Melanie's blog. – Melanie Graham

Testers were divided on whether or not they liked the wispy or streaky quality of the cloudy transparents.

"All but two of the new color strands sold and the two that didn’t sell didn’t get much attention [Chocolate and Heather, both cloudy transparents]. I think that maybe those cloudy transparents just didn’t have enough zing to capture the mood hopes of this moment in time." – Gloria Sevey

"There are lots of straight transparents. I'd vote for more cloudy transparents. If the glass is wispy then you can use those qualities to your advantage when making beads." – Carol Ann Savage

"I loved the wispy/streaky quality, for me that was a big part of the attraction." – Trudi Doherty

"I think the wispy/streaky quality is great for certain designs, but it's not something I prefer." – Laurie Nessel

"I quite like the wispy quality, but I do like the more saturated streaks." – Heather Johnson

"Some of my studio mates were unhappy with the color saturation in the cloudy transparents, particularly when making blown beads." – Janet Evans

"I thought the wispiness was an upside. We have lots of solid colours and very few wispy ones. My opinion is that the wispiness is a plus and fills a gap." – Melanie Graham

Special thanks to Claudia Eidenbenz for providing the photo 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.

"In this set, Chocolate was wrapped with 99% fine silver and paired with spacer beads. This is a lovely glass that I had experienced some issues combining it with glass frit. Using it with fine silver is a perfect combination to bring out the richness of the hues of chocolate brown and silver." See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

"Chocolate is a gorgeous, deep, dark brown transparent colour. Out of all the new cloudy transparents, this one might be the one I am most excited about. Because it is a very dark colour, when used in thick layers this colour is a very opaque deep brown, but you can lighten it as much as you want by applying it in thinner layers on top of other colours. This offers quite a lot of flexibility when you're designing with it. In general, I have found the Cloudy Transparent colours to be a bit shocky. For the most part, this was quite manageable and well worth the effort, at least for the colours I've tried so far. Heather is the one that I've had the most trouble with out of this group. Another thing common to all of these colours [so far] is that they can be easy to boil, so you really have to watch your heat. This is true not only with fine stringer, but also when applying the glass from the rod to your bead. Work higher up in the flame and a bit cooler to avoid this problem. I have not specifically tested any of these for colour reactions yet. When I do, I might find out something interesting, but so far they do not seem very reactive with other colours." Read more at Melanie's blog.

– Melanie Graham

"I love Chocolate, and I particularly like the lacey effect in the leaf where it's pressed very thin. Unfortunately, the rod I had was also full of air bubbles, and it did a significant amount of shocking." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

Left to right: Chocolate, Effetre Marron Testa di Moro. See more of Claudia’s color comparisons.

– Claudia Eidenbenz

"Chocolate is a very good color! Especially because we waited a long time for such a dark chocolate color. A little problem with cloudy transparents like Chocolate- they are very delicate and easy to burn. That means that on the bead surface white foam is visible. These colors need to be heated on a very small fire."

– Olga Ivashina

– Gloria Sevey

"Hand-blown glass shards of Chocolate with silvered ivory. Chocolate is a cloudy brown transparent that is true to its name." Read more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

"Chocolate is a pigmented color like Heather and Watermelon and it is just a gorgeous chocolate/coffee brown. No fussiness and melts smoothly."

– Lori Peterson

"On its own this glass isn’t a favourite, but layering it up over other colours gives this glass a whole new dimension. I love the organic look this glass has when layered up over various earthy colours. Almost like layers of sedimentary rock. I've ended up liking this style of glass a lot more than I thought I would! I found it a bit shocky, certainly more so than Watermelon which surprised me since they are made in the same way. However pre-warming the rod seemed to help and the shocky-ness certainly wouldn’t put me off."

– Heather Johnson

"Chocolate is a brown streaky transparent. I'm not sure about this colour. I would prefer a true transparent chocolate colour vs. cloudy/streaky. Does make a bit of bubbling when encased."

– Suzy Hannabuss

"Looks just like milk chocolate. When held up to the light it is neither opaque nor transparent but a combination of both. The best colour match to actual chocolate you can find."

– Juliette Mullett

"Although you can’t really see any cloudiness here, Chocolate is one of CiM’s new cloudy transparents. It’s a true dark chocolate brown. The cloudy transparency allows a certain amount of light to shine through the bead but at the same time the glass appears mostly opaque. If you were to use a thin layer of it over something else it would act like a dark transparent and you’d get a less saturated brown. What’s lovely about this glass is that when used on its own, like I’ve used it here, it’s a true dark brown and it has no streakiness like actual opaque dark brown glass often gets. Another trouble-free glass. The scrolls on these are CiM Toto." Read more at Laura's blog.

– Laura Sparling