CiM: Messy Color™ Pulsar, An intense transparent aqua blue.

Messy Color™ Pulsar

511563 -

An intense transparent aqua blue.

"In short, the Pulsar is at the cobalt marked end of the bead - and in fact, does appear darker, more intense, and, dare I say it, slightly less greenish than the Moretti dark aqua. Not just in the photos, but in real life too." Read more at DragonJools blog. – Dwyn Tomlinson

Click here for other interesting Pulsar discoveries.

Sue Stewart

Patricia Frantz

Gloria Sevey

Messy Pulsar with silver foil & frit blends

Darlene Collette

Jolene Wolfe

Messy Pulsar & Simply Berry with effetre colors

Genea Crivello

CiM Tester Feedback

Most testers reported that Pulsar is slightly more intense than the Italian aquas.

"Pulsar is a more intense aqua blue that does not boil as easily as the Effetre aquas." – Carol Oliver

"If not compared side by side, Pulsar and the Italian aquas are pretty much the same. Side by side, Pulsar is much more vibrant." – Elasia

"I tested Pulsar, Effetre 034 aquamarine, Effetre 036 dark aqua, and Lauscha aqua. All these colors were sparky and had to be worked very cool. Pulsar is more intense than the other colors." – Gail Witt

"Pulsar boils very easily and is a slightly richer blue than the Italian aquas." – Kirsty Naray

"Pulsar is quite similar depending on the batch of Effetre's aqua." – Maija-Leena Autio

"Pulsar is most similar to Effetre dark aqua but it pits more." – Laura Sparling

“Pulsar is the same hue as Effetre dark aqua, but richer and deeper.” – Genea Crivello

"Pulsar and the Italian aquas are VERY similar, almost identical." – Teri Yount

Some testers reported Pulsar "boiling," "scumming," or "bubbling."

“When first put in the flame, Pulsar sparks/boils/pits. This reaction then kinda works its way out—it eventually stops doing it and I can continue to heat and reheat the glass as much as I want. If I manipulate the glass in any way—with a graphite marver, a brass press, tweezers—the glass will begin to boil again wherever it has been touched with the tool. I actually had some of the same problems with Effetre dark aqua, but not to the extent that I have with Pulsar.” – Bethany Lemasters

“I work in a cooler flame. Pulsar is a gorgeous clear deep aqua blue with no bubbles.” – Donna Dorman

“Pulsar was fine once my dirty gas was fixed.” – Elasia

“Since I turned down my flame considerably, I don’t seem to have a problem with boiling or scum.” – Jan Whitesel-Keeton

“I've always had trouble with 'boiling' aquas...both light and dark Effetre drive me nuts. Pulsar has a slight bubbly tendency but it can be tamed with a cooler, oxygenated flame, and whatever surface bubbles form will even out.” – Karen Sherwood

“My experience with Pulsar is that it likes to be treated on the gentle side, not using lots of heat.” – Leslie Anne Bitgood

“I prefer ALL of the CiM turquoise family colors to the Italian colors simply because they melt so much better and smoother. Occasionally I will find them bubbling on the surface, but for me, keeping the glass a little higher in the flame works like a charm.” – Renee Wiggins

"Pulsar boils a bit easier for me than the Italian aquas. Nice color, just a bit temperamental." – Chris Haussler

Some testers reported problems with Pulsar pitting.

"Recently I had an issue with Pulsar & Azure pitting and bubbling when too much heat was applied. The hose and my equipment were relatively new, and there was nothing about the flame to suggest contamination, but when I switched out the hose the problem started going away. After a few hours of work, whatever contamination had been coming from my hose had flushed out of the torch head, and the glass behaved normally again." – Celia Friedman

"Like most dark blue transparents, Pulsar is sparky. I had to use a very cool flame and in several cases I made a small bead with Pulsar and then encased in clear in order to put the decoration on the bead without pitting. The color results are worth the extra attention." – Gail Witt

Special thanks to Genea Crivello-Knable, Maija-Leena Autio, Gail Witt, & Heather Sellers for providing the photos in this section.

Check out how Darlene Collette used Oz, Pulsar, & Sapphire with 99% fine silver.

Amy Houston layered Pulsar over white for an intense blue.

Check out Amy Houston's buttons made with Pulsar.

Genea Crivello-Knable's blog mentions how difficult it is to photograph Pulsar.

Darlene Collette use Pulsar as a base for DH Aion & Nyx.

Darlene Collette was inspired by a Hubble telescope photo to use Pulsar with Double Helix Aurae.

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.

"The bottom row contains the test beads of each of the nine glasses, the bottom bead of that glass alone, in the middle covered with clear and top on white. The beads on the other mandrel are my typical test beads that I do when I want to know how colorful some translucent glass is as a thin layer. Even though I tried to capture the colors as truthfully as possible, the shades are a little different than what they are in reality. At least on my screen." Read more at Maikki's blog.

– Maija-Leena Autio

"A set of rings, in order: Effetre dark aqua, Vetrofond pale aqua, Vetrofond light aqua, Pulsar, Devardi Ice. See how beautifully Pulsar completes the set?"

– Celia Friedman

"Here is a dichroic bead with Pulsar. I find the intensity of Pulsar absolutely breathtaking over the dichroic flakes."

– Celia Friedman

"Pulsar is my favorite go to aqua blue!" Read more at Chris' blog.

– Chris Sanderson

Chris Sanderson compared different transparent blues with her Zebra style beads, starting with Pulsar. See more beads at Chris's blog.

– Chris Sanderson

Pulsar with silvered ivory stringer and a DH dragon.

– Yulia Trubitsyna

"This set of 9 goddess series beads was created on a base of CiM Pulsar glass with layered dots of Effetre dark ivory & Double Helix ES-404 silver catalyst glass. Trautman Art Glass silver infused Zeus creates the swirls in each storm portal. Highlights of Double Helix OK-381R silver glass create the bling for these beautiful storm portal beads! Four CiM Pulsar spacers complete this set." Read more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

“I tend to work fairly hot and it seems that Pulsar cannot stand up to prolonged heating in an intense flame without it boiling and bubbling up. This is what causes the pitting and tiny holes on the surface of some of my beads. To get the best from this beautiful transparent blue glass I found that I needed to melt Pulsar more slowly, turning my torch down a bit and working in the cooler tip of the flame.”

– Jolene Wolfe

"Pulsar works especially well with the silver reactive colors. It’s richness and clarity are just superb. See the little Pulsar window? Love it, love it, love it!"

– Sue Stewart

"Pulsar as a self-solid, and very thin - over white. It retains it's intensity very nicely." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

"Pulsar reduced resembles Double Helix Elektra in my opinion. You get the reddish tones with a slight bit of iridescent oil slick in spots."

– Genea Crivello

"I worked Pulsar high in the flame and successfully avoided it pitting." Read more and see more comparison beads including etched versions at Lush Blogs.

– Julie Fountain

"Pulsar matches Swarovski Capri crystals."

– Bethany Lemasters