CiM: Messy Color™ Buttercup Ltd Run, A bright transparent yellow.

Messy Color™ Buttercup Ltd Run

511335 -

A bright transparent yellow.

"Buttercup is such a happy shade of lemony yellow, and transparent yellows are very hard to find. Working this glass, though, was pretty frustrating. Those of you who tried Goldfish a couple of years back will know what I'm talking about. When using this glass as a spacer or encasing white, I had a really hard time getting any colour out of it. I was striking it and striking it [for over 10 minutes] with very little result. The only way that I could get any intensity was to wrap it on a mandrel and pull some texture into the bead. You may have better luck with Buttercup, but it's not on my recommended list." – Janet Evans

Click here for other interesting Buttercup Ltd Run discoveries.

Suzanne Cancilla-Fox

CiM Buttercup, Pond Slime Misty, & Honeydew

Regis Teixera

Susan Parry

Suzy Hannabuss

CiM Buttercup, Consuelo Misty, & Pond Slime Misty

Regis Teixera

Heather Johnson

CiM Tester Feedback

We've had many requests for more truly transparent yellows.

Special thanks to Claudia Eidenbenz & Olga Ivashina for 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.

"I think Buttercup is my favorite translucent yellow. Not that there are many out there to choose from. Buttercup is bright true yellow, translucent, but it can opacify slightly depending on thickness/heat, I think. It can produce lovely striations in the yellow. Truly is smooth like butter."

– Anna Miller

"A bright sunny colour. A little clear and opaque yellow that makes it a sparkling glass piece. Melted smooth as butter and easy strike in neutral flame. Love the variations in this glass."

– Jean Daniels

"Buttercup is a hard to find bright yellow. This bead has a center of white, overlaid with Buttercup and decorated with surface opaque colors to create the flower. Love this yellow."

– Anna Miller

"Buttercup is a beautiful bright yellow but it takes a bit to strike."

– Suzy Hannabuss

“Goji & Buttercup were the bold, bright hot colors of the bunch this go around and I really love them! Hot colors can scum and bubble in the flame, especially yellows, however Buttercup behaved itself so nicely! This is a translucent color that needs no coaxing for the color to appear- I do have to add that I work cooler and usually heat and cool several times before my beads are ready for the kiln. These cycles of working with the glass typically produce consistent color."

– Michelle Veizaga

"Buttercup is a lovely color that instantly called me to think of the Ukraine and the heartbreak of that country's recent events. I paired it with swirls of Double Helix's rare blue Kronos silver glass and a wrap of 99% fine silver wire. Each bead was encased in Zephyr to capture the glittery goodness. This test resulted in 2 lovely hearts and a coordinating round bead. My hearts and prayers go out to the Ukraine." See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

"I do love this glass but it does require patience in the striking process. The striking yields a beautiful rich yellow that has a glowing inner radiance, just stunning. Recommend pre-heating the rods."

– Juliette Mullett

"Buttercup makes a nice base for striking silver glasses. This lentil bead is Reichenbach Multi Dark shards over Buttercup over a clear core."

– Heather Johnson

"Buttercup makes a nice base for striking silver glasses. I'm not an expert with silver glass by any means, and I'm not really sure what inspired me to try Buttercup as a base but I was pleasantly surprised. These two spacers are TAG Fire Lotus over Buttercup. The photos of the silver glass were taken in direct bright sunlight as I was really struggling to capture the colours correctly in indirect sunlight."

– Heather Johnson

"Buttercup is a lovely warm yellow. It seems to need striking but that does mean you can get a range of tones with it. The two droplets at the front of my pictures were kiln fused and they've gone much darker than my lampworked beads. The sheep bead was the first bead I made with Buttercup and I struggled to strike it to a consistent colour. It struck more in the kiln but still didn't go completely yellow. I kinda like it regardless! Buttercup is otherwise lovely to work with."

– Heather Johnson

"All lovely semi-transparent yellows. Buttercup [far left], a citrusy yellow, is very transparent and almost colorless in thin applications."

– Bling Squared Cute Glass

"I experimented and discovered the best way to get this glass to strike to a vibrant yellow. At first I tried reducing it and, when that didn’t work, I tried holding it in a neutral flame for an extended period of time. That was close. What I then discovered is that this glass likes to be held in the outer part of the flame and when it blushes, it likes to be removed from the heat to cool a bit and then reheated. Once I discovered this, I got a consistent reaction every time. The center of the flower shows the difference between coming out of the heat to give the glass a rest before resetting it by going back into the outer part of the flame versus the outer part of the petals where I only allowed it one entry into the heat. The outer part is much more transparent than the center which is semi-opaque."

– Susan Parry

"Buttercup goes on translucent then turns orange when worked in the flame. The pompom on the hat shows glass that hasn't been worked and heated whereas the stripes that have been worked longer are deeper and more opaque in color. Not shocky to work with."

– Tammy Mercier

– Janet Evans

"Buttercup was based on a request from glass artists for an alternate transparent yellow. Transparent yellows are striking glasses that will strike as the glass is worked through heating and cooling cycles. This bead set was created using Buttercup as the base glass. Layered dots of Effetre Light Ivory, CiM’s rare Class M Planet [a deep opaque blue laden with silver], and rare Double Helix Olympia Rain. Clear portal dots of Double Helix Zephyr were added to capture the stormed reaction of the silver glass. Each portal turned a pretty green as a result of the reaction between the two silver laden glasses. As the yellow glass was heated and cooled, the silver glass deepened the yellow to a caramel hue." See more at Darlene's blog.

– Darlene Collette

"Buttercup had no reaction to DH Aurae silver glass dots. Notice the shadow of the dots on the bead itself. It’s not encased."

– Bianca Gruber

"Here Buttercup is compared to my paltry transparent yellows stash! It's close to Effetre Electric Yellow but much warmer. It’s a teeny tiny bit streaky in nature but it’s just the transparent areas fighting the opaque! Lovely glass to melt, no shocking even from cold."

– Bianca Gruber

"A beautiful buttercup yellow! The more you work it the more opaque it becomes. Here are two pumpkin tester beads. Both are Buttercup. One shows the transparent/opaque mix that can be achieved. I’m not sure you could quickly make an entire transparent bead as some bits would naturally develop to be opaque. Makes for a fabulous glass for sculptural work I think."

– Bianca Gruber

"Buttercup is absolutely juicy. Some opacity in the body from working, but largely, stayed transparent. Yummy."

– Dwyn Tomlinson

Left to right: a CiM experiment, Buttercup, Beeswax Misty, & Beeswax Milky.

– Olga Ivashina

“I made a sculptural bird bead with Buttercup. It’s similar to Effetre Electric Yellow. A combination of transparent and translucent. Easy to work with. I began with a clear ‘core’ body and then encased in Buttercup. This gives an opportunity to see encasement with the color. The head, wings and tail were added straight from the rod. I used Reichenbach Deep Black for the base of the beak followed by Effetre Pastel Yellow. The eyes were also Reichenbach Deep Black.”

– Kim Fields

"Buttercup is a really nice yellow and has just a hint of opacity to it. It melted nicely and played well with silvered ivory. I would definitely buy this glass again to use in some sculptural pieces."

– Joy Munshower

Left to right: Effetre Verde Alga, Buttercup, Ornela Jonquil.

– Claudia Eidenbenz