CiM: Messy Color™ Mink, A gray brown opal.

Messy Color™ Mink

511788 - Sold Out

A gray brown opal.

"This is one of the most complex mixes I've done...but I am happy I bothered...because I really feel it turned out perfect! I mixed Mink with Mojito, Slytherin and Effetre Olive, respectively. I love how the Mink created a beautiful translucency in each of the warm, Autumn colors." – Dana George

Click here for other interesting Mink discoveries.

Lauren Bramble

Laura Sparling

Gloria Sevey

Kari Chittenden

Yulia Trubitsyna

Joy Munshower

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Mink is unique to the 104 glass color palette.

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

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

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.

"Mink is a gray opal brown. The beads remind me of a translucent chocolate or coffee. In this set, I used a silvered ivory stringer to create dots and surface lines and the effect is quite pretty." Read more at Darlene's blog

– Darlene Collette

"Mink over a core of clear rolled in iris orange frit. This is an awesome color and color combination. I was able to keep the bead from going opaque from over heating."

– Chris Haussler

"Mink is always a money maker for me. I sometimes have trouble getting it to stay translucent but I’m getting better at it. Not only do I try to not overwork it but if I’m making a lot of other beads, I leave Mink as my last batch of beads so that they won’t be in the kiln extra long."

– Gloria Sevey

"When built up into a solid, self-coloured spacer, it's quite dark - to retain the translucency, I would suggest working it over clear or white. . . .The core of the bead [horse] is white, and the Mink goes on as a layer on top. The shading from the translucency is quite nice." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

"I used both Bordello and Mink together as my stain and mixed them with Marble as my catalyst. Although it's trickier making a handmix from more than two shades at once, I love the results! A beautiful range of caramel browns, red browns, and chocolates!"

– Dana George

"Mink makes an excellent base for all kinds of animals, from wolves to cats to birds ."

– Lauren Bramble

– Dana George

"I know there are a lot of lampworkers that don't like Mink [calling it slug or slug belly], so I wanted to share with you what I've done with it. This bead has an Effetre Dark Ivory base with Silvered Mink Stringers melted in. The Silvered Mink turned a nice shade of Caramel/Coffee and really made the Dark Ivory crackle. I'm quite happy with the results!" See silvered Mink and other stringers for sale at Katie Gee Designs' Etsy shop.

– Kathy Wilson

"Mink is a great colour, but as it's an opal it doesn't etch too well - I had to give it much longer than usual, and wasn't too pleased with the outcome, I think it's best left shiny!" Read more at Lush blogs.

– Julie Fountain

"I got a very interesting reaction/effect/whathaveyou the other day. Notice the crackle effect on the horse. Not sure what happened. I may have inadvertently been working in a slight reduction flame - or perhaps there was a contaminant on the glass. Whatever it is - it's a pretty cool effect." Read more at DragonJools blog.

– Dwyn Tomlinson

Check out Melanie Graham's blog, especially for the "eye-catching and intriguing" reactions between Messy Mink and silver glass.

"I have never seen any color in soft glass that looks like Mink and that alone makes it an important addition to the available glass color palette." Read more at the Frantz Art Glass blog.

– Patricia Frantz

"Mink does stay opal-like after annealing which I do love and reacts great with silver." Read more at Melissa's blog.

– Melissa Villadiego

"Some of CiM's opal colors do go opaque in the kiln, but this isn't one of them. It stays a dark, translucent brownish grey. . . If this color were opaque, I might like it. But the translucency makes it look slimy and kind of puts me in mind of slugs or snails." Read more at Kandice's blog.

– Kandice Seeber