BellaDonna Glass


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BellaDonna Glass is a new boutique glass company started by Donna Milliron who also started Arrow Springs and is a founding member of the ISGB.

These incredible specialty glasses are hand pulled in limited runs, with very specific applications in mind. Colors are offered as either part of our permanent collection, available at all times -OR- colors that will be available in very limited quantities - "one time only, get it while you can glass". If you are part of the Artisan Advantage Program, you will be notified first when a new color is introduced as well as when the "one time only, get it while you can glass" is released.

Extensive testing is done on each batch to insure compatibility with COE 104 Efferte (Moretti) glasses. Other brands of COE 104 will most likely be compatible, but we recommend testing.

Below are pictures and tips for achieving the amazing effects BellaDonna Glass was designed to produce.

COE 104

Moody Blue BD-01

Named Moody Blue, because it can display so many lustrous variations. It reminded us of a Mood Ring. You can achieve silver, gold, metallic blue and metallic purple as single colors, or multi-color iridescent, oil-slick, rainbow colors. Best of all, you have control on how it comes out. Moody Blue is generally shinier than Purplescent. For pictures and instructions see below: Techniques for using BellaDonna Glass.

Purplescent BD-02

Purplescent can achieve all the same colors as Moody Blue, with the addition of bronze. Purplescent colors have the intensity of Moody Blue, but are not as shiny. For pictures and instructions see below: Techniques for using BellaDonna Glass.

Black Diamond BD-03
Specially designed for thin stringer work, Black Diamond is a very dense black that is smooth to apply, yet is stiff enough to stay where you put it and resist bleeding and running into other colors under normal working conditions. Pull it down to thinner than a hair, to where it finally does become thin enough to see through, and it's still black! A black that does it all.

Black Magic BD-04 TO BE RELEASED SOON
A very dense black that when reduced brings up metallic silver.

Honey Glaze BD-05

A flame and annealer striking glass that also reduces with a slight metallic sheen in a reduction flame. Starts out a beautiful honey color when very hot. By working the glass in and out of the flame as well as closer and further out in the flame you can bring out a wide mix of colors, including sunset hues, honey, blues, greens, tans and browns. For pictures and instructions see below: Techniques for using BellaDonna Glass.

Royal Purple BD-06

Dark, rich, transparent and reactive royal purple. For pictures see below: Techniques for using BellaDonna Glass.

Rod

Color

Code

Description

BD-01

Moody Blue Rod

BD-02

Purplescent Rod

BD-03

Black Diamond Rod

BD-05

Honey Glaze Rod

BD-06

Royal Purple Rod

Frit

Color

Code

Description

BD-01

Moody Blue Frit

BD-02

Purplescent Frit

BD-03

Black Diamond Frit

BD-05

Honey Glaze Frit

BD-06

Royal Purple Frit

Techniques for using BellaDonna Glass
These tips will vary according to your torch, but with a little practice should be easily modified.
Using Honey Glaze
Royal Purple
Using Moody Blue and Purplescent

Using Honey Glaze
As the pictures below indicate, Honey Glaze can produce a wide range of color variation and opacity. It both strikes and reduces. When applied thinly, the color will tend to be more transparent after striking. A thicker layer of Honey Glaze can become very opaque. Striking can be done in the flame by working the glass in and out of the flame as well as closer and further out in the flame. Allowing the glass to chill before reheating can bring out more dramatic color variation and deeper opacity. Additional color depth of the strike can occur in the annealer. A slightly reduction flame setting at will bring up a subtle metallic sheen.

2 Honey Glaze 21 4 Honey Glaze 34

Royal Purple
First row: Left: Varying thicknesses of Royal Purple on Effetre White EP-204;
Right: Royal Purple on Effetre Ivory EP-264 - Reactive.
Second row: Left: Compares Royal Purple to Light Violet ET-41.
Right: Compares Royal Purple to Medium Amethyst ET-42.

Using Moody Blue and Purplescent
Moody Blue and Purplescent are reduction glasses. This means that when the hot glass is placed into a flame that is lacking oxygen, the glass will change in nature producing metallic lusters. The temperature of the glass and the nature of the reduction flame setting work together in varying degrees will result in a wide range of dazzling lustrous colors. The following instructions show Moody Blue examples. Below these instructions are examples of Purplescent and more Moody Blue.

1 Silver – After all of your shaping is done, the last thing to do is to turn the parts of the bead with Moody Blue on it silver. What works best here is to briefly heat the Moody Blue to a dull orange glow and then bathe it in the purple part of the dragon's breath flame until you see the shine come up on the bead. Anneal in the normal way.

1A – Dragon's Breath Reduction – if you are unfamiliar with this term, what it means is to turn all oxygen off and turn the propane up until the flame actually starts about an inch away from the torch face – it looks like this:

dragons breath

This is what a bead treated in this way looks like:

Moody Blue on clear1

2 Shiny Purple/Blue – To get this effect, warm the Moody Blue to a soft, dull orange, but let the color go almost back to cool and then bathe the bead in the purple part of the dragon's breath flame. This is what a bead treated in this way looks like:

Moody Blue over clear

3 Multicolor Rainbow – To get this effect the Moody Blue should be applied to cooled glass – the base glass should have little or no glow left in it – then apply the Moody Blue – after applying hit the Moody Blue with enough heat to get a dull orange glow – then bathe it in the dragon's breath flame until you get the shiny silver – move it back to the orange part of the flame while you adjust the torch to achieve a high reduction flame.

3A – Turn the propane down to what you would normally set for a neutral flame and add just enough oxygen to get long white fingers in the flame – it should look like this:

034
027

Bathe the bead briefly in the outermost white fingers of this flame, selecting small areas of the Moody Blue to put in the flame and dip it in and out until you see the color you want – then you can move on to another area getting many colors – practicing with this method should give you consistent results for colors you want to achieve.

These are examples of the colors you can get with this technique:

Moody Blue on clear a

024

Moody Blue on clear

4 Encased Moody Blue - Follow any of the steps above and then let the bead cool with no glow left. More of the shiny iridescence will be preserved if you can "lop" on the clear without adding too much heat to the bead until you are ready to do the final shaping. Really interesting effects are achieved by using texture tools in the Moody Blue before reducing it and then encasing it. The shiny iridescence is hard to photograph, but it will look similar to this when encased:

encased Moody Blue a