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Thanks Joyce and Art. I'm flattered to be considered a fellow glass melter Art as I am a big fan of your work. Making chevron beads has always been on my list of things to try out. If there were only more hours in a day....I did meet you once in the early 90's - one of the Dillsboro(sp?) Indiana bead shows if I remember correctly.
I am interested in the opaque red because of its use in old beads as well as old toy marbles. It's definitely a color that can only be had through batching. I've melted probably several hundred pounds of it since 2006. I love how the glass has a life of its own when coming out of the crucible. The first day the melt is a beautiful opaque red throughout. As the hours progress, the color slowly breaks down and becomes striated with the green. After about 3 days in the pot, the top is all green while the red hides out at the bottom. This variation is great for making glass hand gathered marbles. I would like to do some thick blown ware and have it cut/ faceted to expose the inner layers and gathering striations. Here's a marble I made with the red that shows the color break down:
I melt this color in a small 35 pound electric wire melter. Never raised the temp above 1900F. I would just fill the pot 3/4's full of batch and would have beautiful glass the next day. My clear furnace is a 200 pound moly electric melter. I make marbles and all sorts of blown ware - That's a nice vase you have there. Looks like I see some silver based colors in there?
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