https://www.czechbeads.com/BeadFinishes.aspxI realize there are trade secrets n' all that, but...
some years ago i watched one of our finest lampwork artists in UK, the late Diana East, creating an iridescent metallic lustre coating on a handmade bead by blowing "fumes" of gold onto the surface under heat , and also when visiting Czech beadmakers (with J-me and Guy) they were able to coat moulded faceted beads with a similar iridescent-metallic- type lustre also under heat within a sort of vacuum chamber. however that lustre tended to rub off the finished beads when worn on the skin!
I don't know if an iridescent metallic lustre effect is the topic. But, certainly, fuming using gold and other metallic elements provides the colorful effects of several sorts of beads, and is well-understood as a decorative process. (And a dangerous one at times.) JDA.
Thank you Chris.
This is not a familiar name, to me, for these sorts of coated or surface-embellished seedbeads.
In the beadworld we get stuck with a lot of names that are inappropriate, for a variety of reasons—including just having a name to sort the products from other different products, and to create marketing interest.
In my opinion, "glow" is not an apt description for beads that are merely shiny or iridescent from coatings. But I suppose it will become "a thing." Que será será.
JDA.
Cracked open a bead, and it's an opal white inside, with a mottled surface coating that reminds me of pigments swirled in oil or something. Guessing it's baked on somehow?
