Description
Neptunium is a liquidy metallic color with silvery blue hues. The color gradients can shift depending on how it is worked. It can be extremely thinned out and still create a shimmery effect.
THIS COLOR IS STILL IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. This formula contains a small amount of chromium. Test for your particular application and be sure to anneal sufficiently based on the thickness of your piece.
Recommended Anneal temp: 1075°F
Abnormal Quality Description: Rods that have fallen below first quality and have been deemed Abnormal. This is high-quality, stone-free glass, but the rods are imperfect. They may be short, slightly thick or thin, have a bit of air or other odd imperfections that affect their appearance. Be aware that there may be color variance in our Abnormal glasses. There are no refunds or exchanges on Abnormal glass – all sales are final.
ktuttle133 –
Much like Electrum, Neptunium offers a new era of shimmer and shine from Molten Aura’s palette of colors.
In short – If you can get some then do it. It’s worth the price, and will easily work in place of most aventurine-type colors with relative ease.
Workability:
– This color works with a slight bit more of stiffness than Electrum, but barely so.
– Avoid long dwell times as it can is a bit susceptible to hot spots if you’re not careful.
– Personally I haven’t noticed any cracking under light encasement or over heavier cores yet.
– Marver with ample heat to avoid devitrification. This color can get a little hazy if you’re not careful.
Ease of use: Easy to Advanced.
– Like Electrum, this color tends to really “remember” what’s been done to it. Coiling, encasing, raking, etc. will all leave distinct motions within this color.
– This blessing can be a curse as I found out recently where a piece got away from me, only for a small dent in the tip of a piece I made to remain despite the surface being smooth. You’ll never live down your mistakes.
– This color has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. Combine it with others, use it as a base-lay, implode it, make latticinos with it.. Really, the world is your oyster.
– There are limits though as it is a Chromium including color, so explore ambitiously but handle with care. Use proper chrome annealing schedules to ensure that ambitious experiments survive.
Final Thoughts:
I’m only 5 years young to this craft, but I would say Neptunium is perfectly suitable as a good beginner’s color that also offers a high skill-ceiling for those who have the patience and creativity to really dig into its working properties. This color is really, REALLY fun to play with. No matter where you’re at in your journey, I’d highly recommend getting some of this for yourself.