Creation is Messy

Messy Color™ Leaky Pen
Color#: C0508
Annealing Range: 930-1000° F / 500-540° C

An intense transparent inky blue color

Clockwise from top: bottle, etched round,
8 spacers (4 on right metallic effect, 4 on left normal),
wavy bead to try and show reduction better,
reduced tile bead. Courtesy of Elasia

"Leaky Pen goes metallic when reduced, with colors ranging from silver, to blues/greens, to pinks, and then to a copper red. The more you reduce the more the metallic fuchsia(ish) red comes out. The more (or less) you do this is how you go through the color phases mentioned above. " ~ Elasia

Courtesy of Dianna Trout

“This is the color I’ve been looking for! Cerulean is my favorite color and this is just about as close to it as you can get. It makes beautiful flowers and pairs well with Montana Blue Swarovskis.” ~ Dianna Trout


Courtesy of Kandice Seeber	Courtesy of Manuela Wutschke	Courtesy of Kimberly Affleck

Courtesy of Sarah Hornik	Courtesy of Teri Wathan
Click the pictures for larger images

Customer Experience:

Leaky Pen is too dark to make solid beads from – needs to be layered over white or clear.

Messy Color Leaky Pen over Effetre white

Courtesy of Debora Cox

"Leaky Pen is such a saturated and gorgeous color - and I really love that about it. It doesn't fade out when used with lighter opaques - like many of the dark transparents in 104 COE glasses tend to. I used Leaky Pen with various shades of gray, to keep the color saturated, and they all turned out pretty. I also love that Leaky Pen is not a color that is close to anything else in the same COE - it's a brand new shade. It also seems to play really well with other brands - I have used it with Effetre, Lauscha and Vetrofond with absolutely no problems. It encases well - I have encased it with clear and with other pale transparent colors. It doesn't bubble, and melts very smoothly." ~ Kandice Seeber

“This is my favorite of all the colors. I love intense transparents that I can use layered over white to make encased beads. This color holds up to making designs over white.” ~ Gail Witt

“To get the blue color to look anything but black, I found that I had to put it over another color. I liked it over both white and clear. When placed over a white core, the bead took on an opaque multi-toned midnight blue color. When placed over clear, the bead became more transparent.” ~Jan Whitesel Keeton

“My favorite of all the CiM colors. I love this shade of blue and found myself reaching for it the most. Silver glass loves Leaky Pen! It is very dense and needs to be thinned out by applying over a lighter color….I preferred to use Cirrus to thin it out. I etched it, I used dichro with it, marvered it, used frit with it….I loved it.” ~ Janice Laster

Leaky Pen should be worked cool.

Sky Blue and Ocean Green
encased with Messy Leaky Pen
Courtesy of Melissa Villadiego

“Like most blue colors, I had to work it really cool, or it would boil. I had to take my time but the results were worth it!” ~ Gail Witt

“I didn’t have a problem with Leaky pen boiling when I used chemo-lene. But when I made beads with it once I converted to propylene, I couldn’t keep it from boiling. I tried working it higher in the flame, but then it just didn’t get hot enough to use with the presses.” ~ Stephanie Risberg

“It boiled similar to turquoise (aqua) though once on the bead it seemed fine if not worked too much.” ~ Chris Molter

Some Messy Color testers reported that Leaky Pen can be stiff.

“It didn’t seem to marver as well as some of the other colors. I used a graphite marver. It worked well with a brass bead press.” ~ Gail Witt

“Even though the glass is stiffer than the rest to work with, it produces wonder beads. I did have trouble pressing this glass as it is so stiff.” ~Jan Whitesel Keeton

“I did marver the glass with both graphite and brass marvers. It was somewhat stiff, but that is expected of transparent glass.” ~ Stephanie Risberg

Leaky Pen does not etch in the same way as other 104 colors.

Courtesy of Elasia

“It etched well. I use it over clear and etching made it less noticeable where the clear was on the ends.” ~ Dianna Trout

“It did etch well, but just looked black. I did not try etching beads that had a clear or white core.” ~ Jan Whitesel Keeton

“Etches if left in for 30 min instead of 15.” ~ Tina Lamasney