Artist Description by Mike Shelbo

“With large flakes of sparkle, this transparent deep brilliant blue has an intense shimmer and wide spectrum of reflective color.  If you stripe, coil, mash, layer and twist or swirl this color you can actually see the effect in the look of the sparkle. An example would be the tight satin like pattern that is formed when compressing the rod while spinning one direction without encasement into a marble. When the rod is applied and worked without much manipulation, it will show much larger flakes of sparkle. Think of each sparkle flake as a small flat chip that can either be stacked on top of one another or laid side by side, each manipulation changes the “look” or finish.  This color is great for every application including solid, with or without encasement, and hollow forms with varying thickness in color.  When blown thin or stretched down into a thin stringer or veil, Sapphire will be very transparent yet still lend sparkle to the finished look.  Do not use an extremely high mix of propane when Sapphire is being worked for long periods of time in the flame without encasement, the result will be a slight grey just on top of your brilliant blue base color.” – Mike Shelbo