Trying to have it both ways, part 2

After the disappointment of the Baldwin’s patina for these mixed bronze/copper clay rock beads, I used the buffer and fabulustre to bring them back to a neutral colored shine. (I do like the way these look, especially if I am planning to combine them with beach rocks and silver rock beads.)

Next I put the polished beads into a pan with activated charcoal, and put on the lid. Set kiln at full ramp to 800ºF, no hold. Took pan out of kiln at 400º and cooled to 100º before taking the beads out. They looked like this:

I photographed the beads above under a milk jug to diffuse some of the shine in the photo. The colors look sharper here than they do in actual light where the reflective surface minimizes the color. I decided to try more heat with a little more time to see if I could produce deeper, more contrasting colors. The beads went back into the charcoal, full ramp to 900º, hold for 20 minutes, then cool. This is not really what I am looking for. Colors are more muted, and once again less obvious in broad daylight than they are in the photo.