You may have noticed that a lot of pieces in our shop say fumed glass or color changing glass. Well, what is fuming? How exactly does color changing glass work? Read on to find out!
Fuming is a particular technique used in glassblowing that involves small pieces of metal (most often 24K gold or .999 fine silver) that are heated up until they are vaporized. Glass is then put into the vapor stream covering the glass in a layer of vaporized metal. The metal is then encased in more glass using various techniques to create the different colors that you see on a fumed glass pipe.
Just from the fuming process you'll see that the glass has changed color. Usually .999 fine silver will appear yellow or blue. 24K gold will be a more pink/purple color. All of this depends on how much fume was used and the technique.
You'll really notice the color changing after you've used the pipe. When the pipe is used resin builds up and interacts with the ions from the fumed metal and starts to change colors. The more you use the pipe the more it will change colors. Here is a fun fact, the glass itself actually never changes colors so when you clean the glass it will go back to how it was the day you got it.
You'll also notice that sometimes when we post a color changing pipe we use a black background rather than our usual white. The reason is that with the black background you get a good idea of how the pipe will look once it's starts to change colors. For example I've included a picture below of a new color changing pipe that has never been used on both a white and a black background. You'll see when it's on the white it has more of a yellow tint but on the black it's more of a blue tint.
Hope this helps explain how pipes change colors. Check out my favorite fumed piece in our inventory HERE
Happy Smoking!
