Lately I've been thinking about the way light enters my beads and releases the colors.  It seems that if you have a hard edge or a flat surface, the light spills out of the flat surface and with it comes a concentration of vivid color.

If you have a rounded edge the light gets trapped and is redirected back into the bead.

A round bead has multiple opportunities for bouncing light, adding indentations or raised dots allow the light to bounce in so many different directions - you naturally end up with a lot of sparkle.  THEN... I get to thinking about what I can bury deep inside the bead to perhaps catch some more light and bounce it in a different direction!  My favorite things to add to glass are copper, silver, palladium and mica.

Although sometimes the simplest things are the most beautiful...