Because the dichroic colors are multi-dimensional, choosing a color that's right for you may be confusing. The following is a chart that is designed to help you with this process, by outlining all the color characteristics that your bead will have, based on it's coating and underlying color.
| Color
of Underlying Bead |
Coating
Color as listed in Product Section |
Reflection
Color |
Reflection
Color Shift Around Angles |
Transmission
Color |
Transmission
Color Shift Around Angles |
General
Color Effect |
| Clear |
Red
|
Red  |
Orange  |
Pale-Cyan  |
Cyan  |
bold |
| |
Orange |
Orange 
|
Yellow 
|
Cyan 
|
Blue 
|
bold |
| |
Yellow |
Yellow 
|
Green 
|
Blue 
|
Magenta  |
bold |
| |
Green |
Green 
|
Blue 
|
Magenta 
|
Yellow |
bold |
| |
Blue |
Blue 
|
Purple 
|
Yellow 
|
Pale
Yellow 
|
subtle |
| |
Purple |
Purple 
|
-none- 
|
Pale
Yellow 
|
Pale
Green 
|
subtle |
| Black
or Dark colored |
Red |
Red  |
Orange  |
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
| |
Orange |
Orange 
|
Yellow 
|
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
| |
Yellow |
Yellow 
|
Green 
|
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
| |
Green |
Green 
|
Blue 
|
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
| |
Blue |
Blue  |
Purple  |
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
|
|
Purple |
Purple 
|
-none- 
|
-none- |
-none- |
bold |
See quick VIDEO of color shifts:
Low quality Real Media clip 80k Better quality mpg clip 416k
As indicated on the color chart, clear beads will have a more subtle effect while black and dark-colored beads will have a much bolder effect. This however, is traded-off for the presence of an additional transmission color effect in the clear beads. When viewing such a bead, typically the reflection color will show-up as a top surface gleam, and the transmission color will show-up as a luminosity within the body of the bead.
Thus, a clear bead with a red reflection color will have a green luminosity inside it's body. In addition to the nuances of reflection and transmission colors, there is also the added complexity of color changes over the bends and angles of the individual beads. This is because the thickness of the coating is affected by changes in the beads' contours, and as discussed in "What is Dichro?", the resulting color will be changed by this difference in thickness. The change of color exhibited by such circumstances is indicated in the chart.
Finally, it should also be noted that there are color shifts associated with the shifting of the angle at which the beads are viewed, as discussed in "What is Dichro?". These color shifts are identical to the "Color Shifts Around Bends and Angles". Thus a black bead with a green coating will appear blue when tilted at an angle. And a black bead with a yellow coating will appear green when tilted at an angle.