HOW I MAKE THE DICHROIC GLASS JEWELLERY
Each piece of jewellery is hand-made from of at least two layers of glass, at times three or four layers, all of which I cut individually, clean very carefully and then fuse, sometimes two or three times, to get a smooth shiny surface. Sometimes you get surprise results because some colours change a lot when fired, while others don't.
The skill is knowing the correct temperature and length of time required for each piece. You also need to know whether to put a piece near the front of the kiln where it's hottest or nearer the back.
Dichroic glass has a multi-layer coating of quartz crystal and metal oxides, such as Silver, Titanium, Chromium, Aluminum, Zirconium and Magnesium vapourised onto either clear translucent or black opaque art glass, forming a very thin vibrantly coloured crystal structure on top, which is very hard and durable when fired.
Originally created for the aerospace industry it's now used in decorative glass work because of it's vibrant colours - 45 in all. As well as smooth surfaces and single colours there are also numerous textured and patterned Dichroic glasses which can be used to great effect.
As you will see I make a wide variety of styles using different colours, textures and patterns.
