About
Working from my home studio in Horsham, West Sussex, I use art glass and dichroic glass. The process of making pendants, earrings and glass art involves fusing layers of glass in a kiln. This process is often repeated to create depth and balance in the finished piece. Glass is exciting to work with and after several years of glass fusing I am still thrilled when I open the kiln to see the sparkling glass cabochons ready to be made up into a piece of jewellery!
Each piece is unique and I am constantly experimenting with different combinations, so check back regularly for any new items.
Dichroic (di-crow-ick) from the Greek dikhroos - means two colours. Dichroic glass is a coating applied to the glass.
CBS - Coating by Sandberg are one of the largest manufacturers of dichroic glass, here they describe the process....
"Dichroic Glass is a multi layer coating placed on glass by using a highly technical vacuum deposition process. Quartz Crystal and Metal Oxides are Vaporized with an electron beam gun in an airless vacuum chamber and the vapor then floats upward and attaches then condenses on the surface of the glass in the form of a crystal structure. Our colors have as many as 30 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 35 millionths of an inch. The coating that is created is very similar to a gemstone and by careful control in thickness, different colors are obtained. Thus, all our coatings are created using the same exact materials. Originally created for the Aerospace industry, Dichroic Glass is now made available to the artist community through Coatings By Sandberg, Inc. CBS Dichroic Glass is specifically designed to be hotworked in any way but can also be used in its raw form. The main characteristic of Dichroic Glass is that it has a transmitted color and a completely different reflective color. Furthermore, these two colors shift depending on angle of view."
Fusing is a process where sheet glass and other glass components such as frit (chips of glass) is placed in a kiln to fuse the layers together. At around 800°c two layers of 3 mm glass will fuse together until they are one piece.
If you haven't seen dichroic glass jewellery before it may be difficult to imagine the beautiful sparkle and depth in the glass. The photographs cannot convey the full effect, but you can be sure you're wearing something eye-catching and unique.
