dichroic earrings

[Bill Bromage]

I've only been a lurker up to now and wanted to let you all know this is a great place for a novice to learn. Since I've been working with warm glass, for the past few months, I've tried bowls, platters, and other large pieces with good success. I've most recently been fusing dichroic earrings from small dots to 1/2" pieces. With the larger 1/2" pieces, I've tried stacking 1/4" dichroic squares 3 high on a 1/2" BE Squares, overlapping strips of dichro on the BE, used clear and black backed dichro, used dichro frit, capped with clear etc. What I'm looking to get though is a nice whispy or flowing mutiple color look from the dichroic colors together, like that from a high temp melt with opaque glass. I have not achived that yet. The dichroic glass seems to blend with the other pieces or simply just holds it shape. I've experimented with different temps but for the most part have been fusing them at 1425 for 30-60 min. They all look good, but again, not what I'm looking for. Any suggestions for that oil on water look? Thanks in advance.

[Jane Irvine]

try using chips and little bits of dichro in no particular shape or pattern to get a less uniform and more colorful look. also textured glass gives nice variety in the dichro.

enjoy!

jane

[Linda Hassur]

If you fire a larger piece and place the dichro on it, fire then cut out the small cabs from the areas of the glass that you like. Working so small is harder than doing it this way. Linda

[Barbara Muth]

if you are trying to get a flowy look Dichro magic from Austin thin films seems to move more than CBS. But beware some of the blues and purples, they tend to disappear.

Barbara

[Kitty]

If you don't care if the left and the right earring are identical, and you are looking for something similar in appearance to fire opals, then you might consider making a sheet of glass, let's say 8" x 8" with a dark base, and then dichroic scraps placed all over it, 2 or 3 layers thick. you could put some of the dichroic frit in there, and place scrap clear on top of those areas so you don't have burrs. fire that arrangement up to about 1600, and then cut up the pieces into the size you like for earrings. after cutting them up on a tile saw, you'll have to fire polish them. this isn't how i do things, but i know of another producer who makes pins and pendants in various shapes, like moons, stars, and geometrics by cutting them up with a saw that can cut curves and shapes. personally, i never use black-backed dichroic, only dichro on thin clear, and i arrange it on a base of some dark color, usually thin black, cobalt, purple or fir green. additionally, everything i make uses the dichro coated side down, which gives a more watery appearance. sounds like you're learning very fast! kitty.

[quill]

If you fire a larger piece and place the dichro on it, fire then cut out the small cabs from the areas of the glass that you like.

I sort of figured this out by accident. Glad to hear it is not totally stupid way to do it.