dichroic earrings
Moderators: Brad Walker, Tony Smith
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dichroic earrings
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.
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Dichro earrings
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.