How 'Bout Some Dichroic Glass?
Every year at Gencon, the lovely ladies of CATS teach classes on all kinds of crafty things. I always try to do at least one of them, and this year, I got to do two.
The first one I did was the Dichroic Glass Bracelet class. You'll remember last year, M and I did the Dichroic Glass Pendant class? We did two, a black version and an amber version.
Dichroic glass is really cool. Basically, dichroic is two-color glass. You are putting the dichroic glass onto the colored glass and covering it with clear glass. Then these fine ladies melt them all together in a kiln and you get this:
Pretty cool, eh? I wore my black pendant on Thursday to Gencon and had about twenty people stop and ask me where I got it.
Anyway, so I decided to make a semi-matching bracelet this year. The technique is a little different than the pendant. Basically, for such a small piece, we used multi-colored crushed glass--or frit--instead of the shiny dichroic chunks we used on the pendants. My bracelet will be a blue/black color. M decided to make one in a turquoise/orange colorway. (They called it "goldfish".)
Since my bracelet colors were darker colors, the frit is sandwiched between two pieces of clear glass. M's colors are a lot lighter. Her frit was "cupcaked" on top of two pieces of clear glass.
I got a little frustrated with myself because the first piece of glass I cut, I shattered. My fault, completely. I scored it just fine, but I didn't try to break it with the scored side up. I basically need to wear glasses. That's what it comes down to.
Anyway, I was able to get a new piece of glass and M was kind enough to help me cut it. And I got all my frit in place, even if I was the last one finished.
These cabochons are now at the CATS studio, being fired. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I made 15 of these stones. Eleven will go on the bracelet. Two will become earrings. One will become a ring. (Which I also learned to do!) And one will become a pendant. Not sure what I will do with the remaining one.
Thoughts?
The first one I did was the Dichroic Glass Bracelet class. You'll remember last year, M and I did the Dichroic Glass Pendant class? We did two, a black version and an amber version.
Dichroic glass is really cool. Basically, dichroic is two-color glass. You are putting the dichroic glass onto the colored glass and covering it with clear glass. Then these fine ladies melt them all together in a kiln and you get this:
Pretty cool, eh? I wore my black pendant on Thursday to Gencon and had about twenty people stop and ask me where I got it.
Anyway, so I decided to make a semi-matching bracelet this year. The technique is a little different than the pendant. Basically, for such a small piece, we used multi-colored crushed glass--or frit--instead of the shiny dichroic chunks we used on the pendants. My bracelet will be a blue/black color. M decided to make one in a turquoise/orange colorway. (They called it "goldfish".)
Since my bracelet colors were darker colors, the frit is sandwiched between two pieces of clear glass. M's colors are a lot lighter. Her frit was "cupcaked" on top of two pieces of clear glass.
I got a little frustrated with myself because the first piece of glass I cut, I shattered. My fault, completely. I scored it just fine, but I didn't try to break it with the scored side up. I basically need to wear glasses. That's what it comes down to.
Anyway, I was able to get a new piece of glass and M was kind enough to help me cut it. And I got all my frit in place, even if I was the last one finished.
These cabochons are now at the CATS studio, being fired. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I made 15 of these stones. Eleven will go on the bracelet. Two will become earrings. One will become a ring. (Which I also learned to do!) And one will become a pendant. Not sure what I will do with the remaining one.
Thoughts?
posted by Patwoman | 6:00 PM
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