Dichroic Glass - The word "dichroic", pronounced Dye-Cro-Ick, is derived from two Greek roots, "di" for two and "chroma" for color. So "dichroic" literally means "two-colored". Fused glass simply refers to the process of using a programmable kiln to partially melt pieces of specially formulated art glass into one new unified piece of glass. Color patterns and designs developed by the fusing artist are retained by carefully controlling the kiln firing schedule. Many glass fusers use dichroic, iridescent, transparent, and opaque glasses that have a COE (coefficient of expansion) of 90 or 96. COE simply means that the various pieces of glass fused together have to be compatible in their rate of heat expansion and cooling contraction. Otherwise, the resulting fused glass piece can later exhibit stress fractures, sometimes weeks or even months later!
Each glass item is kiln-fired over a period of about 12 hours, at minimum. Most pieces are comprised of 2 - 3 layers of glass, which is how the patterns and designs are built up. During a full fuse, where all individual elements of glass slump into one smooth cabochon, the temperatures go up to 1480 degrees F. The temperature is held at 1480 for 10 minutes. The temperature than cools down very slowly.
In this class you will be able to choose from hundreds of pieces of glass to make 2 pendants. You will learn how to cut and stack your glass. Because of the firing time, this is a 2 part class. You will need to come back to attach your bails at your convenience.
To register for this class online Click here, or stop in the store and register.
