Interior Design and Home Accessories

by Sonomabuzz

If you are looking for fashion jewelry that is reasonably priced, modern and chic, and that looks good you may be interested in a dichroic glass necklace. Dichroic glass jewelry is a fairly new arrival on the fashion jewelry scene and it is really gaining in popularity.

The glass itself is very eye-catching. Made in such a way that fine metal oxides are actually vaporized and attached to the glass surface in layers, the final stone resembles a multi-colored gem. The more layers added to the glass, the more color changes you can see in the dichroic glass. It is this feature that has really captivated the imaginations of not just the artisans who carefully design and make dichroic jewelry, but has also captured the hearts of millions of fashion jewelry wearers.

There are many different styles of dichroic necklaces, ranging from leather to gold necklaces. Most of the necklaces feature a single drop dichroic glass cabochon, or perhaps one or two cylindrical style cabs hanging down from the chain or cord. Oftentimes too you can buy matching earrings that go with your necklace although there will most likely be a little difference between the necklace and the earrings as no two creations are exactly the same when it comes to fused glass. Still, the differences are usually minor differences in pattern and color refraction which actually seem to add to the charm of the dichroic necklace rather than detract from it.

Some of the glass gems falling from this type of fused glass jewelry have been shaped into ovals, hearts, squares or diamonds while other’s leave the cabochon complete and exactly proportioned as it was when they received it. Either style looks great, though I have to admit that my preference is more towards the naturally styled gem shape as opposed to one that has been shaped into a specific design. Again, it seems to add to the individualism of the jewelry.

The great thing about dichroic jewelry is that for the most part it is often made in small studios by single design artists. This alone means that rather than mass produced jewelry there are a lot of different styles of jewelry made and a huge choice when it comes to buying a dichroic glass necklace, earrings or bracelet. Many of these smaller studios have a web presence and have made their jewelry available for ordering online, so it is very easy to make an online purchase.

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by Wendy Tanner

Article by Linda Kinyo

To begin you?re going to need the right tools. You are going to want a glass cutter, breaking shears, glass fusing glue, shelf primer, and fusing paper.

A good glass cutter to use is Toyo, it’s oil filled to give you clean cut and it stays sharp. There is more than one style available if you prefer a different grip.

Glass fusing glue is important to keep your work in position before firing it. The best type is either Glastac or Elmer’s fusing glue. Avoid using PVC, as it can cause problems when the glue burns off, reacting with the glass leaving marks though so it’s best to stick with purpose made glues.

Shelf primer is a powder that you mix with water to line the kiln shelf before it goes into the kiln. It stops the glass sticking to the shelf as the glass melts. Many artists prefer to use shelf paper instead. It’s less fuss and the underside of the glass usually comes out a lot smoother. When using either of these you must treat them with care. Use them with a dust-mask and be careful not to breathe in the dust.

When deciding which glass to use in your fusing project the key thing to keep in mind is compatibility of the glass. When you see fusing glass for sale you’ll see COE next to the title, e.g. 90COE, 104COE, etc. You can only use glass of the same COE. If you try and mix them up they’ll only shatter as the glass cools.

Dichroic glass typically comes in either clear or black backed. You’ll get slighlty different results for the pattern depending on which type you use. Clear tends to give the piece more depth and it can be more versatile, such as with layering on top of another piece of glass.

Make sure you cut the dichroic to shape. Cutting glass can be tricky to start with. Cut standing up and only go over the cut once. Don’t keep cutting at the same line because all it’ll do will splinter the glass and blunt the cutter. You must remember that if you use more than one layer of glass the coated sides of the pieces must not touch each other. They won’t fuse properly and you’ll just end up with a lump of glass in not done correctly.

Layer the glass on top of each other and fix into place with a small amount of glue. Then use clear for the top layer of glass. This should be a couple millimeters larger than the bottom layer, or the dichroic coating will seep out. Try adding an extra clear piece of glass of the same size as the bottom layers to give the finished pendant more depth.

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by jcolman

Article by Margaret Halverson

Have you ever seen dichroic glass made into jewelry? This is one of the most beautiful materials used that really catches your eyes. This is trending among women who really want to add that touch of class and uniqueness in their overall look.

Dichroic glass is also known as chameleon glass or fused glass. Unlike regular glass, this has a distinct characteristic of having more than one color when light strikes on it. this is very beautiful during the day most specially but you can still wear this during night. This material is used for all types of jewelry from pendants, earrings, bracelets, rings and art. It can be fun looking at these pieces when you start shopping for them.

Dichroic glass cat jewelry is very beautiful to look at. Once you see this, you will definitely want to buy it and wear it. There are shapes of cats which are made out of glass but you will also see creative pieces which incorporated hand painting with dichroic glass. These would be the most wonderful piece of jewelry that you will ever own. If you think that you already have too much of silver and gold jewelry, maybe you should try to expand your collection for a change.

You will only get to appreciate the real beauty of this kind of jewelry when you wear it. You will see how it attracts attention and at the same time put a certain glow on your overall appearance. If you are attending an event, whether formal or just a simple get together, this is perfect. It is time to look for this kind of jewelry so you can already wear it the next time you go out.

Distinctive cat jewelry carries one of a kind pieces of dichroic glass jewelry. They have the best choices that you will ever lay your eyes on. You will enjoy shopping and finding the cutest pieces from their collection. Trust that only the best designers and artists collaborated in making these lovable designs. The money that you will pay for it will not go to waste. It will actually be worth the price. Yes, they sell affordable dichroic glass. If you are on a budget or just want to buy all the jewelry that you want, then this is where you should get them. Enjoy shopping and you will definitely be happy after with your new items from them.

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by mandymooo

Article by Linda Kinyo

If you’re hitting the road this fall for color, try a new perspective: glass.

A collegial fraternity of artisans awaits on the Pennsylvania Glass Trail, an arts venture established in 2006 that connects the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading — the largest and most comprehensive interactive arts center of its kind in the country — with numerous glass studios along Route 222 or side roads from Lancaster to the Lehigh Valley.

In the next couple of years, five more artists in nearby Bucks County and Philadelphia may be added to the trail.

On the first weekend in December, tourists can watch artists work in their studios, purchase glass and learn about the various techniques used to create art from a hot, soupy liquid or fusing strips of glass together in a process called slumping and flame working, which is done with a lamp.

The best place to start on the trail is the GoggleWorks, a large campus of six brick buildings that house a hot glass shop, a darkroom, a ceramics studio and a kiln.

The center’s name comes from its earlier life as the Wilson Goggles factory, which made optical glass for eyewear, including sunglasses, safety goggles and high-altitude oxygen masks for military pilots. After it closed in 2002, Al Boscov, the department store founder, decided that restoring the brick buildings could spark a renaissance of Reading’s blighted downtown.

Several years ago, Boscov took Diane LaBelle, who was running an arts center in Bethlehem called the Banana Factory, on a tour of the buildings, which offer 145,000 square feet of space.

“He saw what the Banana Factory had done to revitalize South Bethlehem,” said LaBelle, who holds a degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon University.

After a million restoration, the GoggleWorks opened in 2005. Its rooms crackle with activity as 300 children arrive for classes and 34 artists work in second- and third-floor studios that they rent.

From the GoggleWorks, here are some other high points on the trail.

Drive east from Reading to the picturesque community of Boyertown where Will Dexter works at his hot glass studio Taylor Backes.

An amiable man with a youthful face, blue eyes, red hair and an engaging grin, Dexter has blown glass since 1974. His studio created 600 basket weave style glass blocks for the lights at the new Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, where the Academy Awards are handed out each year.

“They didn’t understand the word budget. It was so cool,” he said.

Dexter makes large, sculptural pieces in rich blues and greens that echo his boyhood by the water.

With a team of three full-time assistants, he is creating 138 architectural glass blocks for Aliana, a new, 2,000-acre community being built south of Houston, Texas. Aliana will have eight residential buildings, two golf courses, the Houston Polo Club and commercial office buildings.

He and his team also are making 68 glass lantern panels with the letter A. By day, the A in the glass blocks will be yellow and surrounded by aqua; at night, the A will turn gold and be surrounded by a field of pink.

These optical effects are created by dichroic glass, which was invented for NASA and used in the aerospace industry. Dichroic glass has a transmitted color and a different reflected color because certain wavelengths of light pass through ultra-thin layers of metal oxides inside the glass and the hues change depending on the angle of your view.

Drive about an hour north and east to Bethlehem to meet Peter Wayne Yenawine, whose broad, handsome face is topped by a mane of silvery hair. Founder of Crystal Signatures, Yenawine started his career as a designer for Steuben, where he insisted on learning to blow as well as design glass.

“Process was very critical to me,” Yenawine said, adding that he knew he could not become an accomplished designer unless he worked with glass.

He eventually went to work for Baccarat and the Franklin Mint. He has created pieces for most of the fine crystal companies in the world and seven White House administrations.

“Crystal is alive. To me, crystal is the only material that’s truly kinetic,” he said, because it reflects light through prisms.

The Lehigh River flows through Bethlehem and you must cross it to reach South Bethlehem. Pittsburgh’s South Side attracts the young, hip and creative; so does South Bethlehem.

That happened after the Banana Factory, a restored banana warehouse that’s now a mecca for artists, opened in January 1998.

Famed for its First Friday evening open houses, the Banana Factory opened its glass shop in 2006. It features a 350-pound pot inside a natural gas furnace, three work benches, large cylindrical reheating chambers, four annealers that are used to cool glass and a kiln for slumping and fusing glass. A jewelry studio just opened at the factory and there are 28 artists in residence on the building’s second and third floors.

Be Smart, a program for 100 middle school students, teaches youngsters ceramics, glass blowing, graphic design and video production. Four interns from Temple’s Tyler School of Art arrive each year to learn how to teach, run a glass studio, care for equipment and acquire college credit.

“Our main goal is to cultivate future glass artists,” said John Choi, who manages the Banana Factory’s glass studio.

At its fire and ice gala on Oct. 17, the Banana Factory will highlight the work of Paul Marioni, a cerebral Seattle artisan whose work is inspired by his dreams.

Jeff Parks, president of ArtsQuest, which owns and operates the Banana Factory, likes the concept of a glass trail, although awareness about the effort appears to be limited.

“I cannot honestly say we have seen a marked number of people coming to the Banana Factory because they have heard about the glass trail.”

But there are artists well worth your time, such as the stained glass work of Karen Lesniak at the GoggleWorks; Greenwood Stained Glass, which makes glass for churches and buildings in its Topton studio; and Neff-Chattoe Co., founded in 1903, the oldest stained glass studio in Allentown. Stephen Rich Nelson, whose studio is called The Glassman, is known for jewel-toned art glass and stunning glass goddesses.

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by mandymooo

Article by Linda Kinyo

With over 25 years of experience, Paula Radke has perfected the art of creating and producing the most beautifully unique glass dichroic beads on the market. As the originator of the dichroic glass bead making process, her high-end leading product lines are in high demand and sold worldwide, used by some of the finest jewelry designers in the world. She shares her advice and inspiration with others who want to earn a living doing what they love most.

Q: What inspired you to turn your creative idea into a business?

A camping trip to Taos put me in touch with the primitive creator in all of us. I delighted in using simple tools to create beautiful glass beads in front of the campfire. I knew I had hit on something unique and beautiful, and started to develop a plan that would enable me to make enough of them to supply the demand I thought would be there.

Q: What inspired you to start your business?

My mother is a superb seamstress, my father was a talented woodworker, and my uncles were painters and writers. After six years working in the corporate world, my creative DNA refused to be denied and a business in art glass was begun. My corporate background gave me the discipline I needed to turn bead making into a viable business.

Q: How is your business unique?

Certainly the product I make is highly unique. The process is complex and time-consuming. The material I use is rare. The fact that I have 25 years in clichroic glass is also unique to this industry.

Q: What are your most helpful resources?

I am a “lone ranger” in this venture to a large extent. My supplier of dichroic glass has been terrific about getting me the material I need in a timely manner. The demand for dichroic glass is far greater than the supply. I have been buying from the same manufacturer for 25 years and have created a symbiotic relationship that benefits us both.

Q: Do you, have any mentors or role models who’ve helped you?

My fourth grade art teach recognized and encouraged my talent in every medium he showed me. My first glass teacher, Boyce Lundstrom, taught me enough about glass making to start me on my way. My close friend and talented glass artist, Michael Dupille from Seattle, has also been an inspiration in the sense that he stretches my boundaries with new ideas.

Q: What advice would you give someone who wants to turn their creative idea into a business, but doesn’t know where to start?

Never give up. Hold onto your vision. Don’t be discouraged by changes in plans. Each change is an opportunity for improvement. Don’t forget to charge for your time! How many people don’t realize that until they hire their first employee. You are going to have to pay them! See what the competition is doing. Understand your market and your price point required to be competitive. Build a team of employees who know each other’s jobs, who are loyal to you and each other, and who function like a familial team.

Q: What’s been your greatest challenge?

Keeping the business end of things separate from my art is my greatest challenge. I am constantly challenged not to compromise my designs to accommodate a price point.

Q: What’s been your greatest accomplishment?

Surviving for 25 years and the fact that my beads are recognizable as Paula Radke’s beads are my greatest accomplishments. I laugh when I think about the thank-you cards I occasionally receive thanking me for bringing beauty into the world.

Q: What is the most important thing you’ve learned during this process?

To understand the difference between what I can do, and what I really want to do. Yes, I can do it, but do I want to? rve taken on some project that made me crazy because they weren’t what I wanted to be doing. That’s the artist in me. When I make art glass, I want to make beautiful art glass, not just something someone needs. After 25 years, I now have the luxury of making those choices.

Q: What are your short-term and long-term goals?

My short-term goal is to begin supplying the major craft store chains with my work easily and efficiently. My long-term goal is to launch a new line in architectural glass such as tiles and other home embellishments.

Q: If you had it to do all over again, what would you do differently?

To tell you the truth–nothing. I like to believe that there are no mistakes, but even the more discouraging events have been helpful in the long run.

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by ducksauz

Article by Linda Kinyo

If you are looking for fashion jewelry that is reasonably priced, modern and chic, and that looks good you may be interested in a dichroic glass necklace. Dichroic glass jewelry is a fairly new arrival on the fashion jewelry scene and it is really gaining in popularity.

The glass itself is very eye-catching. Made in such a way that fine metal oxides are actually vaporized and attached to the glass surface in layers, the final stone resembles a multi-colored gem. The more layers added to the glass, the more color changes you can see in the dichroic glass. It is this feature that has really captivated the imaginations of not just the artisans who carefully design and make dichroic jewelry, but has also captured the hearts of millions of fashion jewelry wearers.

There are many different styles of dichroic necklaces, ranging from leather to gold necklaces. Most of the necklaces feature a single drop dichroic glass cabochon, or perhaps one or two cylindrical style cabs hanging down from the chain or cord. Oftentimes too you can buy matching earrings that go with your necklace although there will most likely be a little difference between the necklace and the earrings as no two creations are exactly the same when it comes to fused glass. Still, the differences are usually minor differences in pattern and color refraction which actually seem to add to the charm of the dichroic necklace rather than detract from it.

Some of the glass gems falling from this type of fused glass jewelry have been shaped into ovals, hearts, squares or diamonds while other’s leave the cabochon complete and exactly proportioned as it was when they received it. Either style looks great, though I have to admit that my preference is more towards the naturally styled gem shape as opposed to one that has been shaped into a specific design. Again, it seems to add to the individualism of the jewelry.

The great thing about dichroic jewelry is that for the most part it is often made in small studios by single design artists. This alone means that rather than mass produced jewelry there are a lot of different styles of jewelry made and a huge choice when it comes to buying a dichroic glass necklace, earrings or bracelet. Many of these smaller studios have a web presence and have made their jewelry available for ordering online, so it is very easy to make an online purchase.

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by moonbow ceramics

There are many very good dichroic artists out there, but perhaps none better than design firm Clareo Designs. For years Clareo has been an industry leader in making custom, and standard lines, of dichroic jewelry. Their designs are all original, but don’t be surprised to see “knock-offs” out there on the market, because as we all know, imitation is the highest form of flattery. For original designs that are not only unique but eye-catching works of art, go to the source, in this case Clareo.

The hottest jewelry line anywhere just may be from Clareo Designs. The company is a top designer and marketer of fused dichroic glass jewelry.

The heart and soul of every gem from the company is the dichroic glass. Originally developed by the aerospace industry tor NASA, microscopic coatings of crystal and metallic oxides, such as titanium and magnesium, are bonded to glass in a vacuum chamber.

These custom-made “dichroic” coatings give Clareo gems their unique beauty. Using a proprietary process that can take several days, the artists combine this glass with other materials, which are fused multiple times in special kilns at temperatures of over 1,500 degrees, giving Clareo gems their unique depth, fire, and beauty.

In just two years, Clareo Designs has exploded onto the shelves of over 1,000 dealers worldwide. Clareo offers the world’s largest selection of stunningly beautiful dichroic pendants, rings, bracelets, earrings, and bangles, along with retail ready packaging, point-of-sale displays, next day shipping, and a one-year stock swap.

Furthermore, each gem, made in the company’s studios in the United States, retains all of the beauty and individuality of an artist-crafted masterpiece.

Clareo Designs offers several lines. The company’s Designer Collection features over 240 pieces that can be individually ordered. The Gateway Collection is a price breakthrough, featuring genuine Clareo gems handmade in the United States with wholesale costs as low as . The Because-You-Care collection includes necklaces especially commissioned to support leading charities and causes. Additionally, a collection of shape pendants is available.

Visit the company’s Web site to learn more. Call or fill out the form on the Web site for a free sample.

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by mandymooo

Article by Linda Kinyo

You could consume just hours or being looking at this lovely art from known as dichroic charms, and never fatigue of all the nuances and shadings of paint where you will almost never find two pieces alike. This is an artisan?s paradise and a formula that is steeped in technology. If you have never seen dichroic lining, you are in for a open therapy. while it is actually a centuries old formula, topical technology has only enhanced the therapy.

Dichroic lining is bent by many layers of vaporized metals that are allowable to condense on the lining to give it shades and tones of paint. Metals evenly used are gold or silver, and then there are metal oxides such as chromium, titanium, zirconium, aluminum and magnesium. Silica (glow) is also used and each substance causes a sole paint or combination of averting. Sometimes the worst trail in the therapy is to add a terminate of quartz rocket to form a protective layer.

When the therapy is elegant, it is honestly like a rocket and the averting are managed by adeptly controlling the thickness of the coatings. This is why it?s a sleep come loyal for the artisan because he/she can make endless patterns for a sole chunk of charms. No two will ever be honestly the same because of where the cloud parkland. Even while it is talented to ?block off? areas during stages of terminate, it is impossible to predict where the microscopic bits of cloud will land and in what patterns. averting can be controlled, but faithful textures of paint and tones will weigh.

Many pieces of dichroic charms are casual averting that form a passage of art nouveau panel, while others are adeptly controlled. Some form lovely plants and landscapes while others are oriental characters, mythical animals like unicorns and flower right 60?s logos like peaceful assemble and mod plants. From crosses to hearts, there is just any panel imaginable and the lining itself can be shaped as well. There are world legendary artisans who made their name in the activity by able sole and hilarious dichroic lining charms that are actually workings of art.

One of the most admired pieces of dichroic lining charms is a adorn untidy around the face. But there are even variations in settings as well as styles. Sometimes, depending on the talent and house of the ?glass,? the pieces are set in 14k or 18k gold and other time in admirable silver. Some forms of dichroic charms are retro so they are fashioned with rope or leather. And just as the settings change, so too do grade ranges. While it is talented to get inexpensive clothes charms pieces that vend for lacking than , there are other pieces that run considerably more money.

Just like antique collectors quest high and low for crush pieces and means from being postponed by, many customers persecute down sole dichroic charms to add to their collections. Sometimes it is the actual ?hunt? that is so inspiring and when a chunk is discovered that is sole or uncommon, it?s like findings a new da Vinci work of art that had never before been seen. In the eyes of the border, that chunk of dichroic charms is just as hilarious as a lissom work of art. Perhaps that is because it is a lissom work of art!

Everything from face to charms, charms for face, cufflinks and rings are fashioned with dichroic lining and each chunk is more stunning than the last. From art nouveau to Japanese calligraphy, there is actually to be the fantastic charms for any adapt and any adorn. With the shove and convenience of the internet, it is talented to find what you are looking for excluding ever needing to desert your hometown. For the loyal border, dichroic charms and the world thick web go hand in hand.

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by jah~ back, not 100%

Article by Linda Kinyo

In some of her option memories, a playgroup Liz Daly-Korybski and her father, Ken, spend afternoons spiraling repulsive rope coat hangers into neat, musical butterflies.

Daly-Korybski nowadays, uses the same soldering techniques at Liz Daly designs on South highest avenue, wherein she has 65 artifact ranks of glass machinery and earrings art on pose.

Her 2,880 sq. ft. store near the highest avenue is a platform for her creative talents and the talents of others. It shows clocks made from 78-rpm vinyl minutes, purses made from old textbooks, earrings made of Scrabble tiles, a purple refrigerator adornment using alluring bottlecaps and photo-carrying alluring plants, bottle-cap jewels, and guitar-pick earrings.

Those items substain her main art work. She has oil and acrylic paintings, and then there is her specialty: creating earrings using dichroic glass.

Daly-Korybski, 41, whose cunning wellbeing blossomed as an art scholar at the University of South Carolina, has tried her hand at traditional art offerings. One abstract, in reality, sold for ,000 during Artisphere a few time ago.

But it is the furnace work — making “dichro” and blemished glass — that grabs her basis and imagination best. It’s the incentive greatly of her highest avenue shop is ardent to studio work and the essential incentive she immutable to go into custom regarding a time ago.

Dichroic glass is made using micro-thin layers of metal oxides that give flush and show illumine in different conduct. Daly-Korybski fires dichroic, sometimes to temperatures of 1,400 degrees, fusing layers together and often repeating the course. The product is lightly polished logo in great variations, using an appearance alike to gemstones.

Part of the charm for Daly-Korybski, who took silversmith courses in academy, is that the logo of the complete artifact are unpredictable.

The first two she made 10 years ago were designed for cautious use. But when contacts sought to buy them “off my neck” and bought some others, Daly began scene in provisos of a full-time custom.

She was happening in a 256 sq. ft. storefront and later motivated to a 1,100 sw. ft. storefront, both on Pendleton avenue. In 2008, she made the leap to 421 South Main street, on the downtown section of the highest avenue means.

Her 5-year-old mini-pinscher mix, Marty, an alumnus of the Greenville Humane humanity, also loves the employ visitors — as does 8-year-old son Ty, who can generally be found at the shop after school.

The showpiece of the shop changes a bit in the summer, when art camp and course for youngsters (ages 5 and up) are unfilled in the early morning from June through courtier. She also gets to do some doctrine using a “girls nocturnal out” program that lets customers to rationale their own earrings.

In May, the highlight of the slate is the yearly Artisphere celebration. “I feeling because the work of other artists,” says Daly-Korybski, whose save includes some consignment art.

Daly-Korybski, whose family relocated from Pittsburgh to Greenville past to her elder year in high educate 24 time ago, juggles her time between the furnace studio in the back and the hundreds of art substance in the sales front.

She isn’t really positive which section of the building she likes best.

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by Wendy Tanner

Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, has smiled on Dennis Peabody.

Peabody’s iridescent glass jewelry and decorative objects are made with stained and dichroic glass, whose rainbow connections blaze and blend in an ever-changing array of color as light strikes them.

The artist, who began his work in 1978, has a studio at 84 Barker St. in Hartford. Peabody has long been a favorite of art-glass cognoscenti, and among his works are the stained-glass windows at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. He shows his handmade, limited-edition work at major craft shows and festivals across the country and also does commission work.

His jewelry is made from stained glass fused with dichroic glass, which is coated with colorful metallic oxides. The pieces, which include earrings, rings, pins and necklaces, are cradled in sterling silver, and the translucent glass, which comes in warm predominantly red and yellow or cool peacock’s-tail blue and green color combinations, seems to change hues as it reflects, bends and captures light.

His jewelry lines, which can be seen on his website, www.peabodystudio.com, include the Deco, Athena, Cleopatra, Terra and Goddess collections.

Most of his jewelry is in the to 0 price range, but some pieces, including custom work, cost far more.

The Goddess group of one-of-a-kind necklaces, rings and pins, such as the 0 piece shown here, offers a striking combination of shapes and colors. In them, Peabody marries cabochons of bezeled dichroic glass with sterling-silver beads and components, and each cabochon and combination is unique. They rival opals and other precious stones with their fiery or liquid beauty.

It’s hard to believe that such stunning objects begin with pieces of broken glass, but they do. Peabody breaks sheets of dichroic glass from a California manufacturer, heats them on a kiln shelf and forms the resulting honey-like liquid into beads, which he blends with stained glass and shapes into rounds or squares, sometimes etching them by sandblasting.

“I take broken pieces of glass and showcase them,” he says. “They become precious and unique because they are made by hand.”

For information on the Peabody Studio, visit his website, or call 860-296-8811.

A ‘Selective Color Mirror’

Dichroic glass, a spin-off from space technology, intensely reflects light without glare and had scientific and medical uses long before jewelry makers began using it in the 1990s.

It is created, according to a major producer of the material, Gerald Sandberg, quoted on the website beadbugle.com, when thin layers of metal oxides, such as titanium, silicon or magnesium, ranging in depth from three to five millionths of an inch, produce an “interference filter” that is attached to ordinary glass in a vacuum furnace.

This filter acts as a “selective color mirror” that reflects and transmits, but does not absorb light as regular colored glass does. Dichroic glass produces a shifting of color as the viewing angle changes, creating an iridescence that has been likened to the range of color in a peacock’s tale, an opal or a butterfly’s wing.

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