Dichroic Cabochons and Gourd Jewelry

Ah, dichroic glass. Currently enjoying a boom of popularity, and it's easy to see why. Photographs can never do justice to the sparkling appearance, depth and layers of color, and the changing color as you view the piece from different angles. When you hold and examine your first dichroic piece, you'll understand!

Dichroic comes from the "two color" (one reflected, one transmitted) characteristics of thin layers of transparent materials applied to glass. Color changes with the angle of the observer, and with heat treatment. The color comes not from tinted glass, but a special reflective quality (we call it an interference filter in science and engineering). Used since the 1800s in scientific applications, it has only become so popular for use in jewelry in modern times.

Our dichroic pieces are individually designed and produced. They are anywhere from three to five layers of glass, and undergo typically 2-3 firings. We start with first quality dichroic glass, cut and ground in our studio. First, we might "tack fuse" the underlaying design, then do a full firing with a top layer of clear glass. Then we grind and shape this intermediate piece, and apply a final polish firing. Sometimes parts of these beads are produced separately, then assembled for a final firing or two.

The process is at the same time very technical (knowing how heat affects various types of glasses) and artistic (visualizing the colors and shapes as they will appear after firing).

Pricing. In general, prices depend on the labor involved and the amount of dichroic glass (a very expensive material) used. We do not set prices by the amount (weight) of material, but the size and complexity of the piece. For your information, the price tends to be 50-75 cents or so per gram. For the sculpted pieces requiring a lot of labor, such as our gourds, pricing is a bit higher.

We are happy to produce custom production pieces or runs for you, just let us know. Thank you for looking!