And me being me, I had to know what exactly dichroic glass is and why it shows such dramatic and varied colors. I talked to other glass artists, and researched it online as well. What I found out was absolutely fascinating.
But then....I'm a glass freak. So......here's the Reader's Digest version of what I discovered.
First of all, dichroic glass is not easily obtained. The process to make it is so complex that only a few companies in the world manufacture this spectacular and multi-purpose glass. Webster says the word "dichroic" comes from two Greek words: "di" which means two and "chros" which means colors, or more exactly, skin. This two-colored "skinned" glass is created by a complicated, high tech process in which metals like gold, silver or aluminum, or oxides like titanium, zirconium or magnesium, are vaporized into dust inside a vacuum chamber by the blast of an electron beam. Gravity causes the vaporized metal or oxide dust to gently settle onto the surface of a sheet of hot glass at the bottom of the airless vacuum chamber. This vaporizing and settling of metal or oxide dust onto the hot glass is repeated until there is a "skin" of color on the glass. This dichroic skin looks much like the swirling iridescent rainbow of colors you see when oil floats on water. Once the dust layer is thick enough to see (but still thinner than an onion skin), the coated glass is kiln fired at a high temperature to fuse the metal or oxide to the glass.
I was surprised to find out that archeologists have discovered shards of dichroic glass that date as far back as the 4th century AD when Constantine the Great was emperor of the Roman Empire! Look at this picture of the "Lycurgus Cup" from this time period. The glass in this cup looks green in the daylight and red when lit up at night! Wow! How did the ancient Romans make the dichroic glass that could do this?
Lycurgus Cup (Photo courtesy of Google Images, pintrest.com and rsc.org) |
Dichroic glass earrings |
Dichroic glass necklace pendant |
Dichroic glass necklace pendant (Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org) |
Needless to say, this glass is rather expensive. You know, the more rare something is and the more difficult it is to make, the pricier it is. I am pondering and dreaming of what this piece of glass will become. Once I decide, I will share it with you and take you on a blog journey of the creation of some spectacular (hopefully!!) piece of glass art from this flat round piece of dichroic glass. I know it won't be anything for space travel and it won't be a piece of jewelry. I do have one or two things in mind though.
References
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2012/cg_2.html
https://www.theglasscastle.com.au/what-dichroic-glass
http://www.estarlight.net/dichroic-glass.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroic_glass
All photos are my own unless otherwise noted.
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