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Dichroic art glass jewelry stands in a class all on its own. It is rapidly growing in popularity within the fashion jewelry scene, and one only has to look at a piece of Dichroic glass jewelry to understand why. The depth and brilliance of color reflected from this fused glass is unmatched by any other medium, and the fact that the pieces actually change color adds to their appeal.
Although it is commonly thought that this type of glass was originally designed to be used in Aerospace programs, you can actually find dichroic glassware dating back to the Ancient Roman Empire. More recently, however, it was rediscovered when it was used to coat the mirrors placed on satellites, and it was at this time that this particular style of glass was re-introduced to artists.
It is now a very popular medium amongst jewelry designers and other artisans, and is used to create not only brilliant dichroic jewellery, but also dichroic glass beads that can be used in many different types of decorative projects as well as for making jewelry. Dichroic glass paperweights are also very popular with lots of collectors.
Dichroic glass is made when a layered, multi-level coating of quartz crystal and other metal oxides are placed on the surface of glass. These oxides are actually vaporized in an airless chamber where they drift upwards and attach themselves to the surface of the glass and harden in a crystal formation. Because of the very fine vapour used to coat the surface of the glass it is possible to have anywhere from thirty to fifty different layers attached to the glass yet the actual depth of the glass barely changes.
The created coating is very similar in nature and look to a gemstone and by controlling the thickness, different colored dichroic glass can be made. Once coated, dichroic glass allows some wavelengths of light to pass through while some are reflected giving off a variety of different colors depending on the angle that the piece is viewed from.
There are over 45 colors of coating that can be used to create this type of jewelry. Depending on the design, these colors can be left plain as in a simple gemstone or a pattern or images can be made by removing sections of the dichroic coating from the glass with a laser. It is precision work that results in stunning designs and mixing of colors.
Dichroic glass pendants are a very popular piece of jewelry, as are fused glass earrings and dichroic glass bracelets. There are many different styles used when fashioning dichroic fused glass jewelry. Some pieces appear to be one solid color, which changes as the piece is moved in the light. Other pieces have some of the layers taken off via laser, giving the piece a multi-colored appearance that again shifts and changes as the piece is rotated to reflect light.
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