Dichroic Fused Glass Jewelry

Fused glass jewelry is created by taking layers of glass and fusing them together in a kiln. In the modules below I will describe the process in greater detail.

Getting Started

What equipment do you need?

I got started in glass fusing by taking a class at a stained glass studio. Wow! After one day I was hooked on this and was anxious to acquire a set-up for use in my home. Naturally the owner of the shop was happy to help me with this, but now, 4 years later, I'm still using all of the same equipment. In fact, it all made the trip from Florida to Alaska when we moved in 2005.

The major purchase for glass fusing is a kiln. While this doesn't need to be large (see the pictures of mine--it is very small), it does need to go to 1700 degrees F. I now have two kilns: a Paragon QuickFire and a Paragon SC2. The Paragon Quickfire 6 fires to 2000 degrees F (1093 C) and has an inside chamber size of 6" by 6". This is adequate for making jewelry or small items such as coasters. Currently (2007) it lists for about $340. You may also need a temperature controller, depending upon which kiln you buy. Although the Paragon Quickfire comes with a pyrometer, it only tells you what the temperature is, it doesn't allow you to control it. This can become quickly inconvenient as the Quickfire increases its temperature very fast (going from room temperature to 1000 degrees in just 5 minutes). While glass melts around 1600 degrees, it doesn't take long to get to that temperature and more than once I ended up with soupy glass. So, I bought a controller for about $85 and that solved the problem.

I recently purchased a Paragon SC2 kiln with a bead door. This also fires to 2000 degrees and has a larger interior area than the Quickfire. However, the big seller is the digital control which allows me to run specific programs for glass and PMC.

One nice thing about small kilns is that they generally will run on regular 120v outlets and you don't need to put in a 220 line.

Along with the kiln, you need kiln shelves which are inexpensive so we won't worry about them now.

The other somewhat pricey item you need is a glass grinder. I use a Glastar Super Star grinder which costs about $110.

A small variety of tools for glass cutting are also necessary, as is a place to work. I can't emphasize this last thing enough as you will be getting small shards of glass all over the place, no matter how careful you are!

Some Basics

What is Dichroic Glass?
The brilliant colors of dichroic glass are the result of multiple micro-layers of metal oxides. It was first developed by NASA for use in satellite mirrors. Dichroic glass can be fused with other glass in kiln firings and certain wavelengths of light will either pass through or be reflected, causing an array of color to be visible. The glass looks different depending upon the lighting and from which angle it is being viewed. Individual results can never be exactly reproduced and each piece of fused dichroic glass is unique.

Slumping and Fusing:
Slumping refers to the draping of glass around a form during kiln firing. It occurs around 1200-1300 degrees F. Fusing refers to the joining of glass pieces in the liquid state, and it occurs around 1500 degrees F.

Glass Compatibility
Glass compatibility is described by its COE (coefficient of expansion). This is the rate of expansion/contraction as the glass is heated and cooled. You must be sure that all pieces of glass that your are fusing together have the same COE.

Bullseye glass has a COE of 90 while Spectrum has a COE of around 96. The type of glass used in lampworking (Effetre or Moretti) glass) has a COE of 104. Glasses with different COEs will not fuse together.

A Place to Work?

What does that mean anyway?

OK, its laughable now, but my first "place to work" was on the patio of my home in Florida. I should add that anyone going to the pool had to walk through this area..........what???? Walking through glass bits with no shoes? What sort of idiotic set up was that? As you can imagine, I wasn't too popular with this no matter how pretty the jewelry pieces came out.

Luckily (for more reasons than the working space), we moved clear across the country (5500 miles) to Eagle River Alaska. My new house has a separate work studio that was built by the previous owner. No more glass all over the place! Well, actually there is glass all over the place, but no one gets cut except for me. Plus, no one really comes out there to see what I'm up to, so it works out just fine. Oh, I might mention that I also have moose walk by sometimes. Here is a picture of part of the studio. Yes, I know its a mess.

Moose? What Moose?

The studio is on the border of a wooded area, and there is a steep hill behind it. One day, right after we moved in, I heard something running through the trees. I went to the door to look out, and just as I did a moose and her calf ran by. Good thing I hadn't gone out yet or she would have probably attacked me to defend the calf (as if....).

Here is a picture of a moose with her twin calves who showed up in front of my studio in May 2007.

So, Back to Business. What's Next?

You need to have glass!

One of the really fun parts is buying glass. You will need a variety of colors that are transparent and opaque, and also some dichroic glass. I buy the transparent and opaque glass in sheets of about 12" by 12" (or sometimes bigger). Dichroic glass is expensive, generally costing between $16 and $25 for a 4" by 4" piece (although you might find bargains on eBay). I like to purchase scrap bags of dichroic glass, and most glass sellers have these available and it gives you a nice variety of patterns and colors. Of course you never know exactly what you will get, so if you have your heart set on something specific, you better just buy the 4" by 4" piece. I've included links to some of my favorite glass sellers below.

While we're thinking about glass, you need to have coated your kiln tile with glass separator and let it dry thoroughly before using it in the kiln. If you don't do this your glass will adhere to the tile, and you will have to throw out the glass and the tile.
Here is a picture of my current box of dichroic glass scraps. Yes, I usually cut myself every time I go digging into this box, or worse yet, into my regular glass scrap box.

Designing the Pieces

I never do much to plan out any of my fused glass pieces unless someone has requested a specific design or color. Usually I make pendants for necklaces, earrings, and sometimes pins.

No matter what you are making, there are basically 2-3 layers. A base piece, the dichroic glass, and perhaps a 3rd layer of clear glass. For the base I find that black glass works out very well, but I've also used white, clear, and other colors.

If you are making a pendant or a pin, cut rectangular pieces that are a little larger than you want the pendant to be. The glass will shrink up some in the kiln, plus, you will be grinding off the rough edges and firing it a second time (where it will shrink a bit again). I usually cut my base pieces about 1.5"-2" by 1" or so (larger for pins). There is no set formula. If you want to end up with a round piece, then cut a square instead of a rectangle. You can also use irregularly shaped pieces. There is nothing that says it has to be square or rectangular. If you are making earrings, then you need two small pieces that are approximately the same size.

Once you have those pieces cut, lay them down on the tile (that has previously been coated with glass separator) which will go into the kiln. Make sure that the glass pieces aren't too close to the edge of the tile, especially if you have several layers of glass. It could melt and adhere to the kiln wall, and may ruin the heat elements or insulation.

Once you have that done, then you are ready to layer some pieces of dichroic glass on top of the base pieces. I generally will put one piece of dichroic glass, small enough to still show some of the background. You can place 2 or 3 small pieces also, or any design you want. I often like to put a very small piece of clear glass on top, and when fused it forms a sort of "window" into the piece. However, you can put a larger piece of clear glass that will completely encase the dichroic glass, or you can skip the clear glass all together.

Here is a picture of a tile before it goes into the kiln (tile has corner broken off).

Fusing the Glass

You are now ready to fuse the glass in the kiln.

Place the tile into the kiln, close the lid, and turn on the kiln. Watch the temperature and be sure you don't ever open the kiln to peek in when the temperature is between 500 and 1000 degrees or your glass pieces will crack. I let my kiln ramp up slowly so there isn't a problem with thermal shock.

As soon as the temperature gets over 1000 degrees I'm usually cracking open the door to see what's going on. Usually nothing is going on since the glass doesn't slump until 1300-1400 degrees, and won't fuse until around 1500-1600 degrees. Once your glass has reached the desired state, turn off the kiln and crack the door for a few seconds (stand back!), and then close it back up. You will need to wait a minimum of several hours before you can open it. I don't open the kiln until it is below 100 degrees. You don't want your pieces to crack because you were impatient to take a look!

If you aren't happy with a piece, or if something cracks, you can always fuse it again or use it in a different design, or break it apart and use pieces of it in something else. If you can't think what to do with it, then throw it into your scrap box.

At the top of this section you can see a picture of glass in the kiln, right before I turn it off. Be sure to protect your eyes when you look into a kiln that is this hot.

Shaping the Pieces and the Second Fusing

You aren't done yet!

Here is a picture of the pieces after the first firing.

You might get lucky with some pieces, but generally you still have more work to do. Usually there are some rough edges or points, or the shape isn't quite right after the first firing. At this point you will use your grinder to make the piece more appealing and wearable.

When using the grinder, make sure you keep the grinding wheel and glass wet. You should also wear a mask to keep from breathing in the silica, and ALWAYS wear some type of eye protection. I prefer to wear goggles as opposed to just glasses as the dust will come up under your glasses.

Gradually grind your piece until you are happy with the shape and the sharp points are gone. Then clean your piece with water and dry it off. You will notice that in places where you have used the grinder you will have rough glass with a matte finish. This isn't what you want, so its time for a second firing.

Now you are going to place the pieces on a tile once again, and fire them in the kiln. If you are using the same tile as before, use a stiff brush to take off most of the glass separator dust from the firing (wear a mask and goggles!), and then coat it again with glass separator and let it dry.

This time you will need to watch as the temperature goes over 1200 degrees. As soon as you see the edges smooth over you should turn off the kiln. It's not real easy to look into such a hot kiln, and I usually wear some type of eye protection so my contacts don't melt to my eyeballs. If the temperature goes too high, your pieces will begin to spread out again and may not look as you intend them to look.

As before, you need to wait several hours before opening the kiln (temperature under 100 degrees).

1.5 Rectangle Multicolor Dichroic Glass Slide

Making it into Jewelry!

Adding the findings

Now you have a bunch of very pretty little glass cabochons and need to attach jewelry findings so they can be worn.

I usually use leaf bails and glue them to the back of the pendants using E6000 glue. Don't use super glue, it won't work. I used to use 2 part epoxy, but found that the 6000 glue works better. For earrings I buy sterling silver posts with an 8mm disk and attach them using the same glue. With pins, I attach a pin back. Very simple. Let the glue dry overnight before trying to use the pieces.

If you try to drill into the glass it will probably break. However, there are procedures you can use to drill into glass using a diamond drill bit and a rotary Dremel drill. Visit this link for more information: Drilling Small Holes in Glass

Multicolor Dichroic Glass Heart French Wire Earrings

Photos of Fusing Process, Finished Jewelry, and Studio

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Glass Fusing Information

Glass Fusing and Sumping Information: Easy to understand and follow glass fusing information.
Jewelry Making instruction video: Fused Glass Jewelry by Vicki Payne & Jayne Persico: Rent the DVD Fused Glass Jewelry by Vicki Payne & Jayne Persico - DVDs delivered to your door with free shipping!
Guide to Dichroic Fused Glass Cabochons, by Lis Kidder: Common flaws in dichroic fused glass cabochons

Molds for Slumping and Fusing

World Famous Slumpy's Warm Glass Molds

Glasswork Discussion Groups and Forums

Lampwork Etc. - A friendly place to bring together glass and jewelry artists.: Glassworking tips, tutorials, sales, discussions, reviews, and so much more!
The Melting Pot - Where All Glass Addicts Melt Together: The Glass Lampworkers Discussion Group is a forum dedicated sharing knowledge, skills and techniques geared toward the progression of an ancient art form.
The Annealer Magazine Forum: The Annealer magazine forum for lampwork artists and jewelry designers
Hot Glass Forum: Glass Line's HotGlass forum for lampworking and all forms of hot glass
The Glass Artist - Glass Forum and Message Board: A forum for multidisciplinary glass artists
ArtGlass Forum: Talk about all things glass!

Dichroic Glass Artists and Galleries

Frozen Fire Glass by Francesca Anatra: Frozen Fire Gallery - Dichroic and art glass jewelry and accessories. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, hair accessories, pins, button covers, bola ties, wind chimes and Jewelry Classes.
Dichroic glass jewelry by Nancy Tang: Dichroic Glass Pendants,fused glass jewelry, earrings and art work are created by fusing in a kiln. All Dichroic work is created by Nancy Tang of Glass Orchids. Here in Maine, Nancy makes dichroic glass earrings, pins, barrettes, bracelets and home accessories using dichroic glass. All Glass Orchid
Lacy Glass Studio: Welcome to my gallery of fused dichroic glass beads,
dichroic pendants with sterling bails, dichroic cabochons, dichroic buttons, dichroic
bracelets and earrings.
Kaplan Creations Jewelry Design on Etsy: Wire wrapped pendants, bracelets, necklaces, and other items.

Kaplan Creations Jewelry Design and Glasswork Blog

Blog about designing jewelry, including fused glass and lampworking.

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Kilns

Suppliers of kilns

Paragon Kilns: Paragon Industries manufactures kilns for professional and hobbyist ceramic and glass kiln users. We have manufactured high-quality kilns since 1948.
Skutt Glass Kilns: Electric kilns for pottery and hobby ceramic markets. Try our Build a kiln. Our Kiln selector tool will help you choose the ideal kiln for you kiln needs.
Clay-King Kilns: Kilns, Electric Kilns for ceramic and pottery!
Evenheat Kilns: Evenheat glass kilns
Delphi: Kilns & Accessories: Jen-Ken 11-4.5 Kiln with Flip Door, Chili Pepper Bead Annealer Kiln, GTS 2541-13 25in. Floor Kiln with Rampmaster II, Skutt FireBox 8 Kiln, Jen Ken Oval 13 Kiln, Jen-Ken Digital Fuse Box Kiln, Hot Box Fusing Beginner Kit, Hot Box Mini Kiln & more!
Sundance Glass Kilns: Glass Kilns starting at $150 complete! Let us help you select the right glass kiln for your needs and budget. We can ship it to you in 48 hours!
Glass Kilns at bigceramicstore.com: Huge discounts, Free Shipping Paragon Olympic Shimpo Skutt Cress
The Art Clay Club: Choosing A Kiln

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Precious Metal Clay (PMC)

Why PMC? Because PMC can be fired onto dichroic glass pieces resulting in a gorgeous design of glass and fine silver.

PMC Guild - Precious Metal Clay resources, information, networking: Welcome to the web's number one site for information about metal clay.
PMC Connection: PMC Connection is an importer and distributor of Precious Metal Clay supplies and related tools and materials.
PMC Supply - Everything Metal Clay & More!: Huge selection of metal clay products, including unique products not available anywhere else.
Cool Tools - We make the coolest tools for Precious Metal Clay (PMC) Art Clay Silver (ACS) jewelry: Welcome to Cool Tools. . .
We're all about helping you make the jewelry
you've always dreamed of.
Endless possibilities.
We make it easy to get started making beautiful silver jewelry with precious metal clay. We offer tool kits, free starter projects, books, DVDs and a library of free online video
Setting Dichroic Glass in Silver precious metal clay: Silver Clay and Fused Dichroic Glass
PMC & Dichroic glass: PMC3 and Dichroic Glass

So you want to use dichroic glass with your silver clay OR you want to use silver clay with your dichroic glass? The specifics here will pertain
to PMC3 but if you use Art Clay Silver you can adjust the firing schedule accordingly.
Dichroic Glass Cabochons: Gemstones and dichroic glass cabochons that are safe to fire with PMC.

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Glass Publications

The Flow Magazine: A glass journal for the flameworking community.
Profitable Glass Quarterly: For the creative professional working in hot, warm, and cold glass
Glass Patterns Magazine: Glass Patterns Magazine features stained glass patterns, glass patterns, free stained glass patterns, craft patterns, free craft patterns, and instructions for glass.
GLASS LINE Magazine: The world's only publication entirely devoted to glassblowing, lampworking, hot glass art & artists...... is now on line! Check it out!

Jewelry Photography

How to get the best pictures of your jewelry!

Tips for Photographing Jewelry: Tips for photographing jewelry with scanners and digital cameras for professional looking photos. Easy tips for using photo editing software for the finishing touch on your jewelry photos.

Visit My Other Jewelry and Jewelry Supply Sites

Kaplan Creations Jewelry Design

Jewelry and Glass Design Blog

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Reader Comments

Lensmaster

JaguarJulie wrote...

Beautiful fused glass! Welcome to the Art Glass headquarters. 5*****

Posted October 02, 2008

Lensmaster

Mortira wrote...

Thanks for the great lens! Lots of useful info and great images as well.

Posted July 15, 2008

Lensmaster

Jeanne Wakeman wrote

Great article. I'm a beginner and this has really helped. Thanks.

Posted May 31, 2008

Lensmaster

DazzlingDesigns wrote...

Such a delightful 5-Star lens! Dichroic glass really does let you create very striking pieces of jewelry. Please feel free to stop by my Unique Handmade Jewelry lens. Thanks, Donia
Handmade Beaded Jewelry Gallery

Posted April 01, 2008

Lensmaster

Christine wrote

Wow, what a wonderful article...I learned so much from you, many thanks! I'm new to this world of glass fusing and found my addiction blossoming daily!! Great job!

Posted March 11, 2008

Dichroic Fused Glass Jewelry