JEWELRY MATERIALS
DICHROIC GLASS

Dichroic glass is a by-product of the space age.  NASA needed highly reflective mirrors in space
and learned how to get a product with 99.5 % reflectivity.  The artistic community soon learned
that the same techniques could make colorful and highly reflective glass.

Ordinary glass is placed into a vacuum chamber which is pumped down to the atmosphere of
space.  To achieve this low atmosphere special cryogenic cooling must be used in the chamber.

A piece of glass is then placed into the chamber and a high intensity electric arc is fired inside
the chamber which disperses particulates which penentrate and color the glass.  The process is
very expensive with each chamber costing in excess of one million dollars.  Hence the high
cost of dichroic glass.
A word about dichroic jewelry.

The color of a piece of dichroic jewelry depends on the direction in which it is viewed.  For example,
 the color CC stands for cyan-copper.  When the coating is placed on clear glass, the cyan is the
 transmitted color seen when viewing the glass straight-on through a light or window.  The  copper
 is the reflected color seen when viewing the glass against a dark background. As the glass
is turned in your view, the shades of color vary between these colors.  The pictures below
demonstrate this.

DG This is a picture of cyan-copper Dichroic looking straight through the glass. (cyan)
DG2 This is the same glass looking at an approximate 45 degree angle.(gold/yellow)
DG3 This is a picture of the same glass looking at it against a dark background. (copper)

The tremendous change in colors, when viewed from different angles, makes this glass a
wonderful medium for jewelry.  Because of the wide range of colors, its high reflectivity,
the color changes with viewing angle, and the accuracy of computer pictures,  it is difficult to
display accurate colors on a computer.
Available colors.
As stated above, their is a transmitted and reflective color to each piece of glass.  When the color
is placed onto black glass, only the reflective color is seen.  On clear glass, all the variations can
be seen.  Here are the basic colors you can choose from with any piece of dichroic jewelry.

Transmitted Color                        Reflected Color

BLUE                                                GOLD
CYAN                                                COPPER
CYAN                                                RED
CYAN                                                DARK RED
CYAN                                                DARK, DARK RED
GREEN                                             MAGENTA
GREEN                                             MAGENTA BLUE
GREEN                                             PINK
MAGENTA                                         GREEN
PINK                                                 TEAL
YELLOW                                           PURPLE
YELLOW                                           BLUE
RED                                                  SILVER BLUE

AND THEN THERE ARE SOME PURE COLORS

EMERALD
PURPLE
VIOLET
SALMON
CANDY APPLE RED
SILVER
How Is The Jewelry Made

Since we are dealing with glass, the only way to shape it is to heat it until it the consistency of
molasses and then form it.  This is most easily done in a kiln.  The glass is cut, given a rough
shape and then heated in a kiln where the final shape takes place.    The piece may then be
wire wrapped with sterling wire, have a fine silver bail formed into the glass or have metal
attached in some other fashion.
WORKING WITH METALS

Jewelry may be made with fine silver, sterling silver, gold, platinum, copper, brass or other
metals.  The process is labor intensive for the jeweler whose designs are unique and hand-crafted.
It begins with metal sheet or metal wire.  The sheet must be cut, shaped, soldered and polished.
A similar process is used to make bracelets, rings, pendants, earrings, broaches, etc.  When you
buy hand-crafted products, you are buying a unique piece of jewelry because there is no way to
exactly duplicate the process.  Unlike large companies, who cast hundreds of the same items to
identical specifications, the hand-crafter works on one each piece.  The manual labor is intensive,
but it is a labor of love.  

Some times metals are combined in layers and heated under pressure to produce a new material.
This material is then etched to reveal the different colored layers.  The process was created in
Japan centuries ago and is called Mokume Gane (wood grained metal).  This is another labor
intensive process that make wonderful and unique jewelry.

All of these processes are available at Creations By Ardell and you may custom order any color
or type of jewelry you desire.

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