Dichroic glass cab cabochons WHOLESALE

HISTORY: Dichroic glass was originally developed for the lighting and photo industry. Much like a "sepia" lens for a camera only lets certain wavelengths of light through, causing a photo to develop with a brownish tone, dichroic coatings on clear glass will produce particular color filtrations. Think of stage lighting where they have lights that produce red, blue, and other various shades to make the perfect lighting. Dichroic glass is still used for this throughout the world. NASA does use a dichroic coating on some panels but from what I can gather it's not on glass, in spite of what some websites claim. Due to the art potential in this glass, it was introduced to the glass community.. at a whopping $25.00 per square inch ($3000/square foot)! Today the sheets cost approximately $300.00 per square foot (retail), a huge improvement. Picked up by bead-makers in the early 1990s, it has rapidly become a favorite medium for lamp-workers and glass craftsmen.

HOW IT'S MADE: Multiple layers of metallic oxides & quartz (which can include gold, silver, copper, aluminum, titanium, chromium, magnesium, silicon) are vaporized onto the glass using a laser beam directed into a small pot of the mixture, bonding 16 to 32 coatings of variable thickness (average 1/40th of a sheet of paper--molecularly thin) onto "pumpkins" (19x17" glass that is flat on two ends, rounded on the other ends).

WHAT MAKES IT PRETTY? The angle of the glass within the vacuum chamber determines the color. In actuality, there is no color produced. What you are seeing is pure light manipulation at it finest. The glass reflects one color and refracts another with incredible life and
brilliance. Depending on the texture of the glass, whether it is clear or black, and the kinds of metals used, the reflection transmitted and color range is huge and vastly interesting. The effects are similar to the iridescence observed in nature such as opal, hummingbird feathers and dragonfly wings.

FAST FORWARD TO JEWELRY: A glass artist will cut a piece of the dichroic glass, layer it with clear or colored "frit" which is bits of compatible glass that add texture and color - and fire it. They may add other colors and fire several times until they get the color combination they want, then fire one last time with a clear glass sheet to create depth and a professional finish. It is then either wire wrapped or set in silver or gold as jewelry. No two pieces are EVER alike.

Expect to be stopped wherever you go to explain what GEM you're wearing!