Dichroic help & advice needed!

[angie]

Ok.. ive seen beads made with dichroic, ive never tried it and basicly im confused about it i want to make some beads with this in it.
is dichroic coe 90?
can i just add it to the bead when i work or does it have to be fused in kiln?
need advice please.


i did also see a toot for a "frit pendant" http://www.jsavinacollection.com/pag...ntTutorial.php i would love to try this, but ive never seen dichroic frit
help, help help LOL, i wanna try DICHROIC!!

[Cosmo]

First, there is dichroic available in any COE. "Dicohroic" refers to a coating of metal on the glass. The base glass determines the COE. You would need to use dichroic glass that has the same COE as the rest of the glass you are using.

You can add it to anything in the flame like you would any other type of glass. You do need to be a little more careful with it. Direct flame on the coated surface can burn the coating. When at all possible, try to heat the uncoated side of the glass.

The pendant she is doing is using some dichroic frit she made. There was a company that was going to produce some dichroic frit, but I haven't seen it available anywhere yet.

[angie]

Thanks Cosmo!
i keep seeing the glass sheets, how the devil do ya attach that to a bead LOL
can you buy in rod form?

[Cosmo]

You can buy it in rod form. But I take the sheets and cut them down into strips.

[angie]

Thanks Cosmo!!

[lldesigns]

There is some 90 COE Bullseye frit available but mostly dichro comes in strips or sheets. I get 104 COE dichro here... http://www.fineartbyrocio.com/glass.html - the dichro is down near the bottom of the page. They have some of the nicest I've worked with. You want to work dichro way out in the cooler part of the flame with the treated side towards the bead. Warm the dichro enough to wilt it onto the bead and then either flame cut or use nippers to cut the remainder off. Next you need to pull the glass over the edges of the treated sides so the coating doesn't creep up into the flame and burn. Then you can either encase it or gently marver the bead into the final shape.

Only use dichro if you have a kiln ready. I tried batch annealing and it doesn't work with dichro - at least for me. Every bead cracked until I changed from batch annealing to putting the finished bead directly into a hot kiln.

[angie]

oh darn theres no pics on there thanks for your tip too
i usually batch anneal!