I have hand-crafted dichroic glass jewellery for twenty years and sold it at Cotters Market, Townsville until we moved to Tasmania. My creations have been available in Hobart every Saturday at Salamanca Market and on this website. Unfortunately the market is currently closed due to Covid-19, but we all hope that things will get back to normal in the not too distant future.
Dichroic glass is coated with a thin film of metal oxides on one side of the glass. Depending on the type of metal oxide a certain colour is reflected back to the eye. This colour shifts when you look at the glass from a different angle. The reason for this is that the colour seen when light passes through the glass is quite different from the reflected colour. The greek word for two colours is dichroic.
To make dichroic glass jewellery I use glass of many types. At the last count I had over one hundred different types of glass in stock. I cut the glass, shape it, create the patterns I like, fire it in one of my electric kilns. Then I cold work the piece on one or more of my grinding wheels, fire it again and so on… The end result is a unique piece of jewellery.
The findings I use are good quality findings. I buy all my findings from suppliers in California. California has some of the strictest laws regarding materials used in jewellery and everything I buy is approved under the Californian Jewellery-Making Materials Classification.
Stud earring posts:
– surgical steel and hypoallergenic, the retainers are plastic
French hooks (earrings):
– surgical steel and hypoallergenic (silver coloured)
– surgical steel plated with Hamilton Gold a non-nickel gold plating (gold coloured)
Bails on pendants and earrings
– the golden bails are 18k gold plated and have a clear lacquer applied to keep them free from discolouration
– the silver bails are silver plated and have a clear lacquer applied to keep them free from discolouration
Necklaces:
– all pendants come with cotton strings and are ready to wear. The strings are length adjustable.