Facts About Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass usually called dichro for short is glass that bends light to reflect colors as a prism makes a rainbow. I'll give you a hint on how to pronounce it (raven dye) because I definitely didn't get it right the first time I tried it.

The unique feature of this glass is that it does not use dyes, paints, or any other type of coloring agent to create a unique coloring. It is made up of ultra-fine layers of metal oxides, which gives it the ability to reflect colors.

I thought that because of how it got its color, the CBS dichroic glass would be fairly new but it actually dates back to at least the 4th century AD and is derived from the Greek words "di" for two and "chroma" for color. The nice thing about dichroic glass is that it seems to contain more than one color at the same time especially when viewed from different angles.

The first thing to remember when fusing dichroic glass is that, like all glass used in glass fusing, it must be compatible. Normal windows or float glass are usually incompatible, so they should be avoided.

Take a look at some of the glass suppliers and browse their selection of patterns. Along with the description, you'll see that each piece of glass has a COE number, usually 104 or 90. You should combine the glass using glass from the same unit-owned equipment and you shouldn't go over these numbers. Mixing the SOE causes shattering as the glass expands and contracts during the burning process.

COE or the coefficient of expansion is simply a measure of the degree of expansion that glass undergoes as it is heated.

The two-tone glass can come on a transparent or black base. On black can be used as a base. Clarity is best used over a dark base as the paint can become nearly invisible in sunlight.

If you use more than one layer of dichroic glass, you must remember that the painted sides should not touch each other. Remember that the paint is metallic oxide. Having two of these elements connected directly means that the glass cannot fuse properly, resulting in damage to patterns from deformed glass.