DICHRO INTRO

Welcome to the beginning steps in the new field of large blown dichroic glass sculpture. While dichroic glass (dichro) has been around in quantity since the 1950’s, up until now it has been used largely in art to provide beautiful colored accents to jewelry and small sculptures…

FACETED PIXIE DICHRO
6 1/4” - Private collection

For reasons not entirely related to sanity I decided in 2018 to see if I could “go large” with dichro. After considerable effort and expense, I have been able to do so. On these “pages” you can see what I have been able to achieve thus far…

DICHRO ENERGY FIELD
12”L x 8”W x 8”H - $1,800

PURCHASE

But what exactly is dichro?

Dichroic glass (dichro) is a multi-layer coating of quartz crystals and metal oxides deposited on glass in a vacuum chamber. Crystals and oxides are vaporized using an electron beam gun (!) and deposited on a spinning glass disc at the top of the chamber to produce a thin film that is only 35-millionths of an inch thick. Dichro tends to be manufactured in 19” sheets with wonderfully rich, highly saturated colors and sometimes in complex patterns…

THE ODD POD
6”T x 6.5”W x 5.75”D - SOLD

Dichro changes with light, registering different colors as the viewer shifts angles. I use dichro, with its attendant colors and patterns, as the palette from which I conceptualizes and then create the surface of my sculptures…

A PHOENIX IN DICHRO
12”H x 7"W - $1,750

PURCHASE

From my perspective dichroic glass is sheer magic; it allows me to create blown sculptures in an entirely new style for my own delight and that of my collectors and friends…

DICHRO RISING
14”T x 7.5”W x 7.5”D - See it at Seattle Glass Blowing

The journey towards innovation in this genre has been a challenging one. Through trial and error I have developed a process allowing me to use prepared sheets of dichroic that I then add to black or clear substrate…

FACETS IN BLUE
5.5”H x 7’W x 5”D - SOLD

The next step is to blow out the glass to accentuate the patterns and colors in each sheet of the dichro. The variety of patterns and array of colors are nearly limitless. The sheets of pure color appear as gradient luminescence. On the other hand, when designs are applied to the work, the result sits at the intersection of geometry and swirling, abstract patterns. Learn more about dichroic glass on my Inspiration page.