The kiln fused warm glass projects featured on this website are often a combination of art glass and dichroic glass. All glass used is 96-CEO.

So what is dichroic glass exactly? Dichroic glass contains multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. This means that as you turn it from side to side, you see one color then another as the light reflects against it.

All of my glass pieces go through multiple firings to ensure their strength and durability, and are fired at tempertaures of up to 1500-degrees. Most pieces require multiple firings in the kiln for multiple layers or shaping to create their finished appearance.

When a pendant is made, for example, pieces of clear art glass are cut and layered with pieces of dichroic glass (and sometimes colored art glass), then fired in the kiln. This often takes most of a day to fuse then cool to a safe temperature where the glass isn't fragile and can be safely handled. If cooled too rapidly or exposed to cool air too soon, the glass can crack from the temperature shock. Once cooled, pendants are shaped with a diamond bit glass grinder. After grinding, the pendants are returned to the kiln for annealing and a final polishing. 

When a bowl is made, for example, pieces of clear art glass are used as the base for the project. On top of the clear glass, pieces of colored art glass and sometimes pieces of dichroic glass are layered until the desired affect or pattern is achieved. Then the project is fired in the kiln until it is fully fused. Large projects (those taking up more than half the space in the kiln) require a slower firing schedule to ensure strength and a full fusing. This can often take up to 24-hours to complete the fusing and cooling process. Once fully fused, the project is ready to be placed over or into a mold coated with kiln wash (to release the glass and keep it from fusing into the mold, thus ruining the mold), in this case a bowl mold, and slumped into shape.  Molds are essential if the glass is to take on a third dimension. Once slumped and cooled, the piece may need grinding and annealing, though sometimes it turns out almost perfect and needs no additional work.

A variety of art glass in the original shipment packaging.

Here is an image of the kiln as warms up for a fusing project. Here is it only at 240-degrees.

A picture of the workspace. Here you can see pendants and a dragonfly glass tile which have been fused, the black rubber mat where glass is cut, and various colors of bottles of glass-line pens (which can be used to outline images onto a piece of glass before it is fired in the kiln).