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By Debra
Lee Baldwin
January 29, 2006 |
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Dichroic
(dye-KRO-ik) glass adds shimmer and pizazz to anything
it embellishes, from earrings to blown glass.
It was developed during the '90s by the aerospace industry
and used on the space shuttle's exterior. Through a computerized
process called “thin film physics,” an electron
beam vaporizes layers of metallic oxides onto glass.
Colors vary depending on the metal – titanium, selenium
or manganese – the number of micro layers and the
order in which they are applied. These layers actually
are colorless; what you see is the way light interacts
with them.
Dichroic means “two lights” and refers to
the ability of the glass to refract one color and transmit
another. The resulting iridescence is similar to that
of a fire opal, a dragonfly's wings or a hummingbird's
feathers. View dichroic glass from various angles, and
you see different, neon-bright colors.
Artists who work in hot glass (blown or fused) use dichroic
glass to get fascinating effects. They may layer it to
create a three-dimensional look, place it atop a darker
color like cobalt to enhance its intensity, or soften
its brilliance beneath clear or pale-hued glass. And when
allowed to melt and separate, dichroic glass sparkles
like fairy dust.
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