Tase Woolf

When I visited Creative Glass in Bristol, I purchased quite a selection of glass, not really sure what I would need. This included scrap glass, as it is less expensive and the small pieces are large enough to make jewellery. I wish I’d photographed my goodies now! There was also a selection of dichroics to get me started.

So, now time to have a go with dichroic glass. Dichroic glass has more than one coating, refracting and reflecting light depending on how it is viewed. I think it is quite beautiful and the first experience I had with firing was with this on a day course with Fired Up Jewellery

On the day course, we followed a simple process; layer of clear, layer of dichroic, layer of clear, so I started with that.

Cutting obviously takes practice. As does drawing a straight line! The scoring doesn’t seem to be a problem, but straight lines definitely are! Also, I didn’t get a pair of running pliers and I feel that’s was mistake (one I put right but more of that later).

I find it very relaxing, cutting and placing the pieces together. On this firing, I was just practicing; seeing how things came out and hoping that it was as simple as I’d remembered. Judging by the results, it was. I used a slightly different firing schedule this time, using a medium fuse, meaning it takes a little longer to heat up. You can see from the coaster with the cross that the cutting needs refinement, but overall, a good start

I did have a bit of a hiccup; set the kiln up, went out the next day to find everything exactly as it was when I put it in! This happened a couple more times until I worked out the cause; I wasn’t pulling the lock on, so the kiln timed out and didn’t run. You live and learn!