Creative Process

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Finished Pendant

Wendy firing up the torch

JEWELRY GALLERY

CREATIVE PROCESS

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

Wendy finishing up the metal work

The Gordon’s Fisherman ready to cut glass

A little birdie told me that Wendy listens to German Polka music while she works.

What exactly is “Dichroic” fused glass jewelry? The simplest answer is that the glass dichroic “stone” for the jewelry is made from glass that is melted together in a kiln at approximately 1500 degrees. Dichroic glass is a special type of glass
that gives our work it’s sparkle. It’s a glass
containing many very thin layers of metal oxides
such as titanium, chromium, aluminum, zirconium,
magnesium. Gold, silver and silica are also used.
These materials are vaporized in a vacuum chamber
and deposited on the glass. Depending on the
color there can be anywhere from 30 to 50 layers
of these materials, but the thickness of the coatings
will only be approximately 30 to 35 millionths of an
inch. The main characteristic of
dichroic glass is that it has a
transmitted color and a completely
different reflected color. For our jewelry Wendy and I start off
with large art glass and dichroic glass sheets. The glass is cut
to size and numerous elements are added to make our signature
abstract painting style of glass that we use in our jewelry. Once the new
“stone” is the size and shape that want, we will then start building the
metal part of the piece. Typically Wendy and I will use silver, but lately we
have been experimenting with copper, brass, bronze and stone. All of
our work is individually fabricated (hand forged & soldered). As with all of
our work Wendy & I get to the finished piece in a few different ways. Wendy
will typically take a glass “stone” and in her mind come up with an interesting
design to compliment it. I will do the same at times but my favorite thing to do is to be at a
show (where I am usually very inspired)
and draw out pieces from the ground
up. Like the piece to the left. I got
the inspiration for it from a japanese
window that I had seen.