I have to admit, this week's Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week had me hitting Wiki. While it's obvious the work of the mom and daughter team at My Sassy Glass is beautiful, I just had to find out what 'dichroic glass' is. What I discovered has me appreciating their gorgeous work even more! And as a bonus, I got a little science lesson:
From Wikipedia:
Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. The invention of dichroic glass is often erroneously attributed to NASA and its contractors, who developed it for use in dichroic filters. Dichroic glass dates back to at least the 4th century AD as seen in the Lycurgus cup.
Multiple ultra-thin layers of different metals (gold, silver), metal oxides (titanium, chromium, aluminium, zirconium, magnesium) and silica are vaporised by an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. The vapour then condenses on the surface of the glass in the form of a crystal structure. This is sometimes followed by a protective layer of quartz crystal. The finished glass can have as many as 30 to 50 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 30 to 35 millionths of an inch (about 760 to 890 nm). The coating that is created is very similar to a gemstone and, by careful control of thickness, different colours are obtained.
Dichroic glass is now available to artists through dichroic coating manufacturers. Glass artists often refer to dichroic glass as "dichro". The main characteristic of dichroic glass is that it has a transmitted colour and a completely different reflected colour, as certain wavelengths of light either pass through or are reflected. This causes an array of colour to be displayed. The colors shift depending on the angle of view.
[okay, my eyes have glazed over...I'm going to share her amazing work now]
From her profile:
I was a stay-at-home mom with 4 children that did crafts to stay mentally alert. Some of my crafts include, ceramics, hand-painted ornaments, cross stitch, quilting, knitting, crocheting, wheat-weaving, metal punching..... Do you get the idea that I always had a project going? I had always been interested in glass, but did not have an area where I could cut the glass and not worry about the children getting cut by the shards.
Many years later, my daughter finished her degree in design about this time I was downsized out of my fourth job. We decided to combine our talents...and you can only benefit!
We feel that our one-of-a-kind pendants offer a hint about the personality of the person that wears it. We make pendants in many shapes and sizes and love to see which one our customer picks out. Whether you are bold, elegant, edgy, trendy, strong, modern, classic, sporty, daring or sassy... we feel that you can find a pendant that is perfect for you!
SPECIAL OFFER THIS WEEK ONLY: FREE SHIPPING until April 30th on all purchases totaling $40 or more from either of our Etsy shops. Items will be shipped either USPS First Class OR First Class International. Please use code: SOTW in the comments at checkout to redeem this offer. Shipping charges will be refunded via Paypal after payment or you may convo me before payment for a revised invoice. Wisconsin residents - applicable purchase of $40 is calculated before sales tax. Also…..We invite you to check out our facebook pendant giveaway. http://www.facebook.com/MySassyGlass
Read the original post http://etsytwitter.blogspot.com/2010/04/shop-of-week-mysassyglass.html
- On Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mysassyglass
- Their Etsy Supply Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mysassysupplies
- Follow @Mysassyglass on Twitter.
- Follow her blog.
- Follow @PunkyJane on Twitter.
- Become a fan of Punky Jane on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PunkyJaneJewelry
- Follow @EtsyTwitrTeam on Twitter.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feature story. I really appreciate the time you sent to find out about our craft and to write about it. Your the best!
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