Dichroic glass/frit

[★★Terri★★]

I have seen some beads on Ebay that look like they have some encased dichroic frit encase in clear - I've used dichroic glass in fusing with bullseye glass, but not considered it in lampworking before.  Will it be compatible with 104 glass and are there any problems I would need to look out for.  I thought I might just crush some of the bits I have to make some frit.

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

Terri, Martin has some dichroic foil in his sale at the moment, not sure if thats any help?

[sarah t]

but i would not bother with it  ...not had very good results with it myself

you can use dichro in lampwork as long as it is compatable or you do not use to much of it  ....it can be a bit tricky as it does not like too much heat ....have a search and see what you can find

trudi is a bit of a dichro queen i am sure she will have some tips and hints 

[MadelineBunyan]

if you're fusing your dichroic with bullseye then it will be compatible with bullseye, but not 104 coe. even in small bits I wouldnt trust it, thats 14 COE gap...not good.

2 options, get some bullseye rods, or get some 104 dichroic

you can usually get away with it with the coloured glass frits because they are much smaller than you can crush up sheet glass, dichroic glass sheet doesn't frit well, tends to be quite big chunks.

and yes, its fiddly and annoying to use in the flame, but when you get it right its so lovely and sparkly! also, if youre wanting to use frit, it might burn and scum because Ideally you want the dichroic side to be facing inwards to the bead, and the clear glass side outwards, so its sort of self encasing.

[★★Terri★★]

Oh well, another idea bites the dust then.

Have done some reading on the forum about the foil and it seems a non starter - well will just have to keep looking for new things to try.

Thank you for your advice.

[MadelineBunyan]

not an entire non starter,

I wasn't meaning to sound over-negative,
I don't see why you couldn't use dichroic as frit, its just it might be difficult to get nice clean looking results. and then there's the compatibility thing.warm glass sell individual rods of bullseye don't they?
could line up some little pieces dichro face up on a marver and roll beads on it to get a fritty sort of effect, but if you crush it too small you might as well just use pixie dust! think how much of the dichroic sheet glass is dichroic, and how much is clear glass.density of sparkle could be pretty poor.

using sheet is probably much easier, but still would need to be compatible.

oh and try looking on LE for stuff about the dichroic foil, I have seen people use it successfully.

[sarah t]

i use the stingers available

http://off-mandrel.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=c9c7265e562c1deafb1f53d72e44d42d&keyword=dichro

and martin has the sheet as well as the foil

http://www.tuffnellglass.com/contents/en-uk/d32.html

go for it ..its like a lot of things you dont know till you try ...and if you have odds and sods of dichro give it a go

[Trudi]

I love dichroic glass - I have tried making frit but it didn't work - sorry  - but that was with 104, maybe it would with BE??

But if you have some BE dichro you could buy a few BE rods and use it. BE uses the same kiln programme as 104!!! so you could use it in the same torch session - just be sure to label your rods!! Off-mandrel sell BE by the rod.

But when using dichro in the flame I do find it much much easier to use strips that have been fire polished (sometimes called fused!) the sides are rounded down and it makes it much easier to attach to the bead without getting the scumming - and it's also much easier to tell which side is coated!!

Hope that helps! 

[★★Terri★★]

Now there's a thought - had a look at Off Mandrel's site - and had a look at LE earlier.  Will look  into some Bulls Eye rods and dichroic stringers after chrimbo.  Thank you.

[Trudi]

The 3mm or 6mm ones are easiest to use as they are flat, the others are round!
Enjoy!

[Sarah]

Hi Terri

Warm Glass have COE 90 dichroic frit which will be compatible with bullseye. I haven't tried it and its flipping expensive - but if you search "dichroic frit" you'll find it.

And an ebay search shows a UK seller with glass frit mixed with dichroic. Again its COE90 but its much more affordable as its not just dichro.

I don't know either of these would work out but they look like fun,

Sarah
xxx

[MadelineBunyan]

the frit warm glass sell is mixed black and clear, and is not so much frit as bitty sweepings, some quite big, some dust. if you're going to use frit, make your own.

[Warm Glass UK]

The difference between the CBS dichroic frit we sell and making your own is that all of the pieces CBS supply are coated with the dichroic coating completely whereas obviously if you are breaking up dichroic sheet, it is only coated on one side which will give a much less obvious effect. The trick if you are breaking up dichroic sheet therefore is to not make the pieces too small otherwise you will lose the dichroic effect.  http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/shop/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=940

But if you have some BE dichro you could buy a few BE rods and use it. BE uses the same kiln programme as 104!!! so you could use it in the same torch session - just be sure to label your rods!! Off-mandrel sell BE by the rod.

BE is Coe 90 so not the same as 104 so please be careful using them together!

Pippa

[Trudi]

But if you have some BE dichro you could buy a few BE rods and use it. BE uses the same kiln programme as 104!!! so you could use it in the same torch session - just be sure to label your rods!! Off-mandrel sell BE by the rod.

BE is Coe 90 so not the same as 104 so please be careful using them together!

Pippa

Just to clarify - I didn't mean to mix BE and 104 in the same bead, but they can be made and annealed in the same session!