There are stories floating around, no doubt apocryphal, of some glass worker who salvaged the original dichro from the space shuttles, and had it taken away from him, because its manufacture or perhaps even existance was top secret.
Nowadays, of course, you can send your glass item off to CBS to have it coated with the 20–40 metallic oxides that give dichroic glass its special quality: to reflect one color of light, while transmitting its complement—hence the name dichroic, or two-colored, glass.
I just luuurrves it. So here is a collection of pages about dichro—what kinds I use, what kinds of beads I make, even what failures I've had with the glitziest (and most expensive) glass I use.
Enjoy.
Sample beads in blue with larger holes. Includes dichro solids, double hollows, and bubbles. Originally posted 12feb07. 12feb2007
Duplicate? Includes solid dichros , (small designer beads of a small dichro-on-black cylinder cased in clear), jacketed dichro , and big gaudy dichro focals. 04jan2027
My take on the big expensive gaudy bead . Updated with an unsuccessful new series from 2006 . 29nov2006
Collection of pages having to do with the small, designer clear-cased dichro solid beads —the only solid beads—I regularly make. 03dec2006
At this point, pages of dichro color strips used to make dichro solids. Really unfinished index, evidently. 09jan2027
Photo ref for cool colored dichro strips 16nov2006
These pages are references pix of the dichro I use , to help me recreate a bead, or figure out what name to call that blue-green I need more of... 24oct2006
From dots to dichro . Guess I shoulda called that new subdirectory florals, instead of floral_vase. Well, I'm not changing it now...! 22may2004
Signature Designs 22may2004
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
