Glass goes Bollywood

Say Bollywood and immediately we've got visions of bright and hot colours, sparkling jewels, gold, silver, bling bling, .... .

That same spirit of luxury indulgence is now captured in the newest and hottest thing to hit the glass art and craft world : dichroic glass. Since its development for the aerospace industry, artists have started using this glass to create unique items for public, art, home and personal use.

Dichroic glass is glass that contains multiple micro-layers of metal oxides vapours, condensed on on the surface of the glass in the form of a crystal structure. The main characteristic of dichroic glass is that it has a transmitted colour and a completely different reflected colour, as certain wavelengts of light either pass through or are reflected. This causes an array of shifting colours to be displayed, depending on the angle of view.

Dichroic glass before use in various fused applications.

Dichroic glass can be fused with other glass in multiple firings. Due to variations in the firing process, individual results can never be exactly predicted, so each piece of fused dichroic glass is unique. Dichroic glass is specifically designed to be hotworked but can also be used in its raw form. Sculpted glass elements that have been shaped by extreme heat and then fused together may also be coated with dichroic afterwards to make them reflect an array of colors.

colourful door knobs by Uneek glass fusions , beautiful plates by laurelyourkowski, jewellery by argeebargee, architectural applications by john blazey.

The glittering, playful, rainbow magic of dichroic glass makes it very sought after for jewellery, home details that are the talk of the town and large, mesmerising archtectural installations and artworks. Glitz and glam has never failed to capture the imagination of humankind!

Development of Studio Glass

Glass art is that part of the glass industry where glass gets used as an artistic medium. Applications can include stained glass, working glass in a torch flame (lampworking), glass beadmaking, glass casting, glass fusing, and glass blowing.

As a decorative and functional medium, glass was extensively developed in Egypt and Assyria, brought to the fore by the Romans, who developed the art of glassblowing, with the stained glass windows in European cathedrals as living proof of spectacular art and skill. Great ateliers like Tiffany, Lalique, Daum, Gallé, the Corning schools and Steuben Glass Works took glass art to the highest levels.

(Tiffany, Lalique, Steuben)

Glass from Murano (also known as Venetian glass) is the result of hundreds of years of refinement and invention. While there are currently more hotshops and glass artists working in Seattle (USA), Murano is still considered as the birthplace of modern glass art.

Prior to the early 1960s, the term "glass art" referred to glass made for decorative use, usually by teams of factory workers, taking glass from furnaces with a thousand or more pounds of glass. This form of glass art, of which Tiffany and Steuben in the U.S.A., Gallé in France and Hoya Crystal in Japan, Royal Leerdam Crystal in The Netherlands and Kosta Boda in Sweden are perhaps the best known, grew out of the factory system in which all glass objects were hand or mold blown by teams of 4 or more men. The turn of the 19th Century was the height of the old art glass movement while the factory glass blowers were being replaced by mechanical bottle blowing and continuous window glass.

The United States has had two phases of development in glass. The early and mid-1900s had a number of factories such as Fenton, Stuben and others turning out both functional and artistic pieces. The second phase of glass in the United States happened in the 60's when Harvey Littleton, Dominick Labino and Marvin Lipofsky kicked off the studio glass movement by creating small-scale furnaces for the use of glass as an artisic medium. This modern studio glass movement caught on in design schools and Littleton would go on to found the first fine art glass program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; Marvin Lipofsky, founded the second university-level glass program at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964; and Dale Chihuly initiated the glass program at the Rhode Island School of Design that same year.

(Harvey Littleton, Dominic Labino, Marvin Lipofsky, Dale Chihuly)

As more artists learned from artists before them, a growth of studio art glass spread across the country, with the largest concentration of glass artists working in Seattle. The Pilchuck glass school near Seattle has become a mecca for glass artists from all over the world. Students, who may actually be college students or established artists, have the opportunity to attend masterclasses and exchange skills and information in a environment dedicated solely to glass based arts.

Glass is Glass is glass is glass.....?

When I first started being interested in glass, I bought several books, subscribed to magazines AND hit the thesaurus / dictionary button on my computer. It became very clear very fast that one needed first to get to know glass properly before attempting to start working with it.

One of the great producers of art glass is Spectrum and they have extensive knowledge of not only the different types of glass but also the background, technique how these particular glass varieties came into being and application.

ANTIQUE
Term applied to art glass produced by the historical mouth-blown cylinder method. The craftsman blows a glass cylinder which is annealed and cooled. The cylinder is then scored lengthwise, separated, re-heated and folded out into a flat sheet. Common characteristics include attractive linear striations and a very pristine surface.

BEVEL
Cold glass (usually clear, thick plate) with edges that have been ground and polished to an angle other than 90 degrees. Transmitted light is refracted and a prism-like effect results. Bevels are available in a variety of sizes, shapes and geometric configurations (called "clusters") for incorporation into leaded glass work, as this example shows of Shengda Glassware Products.

BILLET
A glass ingot, similar to a dalle, used in glass casting.
CATHEDRAL GLASS
Describes transparent glass that is monochromatic -- i.e., single color sheet glass, with smooth or textured surfaces.
CATSPAW
A surface texture resulting from the chilling of hot glass on a cool table. The appearance is likened to the paw prints of a cat.
CONFETTI
Paper-thin elements of glass that can be incorporated into a fused or blown glass design. Also called "shards."
CRACKLE
The hot cylinder of glass is dipped in liquid, causing radical, random fissures in the glass. The cylinder is then reheated and further blown to heal the surface fissures.

DICHROIC
Commonly used term to describe glasses that have been coated with one or more ultra-thin crystalline layers of transparent metal oxides designed to enhance reflections at specific wavelengths of light. The process occurs in a vacuum chamber at elevated temperatures. The resulting effects are striking and brilliant color reflections at varying angles of incidence.
FLASHED
Glass of one color with a very thin layer of another color on one side. Flashed glass is often used for etched or sandblasted glass art. When sections of the thin color layer are removed, the base color shows through.

FRIT
Ground glass, ranging in particle size from gravel-like to a fine powder. Frit is sometimes used as a raw material in glass manufacture, and sometimes as a coloring agent or for decorative effect in hot glass crafts like blowing and fusing.

IRIDESCENT
Surface treatment in which a layer of metallic oxide is bonded to the hot glass surface just after sheet-forming, resulting in a colorful, shimmering effect.
MILLEFIORI
Italian for "a thousand flowers." Commonly refers to glass objects made from masses of murrini slices, sliced from a cane.
CANE Glass cylinder consisting of groups of rods of different colors, which are bundled together and fused to form a design that is visible in cross section.
MURRINI
A thin slice of complex glass cane that can be used as a component in another glass object.

cane, murrini, millefiori

NUGGET
A small, irregularly shaped "glob" of glass, flat on the bottom, rounded across the top. Nuggets are made by literally dropping a small amount of molten glass onto a flat surface. Frequently called "globs," they are often incorporated into leaded glass artwork.

OPAL or OPALESCENT
Said of any glass into which a material has been introduced at the raw materials stage (usually fluorine or phosphorus) which causes a degree of crystallization to occur, and creates opacity in the glass. Reflected light is colorless, therefore white. The degree of opacity (and "whiteness") is variable depending upon composition and temperatures used in the manufacturing process. Commonly then, white glass is called "opal."
RODS
Used to describe cylindrical, pencil-thick sticks of glass used primarily in flameworking and glass bead making. They are available in a wide color range and many expansion coefficients.
STRINGER
A spaghetti-like glass shape used as a decorative element in the hot glass arts.

The other 2 giants specialising in fusible art glass are Uroborus and Bullseye Glass , who have developed glass with the studio artist in mind and also offer a wide variety of glass products, machinery, tools and more.

Learning about Glass.

As I had decided that I wanted to do more than flame working and bead making, and find other ways to learn about glass, I had to figure out how.

Unfortunately, I live in Port Elizabeth, far away from other major cities where more glass oriented courses or possibilities are on offer, and it would have been quite impossible for me (with fully established family, school and husband work commitments) to sign up for a 7 year apprenticeship in a hot shop in Cape Town.

After some research about what was on offer in our own town, I signed up for an 8 week Stained Glass Evening Course at the fine art department of NMMU. Although stained glass was not my first passion, this was a step I had to take in order to start connecting with fellow glass enthusiasts. And boy, did it pay off! I learned so much about various sorts of glass, glass cutting tools and techniques, grinding and polishing to get the correct shape, safety and health precautions in the glass workshop, etc. After an initial trial piece to get confidence at cutting glass and leading up, we had to make a properly designed piece, to show we had indeed mastered the basic cutting and leading techniques. My small trial piece was quite abstract, but for my second piece I took inspiration from theKoisan rockpaintings.

Amanda, our teacher and a wonderful glass artist in her own right, burst at the seams with enthusiasm about the possibilities of working with glass and before my term course was over, we’d spent many hours chatting about why I was there and what I wanted to achieve.

She eventually convinced me to enrol as a full time student (lucky me, I was not working and actually could do this) to work intensively with glass and learn as much as possible about all the different aspects of cold and warm glass techniques.

Although I was scared out of my wits, it was the most important step I had made in many, many years and was looking forward to exciting change in my life.

My second half century

The big 40 - that is where a big change happened in my life. After a lifetime of freelancing (signmaking and graphic design) and with the blessing (and encouragement) from my better half, I stopped working. All of a sudden I was left with a lot more hours in a day than I had had for a long time. Not wanting to turn into the proverbial soapie watching, tea and cookies gossipmonger, I looked for other ways to keep me out of mischief. One was volunteering in my kids’ Scout Group and another was indulging a passion for reading and catching up on lost times on all matters “design” I could lay my hands on.

A few years later, almost by accident (or shall we call it karma) I happened to see an advert for a Chihuly exhibition in an American home magazine and I felt myself getting all warm and excited.

The picture in the ad was spectacular and it triggered a latent interest in glass. I took reading and research on the subject to the next level and the more I surfed the web, the more fascinated I became. At one particular occasion a friend gave me a gift voucher and rather than go spoil myself with a new wardrobe I spent it on a great book about contemporary stained glass in architectural context. I spent hours devouring each page and trying to figure out: "How do they do that?".

"Even the wildest dreams have to start somewhere. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly." (Oprah Winfrey)

I desperately wanted to start working with glass for real but didn’t really know how and what. Research about techniques, materials and equipment eventually made me decide to start on a small scale: flame working and bead making. I'm quite a shy person and be able to work in my garage would suit me just fine. Agreed, the budget needed for a small flame working set up was also a deciding factor. I made a few acceptable glass beads but struggled with various problems that even advice from books or internet couldn’t really solve. I figured that I needed to step out of my comfort zone, get a human connection and start to work face to face with people in the industry - glass art industry that is.

To make a long story short: I started an evening course in Stained Glass (although not my primary interest), got convinced by my teacher to go back to school and do a full time B.Tech Fine Art degree with serious focus on warm glass applications et voila - here I am!

A 10 year process of discovery and learning. Now I’m 50 and ready to start something new with my life. I learned a stack in those few years, attended a few really great courses, visited a number of contemporary glass studio's and exhibitions and am hooked more than ever before. I see inspiration in everything around me and the list of projects I want to handle grows by the day. I'm blessed and look forward to a very productive and inspirational second half century!