Winner of Dichroic Bracelet!

We have drawn a winner via random drawing (random.org), and the winner is 409cope (we don't know her real name yet) from Ontario Canada. She has been informed via email. We wish to thank everyone who entered our drawing. We plan to do more promotions and giveaways over the Winter months so keep watching!
Thanks again!

Dichroic Bracelet Giveaway And BOGO Sale

 I've neglected my blog for far too long! But what better way to get blog busy again than to give something away? We're having a random drawing for this beautiful Caribbean Blue And Purple Dichroic bracelet. 13 alternating cabochons on an 8" silver plated linked bracelet. Links can be removed to shorten to desired length. This has been our most popular color combination for bracelets. We're also having a Buy one get one free sale at our shop at http://www.helixelemental.etsy.com/ which will last until Dec 20th. See the shop announcement there for details. The drawing for this bracelet will also take place on Dec. 20th at 12 midnight. HERE'S HOW TO ENTER!!

1 .Visit http://www.helixelemental.etsy.com/ and/or http://www.christinacolwell.etsy.com./ Come back here and leave comment listing the item that you would like to see in the next giveaway. Please provide the name and item # of the item you'd like to see in the next giveaway. You may select as many items as you like but please list each item on a separate comment .  Each comment = one entry.

2.Blog, Twitter, Facebook this giveaway and leave comment for each action with link. Comment = one entry.
3.Follow blog and leave comment. Comment = one entry
4. This giveaway is open to everyone, everywhere.

Have fun and good luck!

WINNER OF OWL PENDANT GIVEAWAY!

A winner was drawn this morning via Random.org and her name is Adriane Coros of Long Beach, CA. Thank you to all who participated in this giveaway. We will be tallying all the requests for our next giveaway item and will announce the next giveaway in the near future. Helix Elemental Studio will be introducing new designs and incorporating new materials, such as silver, copper, bronze, etc over this next few months.

Fused Glass Owl Pendant Giveaway (And BOGO Sale)

In the previous giveaway at Helix Elemental Art Spot we asked the paticipants which item they would like to see in the next giveaway. Well, the item most mentioned sold, but we still have the second most mentioned item, which was the Mint Green and Magenta Owl Pendant. The winner of this giveaway will be selected on the first day of Summer June 21st. This corresponds with the end of the buy one get one free sale which is going on now at Helix Elemental Studio.

This whimsical little owl has been made from layers of mint green glass with the breast portion cut from magenta glass. The eyes are white and green and the beak was made from orange glass. These little owl pendants get comments wherever they show up. What can we say? Owls are cute!

1 1/2" X 3/4". 3.8CM X 2CM.

18" black satin cord with a silver plated barrel clasp.

You can enter as often as you like. Here's how:

1.Visit http://www.helixelemental.etsy.com and/or http://www.christinacolwell.etsy.com. Come back here and leave comment listing the item that you would like to see in the next giveaway. Please provide a link. You may select as many items as you like but please list each item on a separate comment with link. Each comment = one entry.

2.Blog, Twitter, Facebook this giveaway and leave comment for each action with link. Comment = one entry.

3.Follow blog and leave comment. Comment = one entry

4. This giveaway is open to everyone, everywhere.

Have fun and good luck!

PURE DICHRO

Pure Dichroic Jewelry

When I very first began dabbling in fused glass jewelry making I was very sparing in the amount of dichroic I would use. Often nothing more than a small chip as an accent for a pair of post earrings. I guess I wanted to get as much out of this relatively expensive material as I could. It also took me many months to discover which dichroic materials were useful in the design ideas I had. I like to use dichroic glass in a way that imparts a sort of gem like quality to the glass. I like the colors of the glass beneath the dichroic layer to show though, which is why I rarely use dichroic on black. You can buy dichroic glass on black glass or on clear glass. Yet even some of the clear glass dichroic coatings are too opaque to allow the lower layers to show through. Whenever I ended up with this sort of dichroic I would usually use it for etching (which is also the ONLY reason I would buy black glass dichroic).

As I began to experiment more and more with this fascinating material, as well as view the work other dichroic artisans were doing, I realized I needed to get much more liberal with my use of dichroic glass.

One day I wondered what an all 100% pure dichroic piece would look like, so I made one, and I was really happy how it looked. I also enjoyed how baffled people were that saw it and tried to figure out what it was made from. At our local craft fairs we discovered that there were relatively few people who even knew of dichroic glass. I'd tell them it was dichroic and they would think I said acrylic. Eventually I finally came up with a quick and not too technical explaination of what dichroic is. "It is a high tech optical coating that adds sparkle and gemlike qualities to glass". Of course it actually does more than that. It changes colors depending on the angle viewed or lighting conditions.

The pure dichroic pieces I offered at our Summer long craft fair did quite well, so I began to make more. With just the right combination of dichroic layers you could have a very striking piece. With the wrong combination you have a dud. While I still make duds, I make far fewer than I used to, now that I know which materials do what.  If the top layer of your piece is more opaque than all the lower layers, you have a dud, and have wasted all the lower layers.

My favorite all dichroic heart pendant belongs to my wife Christina. I did not make note of the materials used to make it and haven't been able to make another like it. I've made a few similar, but none as colorful as hers.

My most recent pure dichro piece is an owl pendant I'd planned for a while, but I needed just the right combination and variety of dichroic glass to bring out the owls features. The body is made from two layers of  yellow/violet dichroic. The breast  and eyelids are made from magenta/green Dichro Magic, the eyes are made from a pink/silver and the beak is Candy Apple Red dichroic. As the craft fair season is fast approaching I'll be making more and more all dichro items. Having a big, sparkling, colorful all dichroic pendant displayed right at the front of your booth really catches the eyes of those passing by.

Before Jewelry

Years ago when I was still welding for a living I hoped for a day when I might have a shop of my own and make custom iron furniture. For a while we did dabble in such products. I would design, fabricate and weld the metal parts and Christina and I would mosaic the tops together. We also did mirrors of steel and mosaic tile. Marketing and shipping nightmares made us rethink our options. Eventually I took a class in stained glass work followed by a class in glass fusing, which natually led to my fixation on dichroic jewelry. Many of the earlier creations still adorn our home. Here are some photos of a few.

Collaborations

Christina and I are both in love with creating beautiful objects,and while we often share in idea's and insiprations we have usually worked in seperate mediums. We do have some stunning mosaic mirrors and tables we made together (most of which adorn our home) but when it comes to painting or drawing I'm sorrowfully inadequate. Christina does not particulaly love making jewelry either. Recently I've looked over some of her whimsical sketch pad doodles and we realized we could make jewelry from some of these cute characters she draws. It started with an owl, then a worm and then a pony. I take the drawing an scan it into Photoshop. Then I work out how I can layer the piece so it has all or most of the characters features but yet isn't too thick (or big) to wear as a pendant or earrings. I then print out a template as a guide line to cut around. I glue this template to the glass and coat with rubber cement. The rubber cement helps to waterproof the glass so the template doesn't dissolve in the continuous water which cools the glass saw I use to cut out the glass. After the pieces are cut I assemble them with one or both of two kinds of glue. If I'm gluing two layers of glass together that must have exact matching edges I use super glue and then grind or saw around the perimeter so the edges are flush. There is only one brand of super glue (that I'm aware of) that will not leave an ugly residue when it burns off in the kiln, and that is Duro Super Glue (not the gel). Other pieces are held in place with any of the more common pink glass glues (such as Bullseye Glasstac). Then I simply fire the assembled piece at a low fire (tack fuse) which fuses the glass together yet retains the shape.
Christina has several sketches that I've yet to make into jewelry but I have plans to do so in the near future. So far our most popular creation has been the owl pendant and earrings.