First Double Puzzle Dangles

I havent crafted a great many of the double puzzle pendants, but I have made a couple recently. Actually both of them sold at the craft fair yesterday. I also had a pair of double puzzle dangles on display which matched one of the pendants. But the dangles didn't sell yet.
My previous attempts to make the double puzzle dangles didn't go too well. Simply because they were much smaller than the pendants. As I've gotten better at making the pendants I decided to try to make another pair of the dangles. Actually the trick to success is to just to be VERY patient with the removal of the glass. I have to alter the puzzle shaped templates I use to cut out the puzzle shapes in Photoshop (or by hand whichever the case may be) so they sorta kinda fit together. Then I have to make the final fit happen by meticulously taking off minute amounts of glass, checking the fit and then taking off a little more. It's VERY easy to overdo it, and if you do you've pretty much blown it. They don't always have to fit perfectly, but there has to be enough contact for the pieces to fuse together securely, and I do a pretty shallow fuse on my pieces (though I do add two minutes to my fire time when I fire connecting puzzles.
Now, of course, I've got to make more!

Intoduction Of Bracelets

I've begun to add bracelets to my jewelry designs. They have been pretty popular at our local craft fair. They are a bit time (and glass) consuming so they are so far the most expensive item in my shop. I'll also be adding rings more regularly as well.

Dichroic Magic

I recently purchased this 4x4 piece of Green/Magenta/Blue Premium Dichroic glass from Artisan Dichroic. It was a bit more pricy than the other "non premuim" solid colors. I can't wait to try it out. Dichroic is supposed to mean "two colors". How many colors can you see?

Ghost Gift for Ghost Hunter

Christina and I are both fans of the SciFi Channel series Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International. We have both had experiences in the past with haunted locations. I stayed with my brother for three weeks in a very haunted house in Los Gatos, CA back in 1980. Christina and I lived in a haunted apartment complex in South Salt Lake in 2003, and occasionally the ghost would drop by our apartment and freak us out.

We have discussed sending a ghost pendant to TAPS for some time now, and I finally discovered a really cool glass combination of Lacy Transluscent White and a rainbow hued dichroic glass that produces a sort of opalescent appearance.

We addressed the pendant to one of our favorite Ghost Hunters investigators Donna LaCroix (care of TAPS) with a note expressing our fanhood.

Metal Up/Metal Down

As described by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. Dichroic glass was originally developed by NASA and its contractors for use in satellite optics and spacesuit visors.[1]

Multiple ultra-thin layers of different metal oxides (gold, silver, titanium, chromium, aluminium, zirconium, magnesium, silicon) 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.[2] The finished glass can have as many as 30[2] to 50 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 30[2] 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.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

As used by glass artists dichroic glass has many varieties and color combinations. Dichroic glass is usually sold as a coating on clear glass or black glass. Dichroic on black glass will always look the same regardless of what is layered beneath it. I always use dichroic on clear, because it will look different depending on what color glass you have layered in over. Dichroic is available in plain colors , usually two colors, such as pink/teal, or orange/cyan, or violet/yellow. These colors become evident as light strikes the dichroic surface at different angles. Often a third color may become visible. Dichroic is also available in various patterns such as swirls or wavy lines, and also may be seen with images etched on it like dragonflies, kitties or hearts. Often I purchase dichroic glass in rainbow hues in patterns like "Pixie Stix", or "Cork Screw".

Dichroic glass, like iridescent glass always has a metallic side and a glass side. Because the dichroic coating is one one side of the glass the piece will look quite different depending on how it is layered and whether or not the dichroic surface is facing up or facing down.

The Above photo demonstrates the differences achieved by identical dichroic glass coatings with metal side up and metal side down.

NOTE: When layering dichroic on dichroic, you cannot fuse metal side to metal side. the dichroic surfaces will not fuse to each other.

Computer/Design Area

Our two computer systems are partitioned off from the livingroom by the bank of grinders, saw, and sander. We have fiberoptic internet through Xmission. We have been very pleased with their service. For our phone we use Vonage. Can't say enough about Vonage. It's a great service and if you have a business you can't beat the unlimited free long distance and tons of other features that don't cost a penny extra.

We probably spend a third of our time at the computers listing items, designing, and doing marketing work and research. It's my least favorite chore. I much prefer just making jewelry.

The woman with the pony tail is my wife Christina. We share one brain.

Cutting, Layout, Assembly Area

Other than a nice leather sofa and a TV, there's nothing to suggest this is a livingroom. We store all our glass, hand tools, findings, paints, etc. I have a Morton Cutting System which I use frequently. For a work and cutting surface, I have a few tables topped with drywall. It's great for stained glass work because you can insert pins, nails, etc. It's also heat resistant. I don't think there's a better surface for working with glass. I have racks where I keep my 90 COE, 96 COE and art glass separate. I have a small, portable work table I place in front of the sofa so I can continue to work while I'm "relaxing" in front of the TV.

Christina and I work nearly every waking moment.