Dichroic Butterfly Iridescent Fused Glass Tile Plate

Dichroic fused glass wings in a kaleidoscope of color scatter light like the tiny scales of a butterfly.  This butterfly lifts gently from a pool of aventurine blue glass.

Fused Glass Dichroic Butterfly on a Pool of Aventurine Blue

Each wing is created from a quilt of colored dichroic glass sandwiched between a bottom layer of Bulleye black and a top layer of Tekta clear.  As the dichroic glass softens into the black base, veins are formed.  The top clear layer rounds over the colors forming a magnification and also a distortion as the light catches the undulations of the wing edges.

Fused Glass Dichroic Butterfly Wing Construction

These wings were heated to 1475 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve a full fuse.  The finished wings were tacked to the aventurine blue base tile along with the body, antennae and compound eyes capable of viewing ultra violet light. 

Fused Glass Dichroic Butterfly Wing Color Shift

When each wing is viewed from different angles, the hues shift.  Light dances across the surface creating a show color.

Dichroic Luna Moth Iridescent Fused Glass Tile Plate

A fused glass luna moth just dripping in dichroic glass.  Eye spots adorn each wing as he floats aloft on a sheet of rainbow iridescent glass sky.

Fused Glass Dichroic Luna Moth on an Iridescent Sky

I love how the dichroic glass changes color as you change your perspective.  I tried to capture this by photographing the luna moth from about a 45 degree angle.  The metal oxides that coat the glass just shimmer and almost dance as the surface catches the light.

Fused Glass Dichroic Luna Moth Color Shift

A luna moth lives such an abbreviated life, but this one survives.

Frit Fused Glass Four Leaf Clover Dish Coaster Suncatcher

My daughter wanted to make four leaf clovers for mother's day.  I thought wrong holiday, but she liked the idea.  So we made four clovers from glass frit and topped them off with a ladybug.  Here's a photo of a finished small dish.

Fused Glass Frit Four Leaf Clover with Ladybug Dish

To create the four leaf clovers, I traced each clover with liquid glass. I mixed cellulose gum, mica and Bullseye crystal clear powdered frit in a plastic cup.  This mixture was then transferred to the syringe and sqeezed onto the glass.

Mica with Liquid Glass

Once the liquid glass was dry, Cece filled the inside of the clover with a mix of aventurine green and transparent green glass frit in course, medium and fine.  Just outside of the clover was filled with a mix of transparent and opaque blue and lavender glass frits.

Four Leaf Clover Fused Glass Frit Tile Full Fuse

The frit tiles were heated to 1475 deg Fahrenheit in the kiln to achieve a full fuse and a smooth, level surface.  The ladybugs were then tack fused in a second firing.  Some tiles became suncatchers while others became plates.

Four Leaf Clover Fused Glass Frit Dish with Ladybug

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!