Summer In Dichroic

This new summer piece features triangular dichroic glass in matching pendant and earrings! At the focal I’ve used a lovely dichroic glass pendant in wild colors of pink, copper, green and some gold and touch a red....the bail is hand wire wrapped in brass non-tarnish wire and left with swirling coils.

The pendant is then accented with tons of charms…all twisted by hand onto brass colored headpins in faceted crystals of green, yellow, peach and pink and all strung onto a light olive colored silk cord! The matching earrings dangle with same cluster of crystals and tiny dichroic pendants.

Visit our online Timeless Designs store at Ruby Lane to browse and purchase our artisan crafted designs!

Shards of Glass – Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. The invention of dichroic glass is often erroneously attributed to NASA and its contractors, who developed it for use in dichroic filters. Dichroic glass dates back to at least the 4th century AD as seen in the Lycurgus cup.

Multiple ultra-thin layers of different metals (gold, silver), metal oxides (titanium, chromium, aluminum, zirconium, magnesium) and silica are vaporized by an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. The vapor 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. The finished glass can have as many as 30 to 50 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 30 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 colors are obtained.

I love working with dichroic glass, just not really good at making any beads or pendants; however I’m in luck! A very good friend and fellow artisan Anna is a premier glass designer here in San Antonio, Texas. She makes some of the most incredible, gorgeous dichroic one-of-kind pieces (I know, I personally have quite a few of her pendant sets!).

From time to time I purchase her pendants and incorporate them into my own creative designs; accenting with wire, metals, crystals, or natural stones; drawing on the colors of the pendant to develop the jewelry.

These latest designs feature dichroic glass dichroic pendant and earrings sets; accenting with tons of crystals, lampwork beads (another fun glass to work with), metals, and cultured freshwater pearls, just to name some.

Browse all our artisan crafted jewelry at our online shop – find your next treasure of wearable art!

*Research from various websites.

Best of 2010 from our Mystic Artisan Collection

By far, the largest of our collections is the Mystic Artisan designs and with so many different ones, it was hard to choose just a few. This collection is where high elegance meets trendy, chic and bold in necklaces set in agate, jasper, pearl dichroic glass, swarovski crystals and many more. So here’s several of the best/favorite from this collection!

Dichroic glass pendant and earrings in pink set to an all black back ground, then mixed with onyx stones cut on the diamond to overlap (a difficult cut and unusually hard shape to find in stones) and more pink in faceted graduated rondelle crystals (some hand charmed) with a metallic sheen.

This is the first of the charmed necklace collection that I did and has remained a favorite. I started with a nice dichroic pendant in soft shades of lime green, pink, mauve, and gold. Then set it with tons of hand created charms in freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals and several wired spirals of non-tarnish brass wire. Everything is captured stationary on a beige silk cord. 

Murano glass pendants are great to use as a focal; here I’ve paired a lovely heart pendant in cream, blue and red with butterscotch quartz nuggets, swarovski crystals and more pearls. The clusters of crystals at the bail and through-out the necklace are all hand charmed.





 

Another really big Murano glass pendant in puffy heart red; clustered together with freshwater cultured pearls, swarovski crystals, onyx, and several double coiled hand wired beads in non-tarnish silver wire. All held captive stationary on a black silk cord.

 

Polymer clay is a really great medium to work with; the beads are so lightweight and are created in just about any pattern. This design features graduated rounds of polymer clay beads shades of blue flowers set against a creamy white background. The big round was used as a focal drop pendant and has open charm dangles; more charms, crystals and freshwater cultured pearls finish off this necklace.

 

 
 
A bit different but one of my favorite combinations in stones; starting with a center heart pendant in turquoise that is flanked with faceted round turquoise, crystals and finished with soft button freshwater cultured pearls. The earrings hold tons of cascading charmed pearls over a single turquoise faceted round.

Purchase available designs from any of our collections at our online Ruby Lane Timeless Designs shop!

Winter Wonderland in Dichroic Glass

This is the first of a couple of seasonal pieces that I’m doing this year. The focal is a nice dichroic glass pendant with a winter scene of red trees set against an icy blue snowy background. It has been hand wire wrapped in non-tarnish silver wire with support coils and swirls at the bail. It also has a matching pair of earrings!

The base of the necklace is onyx teardrop stones, faceted red rondelle crystals with a black metallic sheen; some have been hand charmed into clusters and more onyx teardrops in tiny stones and white bicone crystals.

Looking for the unique gift to give this holiday season --- browse our collection of artisan crafted jewelry using minerals, fossils and natural stones.

Dichroic Glass Pendant Wonders

Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. The invention of dichroic glass is often erroneously attributed to NASA and its contractors, who developed it for use in dichroic filters. Dichroic glass dates back to at least the 4th century AD as seen in the Lycurgus cup.

Multiple ultra-thin layers of different metals (gold, silver), metal oxides (titanium, chromium, aluminum, zirconium, magnesium) and silica are vaporized by an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. The vapor 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. The finished glass can have as many as 30 to 50 layers of these materials yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 30 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 colors are obtained.

I love working with dichroic glass, just not really good at making any beads or pendants; however I’m in luck! A very good friend and fellow artisan Anna is a premier glass designer here in San Antonio, Texas. She makes some of the most incredible, gorgeous dichroic one-of-kind pieces (I know, I personally have quite a few of her pendant sets!). I buy her pendants and incorporate them into my own creative designs; accenting with wire, metals, crystals, or natural stones; drawing on the colors of the pendant to develop the jewelry.

These two designs are using Anna’s pendants as a focal and then using the different wire and charm techniques to showcase the beauty found within each individual pendant.

In the first design, I use a free form shaped pendant that is hung below the crystals from non-tarnish brass wire as a bail. I’ve then accented with individual hand-charmed pieces in black agate, beige freshwater cultured pearl nuggets, creamy white glass pearls, and faceted swarovski crystals in erinite and indicolite. The creation hangs from an eggshell colored silk cord in a stationary position. There are little hints of wire in hanging swirls also handcrafted in non-tarnish brass wire.

The second piece I chose a nice almost arrowhead shaped pendant with accenting designs in gold, green and hint of blue against a black background. Surrounding it again are hand-charmed pieces in faceted swarvoski crystals indicolite, cosmo black, gold/black Diablo, gold, citrine, ab smoky topaz, and metallic green-blue. The all are braided on a 6 strand ribbon cord necklace; I left them a little lose as this fit better to this type of a design, you can twist the crystals around to change the colors slightly. Hidden among the crystals are a few handmade wire spirals in non-tarnish brass wire.

Find these and many other uniquely artisan crafted designs at our online shop!

*Research from various websites.

Cluster of Crystals & Dichroic Glass

This is a different and new design in that it is a melt of different techniques. It starts with a focal pendant in dichroic glass from one of the premier glass artists in San Antonio; soft shades of lime green, gold, pink and cream set against a black background.


Surrounding the pendant are 36 individually hand-charmed pieces; in accents of faceted Swarovski crystals hot pink padparadscha and glass pearls in complimenting colors of cream, mauve, copper, tan, and metallic green crystals. Between are hand-swirls spirals in non-tarnish brass wire and non-tarnish brass spiral ends for accents. It is set stationary onto the silky 18” tan cord and has matching dangle cluster earrings.


Keep watching as we’ll be doing this design using many other pendants, cords and techniques!


Eclectic artisan crafted jewelry from fossils, glass, and stone incorporated with metals and wire techniques; visit our online Shop for available pieces to purchase!

Don’t Forget the Green

Green jewelry, who knew and it comes in a variety of styles; browse our collections for available styles to purchase.

Lime Green Dichroic Glass Wire Pendant (to the right - SOLD)

Raw Brazilian Agate Slice in Shades of Green (to the left)

Green/Blue Dichroic Glass Swarovski Crystal Sterling Silver Bracelet (to the right)

Green Peridot Chips Blue/Green Turquoise Nuggets Pewter (to the left - SOLD)

Our Best Year in Turquoise

Working with Turquoise is one of my favorite stones, the verisitly it has and the many different looks that can be designed; casual, dressy, and classy; Turquoise sets a trend no matter how you look at it and will always be a staple in any collection. Since I do a lot of designs in Turquoise, this was a hard collection to narrow down, they are all so beautiful!

(To the left) Turquoise and Amber



Turquoise Landscape Jasper Onyx (To the right)

Turquoise Onyx Dichroic Pendant (To the right)

Turquoise Landscape Jasper PendantWired Brass (To the left)

Venture into Southwest Designs

I do a lot of Turquoise mix designs; as fast as I can make them they find new homes. Turquoise is a favorite among many people and can go with just about anything from jeans, t-shirts, to dresses, and look casual to dressy.

From the mines of Arizona comes this lovely southwest style necklace. Arizona Turquoise nuggets that have mixes of browns, rusts, blues and greens; accented with copper, dark Topaz crystals, and Onyx; hanging from this Southwest splendor is a one-of-kind dichroic glass pendant pulling some of the same color combinations from the Turquoise. Wear it short or really short with the cooper chain and complete the look with a pair of dangle earrings in the same stones.

Turquoise: Spiritual attunement, cleansing, healing, protection, valor, soothing, peace of mind, guidance through the unknown, romantic spontaneity.

This and many other natural gemstone jewelry designs can be seen and purchased from our website.