About Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass is fascinating. It sparkles, comes in many different colors, a few different textures, and the colors change depending on the light.

Whenever I am at an in-person show customers are curious about where it comes from.

Dichroic Glass is a multi layer coating placed on clear or black glass by using a highly technical vacuum deposition process. Quartz Crystal and Metal Oxides are Vaporized with an electron beam gun in an airless vacuum chamber and the vapor then floats upward and attaches then condenses on the surface of the glass in the form of a crystal structure. There can be as many as 30 layers of these materials on the glass yet the thickness of the total coating is approximately 35 millionths of an inch.

The coating that is created is very similar to a gemstone and by careful control in thickness, different colors are obtained. Thus, all coatings are created using the same exact materials. Originally created for the Aerospace industry for building satellite mirrors, Dichroic Glass is now made available to the artist community.

The main characteristic of Dichroic Glass is that it has a transmitted color and a completely different reflective color. These two colors shift depending on angle of view. With the play of light together with its vibrant color, Dichroic Glass is a prime tool used to add interest to any piece of work or project.