layered pendants

[midnighttoo]

I have attempted many times to layer my glass/dichroic and still come up with “blah” looking pendants.  Any advice on how to get that special look?  Need to know how to layer the glass without making it too heavy and junky looking.

thanks!

[rgilbert]

It’s hard to respond without seeing the end result. Here comes my two cents anyway:

I save my mistakes and try to analyze what went wrong. Sometimes it is a matter of taste.  Sometimes I find the answer after I’ve really looked at the piece more objectively:  What is it about the finished pendants that I think is “clunky”?  Is it the colors of the dichro? The size of the dichro? The amount of dichro? Is it the finished size of the piece? Usually I find the answer.

Dichro loves contrast, so it’s placed on black. Clear dichros on lighter colors work where the idea is to add some sparkle, but it’s not for everyone.  I’ve been adding clear dichros to darker colors– red, green, blue–  to good effect. It’s more of a subtle sparkle, but it works for some people and looks better, to me, when the dichro is complimentary to the background color rather than contrasting. For those, I try to keep it 80-90% complimentary and 20-10% contrasting. The contrasting dichro needs to help set off everything else without overwhelming the piece.

I have a background in photography, so I tend to think in terms of focal points. I want to direct people’s eyes to a particular spot in a photograph or in a pendant, so I tend to build around that spot. I put one bigger (or patterned or showy) piece of dichro there, then build around it with smaller pieces. Too many pieces of the same size and sizzle compete for attention and my eye doesn’t know where to go to first. I also try to avoid centering everything– dichro seems to be more fun if it’s not smack dab in the middle of something. It will draw attention to itself.

Have you tried the thin glasses that are 1.5 mm thick? Black on the bottom, dichro then a clear to encase the lot?  If you think of it, the dichro pendant itself could be like a small stained glass window. Maybe put little squares and rectangles or chips of dichro on a black background, making sure that the black “lines” set off the different dichro colors?

I don’t know that there is a magic formula for everyone. Dichro can overwhelm a piece and I’ve seen horrendous examples as well as created a few of my own. I try to keep it simple and remember that sometimes less is more.

 

 

 

[Lioness]

I am a newb of 7 mos. and for me when I get” glass block ” I like to walk away for a minute. then perhaps I can get my juices flowing. I just did that and came up with a new design that is layred and in my album on this site. I guess I just like to experiament. and play some things go and some don’t so keep going and don’t get dicouraged just walk away for a minute.

Good luck …

[midnighttoo]

thanks for the inspiration!

candi

[Tosca]

About Layering

I thought you might like to look at a site I went to last night on Wet Canvas.  It was by Makitmama re: Crash Course in Layering.  It had a lot of information which I am going to use myself so I hope it helps you as well.  Just go into Wet Canvas site & check through until you find that write-up which is quite long.  I would print it out in case it disappears or save it into your glass file until you can print it. 

Best of luck Tosca

[Tosca]

Hi Tosca Here

I recently told you of a blog on Wetcanvas,  as I couldn’t find it again just thought I would let you know I did put that into my documents.  If you want to have a copy, can I send it to Paul through his email & let him post it here for all fusing jewellers to see?  I had trouble to get it into an attachment as try as hard as I could, it took up other comments as well so was a big attachment.

Good luck with it!

[Vetrocaldo]

Found the link for you…

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241865&highlight=Makitmama

Hope this helps

Vetro Caldo Designs

http://www.vetrocaldo.com

 

 

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