Creating Dichroic Enamels

Hello fellow enamelists!  I've only been enameling a short while, but I've been studying and reading about enameling for over three years.  I've been trying to find a way to add a dichroic effect to enamels – why should glass fusers and lampworkers have all the fun with dichro?  I think the results are beautiful!

I'm very happy to share what I've learned so far about creating dichroic enamels, i.e. getting a dichroic effect onto an enamel.  The product I use is DicroSlide™, and I like the results so much that I decided to become a distributor and make it available on this website.

DicroSlide is a fairly new product that is mainly used by glass fusers and ceramicists.  It was during my fused glass ventures that I discovered it.  It is actually paper that has been coated with the same dichroic material that is used in dichroic glass.  It has no COE, and works with any COE of glass.  The awesome thing about it is that you can cut it into shapes with scissors – you can even punch shapes out of it with a craft punch or hole punch.  It has the same color shift as dichroic glass, changing the way that light is transmitted and reflected so that as you turn the enamel, the color changes subtly.

Most of the photos on this website show dichroic enamels with a layer of clear enamel on top of the dichroic material, which creates a muted dichroic effect as well as a neat mottled appearance.  Most of the enamels in the Dichroic Enamels for Sale section do not have this clear enamel top layer, and therefore have a much stronger dichroic effect and a less mottled appearance.

I think this technique needs experimentation by the enameling community.  My enameling skills are still somewhat basic, so I'm excited to see what everyone else comes up with.  As far as I know, this is the first product that has allowed enamelists to play with dichroic effects.  Hooray!

I've shared everything I've learned so far under dichroic enamel firing tips to help everyone get started.  This technique might not be right for enamelists who strive for perfection – the results are a little unpredictable, but for me, unpredictability is a big part of what makes enameling fun.

I am continuing to experiment to see what other effects I can produce using DicroSlide.  For example, one enamel I made turned out so pretty, like some type of seashell (view), but I didn't write down what I did, and now I can't remember!  Bad enamelist!!!  50 lashes with an annealed cloisonné wire!