just starting to use dichroic. need help.

[GlassFreak]

just picked up a few strips of dichro, figured i would try it. i have heard that you can wash the dichro off the glass if you arent careful, so you should encase the side with the dichro on it. my question is, how do you know what side the dichro is on? i cant for the life of me see a difference in sides...

[earlbacher]

it takes a bit o practice to see it at first... try holding up at an angle to the light, flipping it back and forth till you get it.. one way will show just a hint of depth at the edge of the glass...

[n3rd]

if you look through the top of the glass at the edge, and then flip it over and repeat, you should be able to see which side the coating is on. not easy to describe, good luck!

[VED]

if none of the above methods work for u, just get a tiny little flame and hit both sides of the glass and u will see some of it burn off then u will know for sure what side it is on.

[Jimi The Don]

rub your fingers on it, the oil from your fingers should shine bright in the light on the dicroic side..

[BlueLilyStudio]

or you can press a pen tip up against either side, the clear side will have space between the reflection, the dichro side the reflection will meet up with no space

[yehaw]

when you look at a peice of dichroic coated glass close to a light source, you will see the colored reflection go all the way to the edge of the peice if you are looking at the coated side.
so hold the glass and look at the light bulb, put the reflection on the edge, see the color go all the way to the edge? flip it.

the pen method is really good too.

[GlassFreak]

awsome thanks alot guys. im sure the more i fuck with it the more ill get it, if anything the flame trick will do... ill try em all tho.

[Dom]

Yea fucking with it is the key to dichro. lol

I would suggest watching the dichro alchemy video. And turn up your oxy knob all the way.

[GlassFreak]

like, the one on the torch? i have a cc, that would be nuts...

[Lub]

The best way to describe it is just look for the mirrored finish. Hold it at an angle with a light above your head. If you look through the clear coat at the edge wherever the piece is cut, you'll either see a thin film under a layer of clear, or you'll see a colored mirror finish. Keep your flame small (in relation to your item being made) until it's encased on both sides just to be safe, and hold it way back in the flame. use that cc as a heat gun

[Skye Perry]

if none of the above methods work for u, just get a tiny little flame and hit both sides of the glass and u will see some of it burn off then u will know for sure what side it is on.
Heat the edge that you want to punty up to if it is the clear side you will see it start to craze or break up .If it is the dicro side it will craze and start to flake and burn out .It is ok if you burn it out The very tips will end up getting termanated off anyways.

[GlassFreak]

wtf? 3 posts of the same thing?

i figured out that an oxydized flame is cooler than a neutral, didnt know that befor, thanks guys!

[jr23]

The tie pen trick is tits but it the lighting is good I can just turn it from side to side and tell. Once you use it a bit it just comes natural. I like working sheet glass. after you get it backed and turned into flat cane its fun to cut that cane into 3-? inch long chunks and stack together then roll up. Or you can just take a 3 by 5 chunk and line it up and roll up also.

Then there is the taco. Or the double taco. But you need a nice size torch to do double tacos and after using that much dicro its good to sleeve it again. If you got good dicro it will pull real far and still look good.

[Ben 'Spice' Crowley]

I vouch for the pen trick, I got my first dichroic strip today and had one hell of a time trying to figure it out until I did the pen bit

it works with a ballpoint pen too not just a tie pen

p.s. so when I go to coat this thing, do I back it first or clear coat the front first? and can I cut it with my scoring knife?

[Ben 'Spice' Crowley]

can I make a clear paddle and a black/blue paddle and sandwich this fucker or do I need to do it differently

[BlueLilyStudio]

use a high oxidizing flame, on CC use neutral inner flame, then add small propane and lots of oxy from outer flame giving you a diminishing cone shaped flame that is 1/4 inch wide at the end. (thats what worked for me) on GTT inner fire, only green knob, no blue knob.

two methods of using dichro:

one: cut yourself a four-five inch X one inch strip, then back the exposed side with turbo cobalt or GA cobalt 4-5, don't trap air, if you do keep the end open and work the bubbles out. Then add clear to the front using punty.. Punty up to the opposing side and heat evenly then stretch to the preferred thickness. you can also sandwich more strips onto the face before adding clear to get multiple layers. you can keep it wide and make four then box them up and add a color line to the seam and then coat with clear to get a tube that is mostly dichro, just heat the half that is opened without handle and ream it out to round then add a collar and work the other side.

two: is possible once you get really good at cutting the sheets. Cut really thin pieces so that you only have to back each strip with one stripe of cobalt, don't stretch and use it as stringer inside out... its difficult to melt in but once you do it is protected enough to not burn out.

you need to get this (http://www.mountainglassarts.com/s.nl/it.A/id.348/.f) cutter or something similar to properly cut sheet glass.

[Ben 'Spice' Crowley]

so I cut my strip with my scoring knife, it worked well. I have the CBS feather duster strip.

Can I sandwich it?

[kebira]

And get yourself these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Glass-Snapping-Pliers-for-AMAZINGLY-Small-THIN-Cuts_W0QQitemZ390057351173QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item5ad13ad805&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A2079%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A3%7C294%3A50
I'd be lost without them. They'll snap 1/8" dichro sheet (after scoring) into strips down to 1/4" wide

[Ben 'Spice' Crowley]

ok so I am going to go to try and sandwich a piece ill let you guys know the result...