Marlene

Black Crow Gallery

Marlene White

“I began making jewelry in 1998 combining natural materials and glass. I was first introduced to Dichroic Glass in 2001. It was love at first sight for me. I tried to find classes in working with this type of glass. I was able to learn to handle glass and some simple firing techniques. However, there were very few classes available to teach the techniques required for dichroic glass.As a result, I taught myself.

What Is Dichroic Glass? This glass was first developed in the late 1800's. A process was developed which allowed the combining of metals and glass. Metals are vaporized in a vacuum chamber. When heated, metals have

colors. The temperatures necessary for this process are in excess of 5000 degrees. A sheet of clear glass is also hung in this chamber, but a lower temperature is required for this sheet. The vaporized metals coat the outside of the glass.

The techniques that I use in my jewelry, plates, coasters, candles and wall hangings are my own.” Marlene lives with her husband and partner Larry. Together they share the love of one Australian Shepherd named Jessie and three cats, Suzy, Sandy and Stoney. They also enjoy the love of their 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

The result is a metallic coating reflecting and absorbing color. Movement and background will cause the visible hues in the glass to change. As many as 20 different metals can be used on a single sheet of glass. It takes from 4 - 6 hours to complete each metal. Because of the time involved to process each sheet of glass, the cost is between $100 and $200 per square foot.

The process lay dormant until the late 1990's. NASA needed help in developing a shield to protect the astronauts from the damaging rays in space. The dichroic process was refined to create a thin shield that is used today on the helmets of all astronauts. This product is also used in other commercial products such as fiber optics, infrared lasers, satellite mirrors and even sun glasses.