Dichroic Cast Cabochons Are Ideal
As Fused Art Glass Pendants

These fused dichroic cabochons made from black glass, black dichroic glass and clear medium frit.

The fusing glass is kiln formed in a commercial casting mold.

Small pieces of black glass are used to line the bottom of the mold, and then black dichroic glass is placed over this, dichroic side up.

Medium frit is used to cap the cabochons.

The fused dichroic glass cabochons can be made from Bullseye or System 96 fusing glass.

There are a number of ways to make the small black glass pieces. You can cut them with a glass cutter, break them off with grozing pliers or use wheeled glass nippers.

It can be easier to use wheeled glass nippers as you can nip the pieces in half very quickly if you need to.

Safety glasses must be worn when cutting the glass pieces. If you are, using mosaic nippers cut along the edge of the glass so that you can control the size of the glass pieces.

Try to hold your hand around the glass so that the cut pieces fall into your hand.

If you have a pair of safety gloves wear one on the hand catching the glass, many nipped pieces will have needle sharp ends. Use tweezers when placing pieces into mold.

On a general note wheeled glass nippers are a very handy tool to have in your tool kit, glass rods can be nipped to length, pieces easily cut from glass edges or glass strips can be quickly nipped into pieces, these are just a few of the jobs these nippers will do.

Wash and dry the scrap glass before cutting, as it is very difficult to clean the cut pieces. Try not to hold the glass in the areas that you are cutting.

For this project, you will need the following:

Black dichroic glass

Black glass

Clear medium frit

Wheeled mosaic nippers or grozing pliers.

Glass cutter.

Fusing mold.

Kiln Wash.

Glass fusing kiln.

Proceed as follows:

Step 1. Apply kiln wash to fusing mold.

Step 2. Cut glass into small pieces.

Step 3. Place black glass into bottom of dry mold.

Step 4. Place black dichroic glass over black layer, dichroic side uppermost.

Step 5. Clear glass medium frit is then placed over the black dichroic, mound up in the centre to allow for shrinkage. With a small brush make a channel about 1/8' wide around the top edge of each filled cavity, brushing the frit towards the center.

This is done to minimize spikes around the top edge of the cabochon.

300 F (150C)/hour up to 1470 F (775 c).

Hold 30 minutes.

Check to ensure that glass is fully fused. If the glass is not completely smooth, you may need to refire until it is smooth and level.

If glass fusing is complete turn off glass kiln.

Allow to cool to room temperature and then remove fusing .

Check dichroic cast cabochons for spikes as cast glass can quite often have spikes around the upper edge. If any spikes are present, remove with grinder or abrasive pad.

Clean completely and place back in kiln, fire polish to remove abrasive marks. Do not place back in mold as the marks may not be removed if they are covered by the mold.

Use prepared kiln shelf for this process, monitor closely as the glass will spread if the pendant is over heated.

The dichroic cast cabochons are ideal to use as fused glass jewelry pendants.