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Tubing and Rod Available Now!!!
This glass is all machine pulled, smooth, consistent, and high
quality. Unlike any ever before seen on the market, you must
try to believe! Improve production speed and consistency with
this super clean colorsilicate™ glass. See
pics of pieces made with this tubing.
See great example of what can
be done...Kris Hale Jar. Lots
of Pics.
Available Colors:
Standard Stocked Tubing Sizes
are as follows:
 So
many sizes, so little time.
What can be done with these tubes?
We are collecting a gallery of pics that have been made using
this new and innovative product. Jars, hollow vessels, even
marbles...
Techniques waiting to be explored
and further developed-
Onward All-Ways.
Colorsilicate User Information:
D.A. now has two types of blue tube. The first is a hand-pulled
tube varying in size between 22m to 32mm with an average size
of 25mm. The wall thickness varies from 2.5mm to 5.0mm with
an average thickness of 4.0mm This tubing is of good quality
but will reduce to a grey color if worked for too long unencased.
It is recommended if one is going to work this tube for a
long time they should encase it completely with dichroic glass,
clear glass, or colored glass which will keep it from reducing.
The disadvantage is with production. Each case has varying
sizes and wall thicknesses so it is hard to make consistent
size productions.
The second type is a machine pulled bright blue tube in exact
sizes, with each case having a consistent Outer Diameter (OD)
and Inner Diameter (ID) making it ideal for production. This
tube works very well in a neutral to oxidizing flame. If one
is going to use it in a reducing flame or for a very long
flame cycle then it needs to be encased or it can strike to
a maroon color which looks very nice too.
In both cases, this tubing can only handle so much abuse unencased
before it reduces to a grey or maroon color. This can be absolutely
avoided if encased with dichroic or clear glass. When worked
in a quality torch such as GTT torches, we have not seen this
tube have any reduction problems. We have seen reduction to
grey or maroon when unencased on other torches.
We are accumulating a user’s manual on this tube by
having BoroArtists try out the tube and come up with techniques
that are improved by the use of this blue tube. So far, we
have seen that all dichroic production technique is improved
with use of this tube. If you use dichroic in your production,
please call us at 866-4 DICHRO (866-434-2476) to get info
on improving your process with this new blue tube medium.
A collection of statements from BoroArtists experiences
with colorsilicate follows-
| Robert
Mickelsen: |
| “I have experimented with some
of these colors and they are really nice! I have to admit
I am surprised at the quality and workability of this
glass. It is really nice stuff!” |
| Bob
Snodgrass: |
| “This blue tube can get occasional
purple to red streaks without encasing. Encased it holds
its color very well. I think it’s a great deal!” |
| Pedro
Smiley: |
“I am very happy that Dichroic
Alchemy has come out with multiple sizes and thicknesses
of Colorsilicate blue tubing. So far my experience with
the Colorsilicate has been very good. It is a bit lighter
then the original hand-pulled blue tube, but has a beautiful
deep blue. As long as you use a neutral to oxidizing flame
and only move the glass when molten, you will not get
any grey haze or devitrification. I have found no bubbles
or inconsistency in this new glass. In comparison with
the original 1” cobalt tube, the Colorsilicate blue
tube seems to hold heat a little longer, and have a softer
quality.
My thanks to the people at Dichroic Alchemy for helping
unlock and open doors for the future glassblowing community.” |
| Craig at
Phoenix Glass: |
| “People need to try it and see
this! It should help the dichroic scene a lot and it is
ideal for production work.” |
| Jay Frodo: |
| “I requested this new blue tube
palette specifically for BoroArtist to encase with dichroic
glass. This speeds up every dichroic process and gives
BoroArtists an edge in the mainstream glass art markets.
Colored tubing is only available in Boro as far as I know.
Use this to your advantage. Also, at Dichroic Alchemy
we secured the purchase of a large quantity of this new
tube in order to see a good price available to artists.
Since BoroDichroic glass is our only focus, we have decided
to get this product out at a most reasonable price so
we all can afford to use more dichroic!” |
We will be adding comments and techniques on our forum under
the heading Colorsilicate/Dichrosilicate Tube. Also, keep
checking for more posted info in the resource area.
Here are some suggestions for uses of these blue tubes:
1. Encase with strips of Dichroic to make multicolored dichro
tube.
2. Fune the tube with gold or silver to get a variety of nice
colors.
3. Encase one side with dichroic and the other side with color.
Pull down and make reversals.
4. Put dichroic encased larger tubes on lathe and make dichroic
vessels.
5. Melt down the end of the tube and add a dichroic image
to the end and encase to make and image marble.
6. Use larger tube to make wine glass stoppers.
7. Use Dichrosilicate tubes to flare out for goblet bottoms
or sculpture bases.
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