Resources > Path to Borosillicate Dichro Evolution

Now back to John Stewart- the gentleman that introduced me to Dan Coursen. In 1999 there was a 4:20 party on Melrose hosted by The Crush and a headshop named Galaxy Gallery. There were some pieces at the party produced by Clinton who had some etched designs in Dichroic glass. I was intrigued and was told it was either sandblasted or acid etched by another admirer. Either way, I wanted to figure this out. Again, I called my father. In turn he contacted John Stewart who happened to know that the identical lasers used in eye surguries have been used to etch metal and other surfaces with simple but precise detail. We excitedly researched and found that all that was needed to modify this machine into a graphically capable monster was a software programmer to link the laser with a newly formed software program.

Doesn’t sound too hard right? Wrong. From 1999-2000 my father, John Stewart, and a privately contracted software company devised the software that now creates every image Dichroic Alchemy sells. After a brief but disastarous (not to mention expensive) run of events such as distorted images or electro-magnetic surges that made the dichroic burn out- a masterpiece prodct was finally created and debued in 2001 as Dichroic Alchemy’s premier laser cut images.They are undoubtedly the highest detail glass designs to ever hit the borosilicate flameworking society.

Since then some have tried to copy us but, because they lack our patent-pending software that links the two machines together, have only been able to produce primitive, inferior, dinosaur-like imitations of our past. Dichroic Alchemy has full intentions after our patents clear to sell our incredibly high definition machines and accompanying software in a small package that produces one square inch of high detailed images every four minutes. The price for this will be roughly $90,000.00 and will come with full instructions.**

And still Dichroic Alchemy continues to define itself as the leader in innovative Dichroic products! In the fall of 2002 we proudly finished developing the Trichroic^TM Galalxy Series which increased the available palate by ten new colors for flameworkers. After five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, we now have four distinct lines of BoroCoatings in the Dichroic Alchemy Collection which were especially created for the flameworking glass artist with soft glass applications available as well.

The series are broken down based on application possibility, layers of coating, and how it reacts in the flame. The Artist Series was created for soft glass fusing and light Boro applications. It was the first series we isolated, named, and solidified as a product. This is often called standard coatings by other companies. The Velvet Series was created for soft glass fusing and medium Boro applications. The Velvet Series is the equivalent of the highest quality dichroic coatings available by other coating companies. When we were able to create this level of quality I knew we were going to be successful. Where other companies have stopped research and development we were just begining. Of the best companies out there producing dichroic, our Velvet Series is as far as any of our competition has been able to achieve. They call these their premium coatings.

Above this we have the Wizard Series- developed exclusively for borosilicate flameworking with exclusive tangibles. Some of the marked differences are strechability, crazing effects like sharp needles, geometric break-up, a super jewel-like look, and incredible hues of colors numbering in the hundreds due to the transitions of the Starship/Tical coating. Due to the high number of layers (48-52 layers) the Wizard Series has many unique properties. These properties have had the greatest effect on flameworked borosilicate I think has ever been accomplished in dichroic glass history. (add to this concept)

Now, we have proudly unleashed the Trichroic^TM Galaxy Series. The fourth series in the BoroCoatings by Dichroic Alchemy Collection and the second series we have made devoted and designed especially for borosilicate flameworkers. There were two immediate reasons this series recieved the galaxy name. First, because it has some spectacular efects when spun up into galaxy marbles. The Nebula coating for instance when spun up creates an entire rainbow of colors where the Rasta Red coating creates horizontally seperated lines of red, gold, and green. The second reason is because of the configuration we developed through the exploration into the Galaxy Series coating process we now know there is infinite possibility for expansion of Dichroic Alchemy BoroCoatings.

We plan to add colors to developing series at a modest rate of five to ten per year. If there are colors you would like to see or new effects that we could build on, we have technical staff twenty-four seven to take your comments. We have achieved the Trichroic effects due to the incredible feedback we have recieved from our Intensive Research Project (IRP). The IRP is a dichroic “gang” of artists which use the reference numbers found on the bottom of every sheet we manufacture. These numbers are significant in the sense that if you find an interesting effect or color that may not normally be there we can work to isolate it and customize the BoroCoating.

Using the galaxy for roll-ups and galaxy twists spawned the names Trichroic^TM and Quadchroic^TM because the Galaxy Series has three to four reflected and three to four transmitted colors on one square inch. The Starship/Tical, Rasta Red, and Nebula have bonafide Quadchroic effects while the Blueberry Grape, Rasta Gold, and Blueberry Cherry have bonafide Trichroic effects.