Friday, July 29, 2011

15% Off Selected Items at AAE Glass





We want to help you beat the heat!  Temperatures are topping 100 degrees across the country.  As glass artists, we know how the added heat from a kiln can kick that temperature up several more degrees.  With that said, AAE Glass wants to offer you 15% off our in stock Dichroic Scrap Packs, Silver Findings and ALL Glass Fusing Decals.


COUPON CODE: HEAT

This sale will continue through the weekend only. It includes in stock items only, so be sure to secure your orders ASAP. 

We also want to help you promote your business.  If you would like your dichroic glass jewelry featured on this blog, email us (info@aaeglass.com) a paragraph or two about you and your business, links to your websites and pictures of your finished pieces using our products.  

There are only a few venues left for Tanya Veit's Extreme Glass Fusing Workshop.  Every class has sold out and once this tour is finished, it is finished.  Contact the host studio directly to reserve your seat today. 

  Don't forget about FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders.
STAY TUNED FOR A HUGE AAE GLASS ANNOUNCEMENT!
We have been fielding guesses for weeks and will be making a firm announcement in the coming weeks. 
As always, you can direct any questions, comments or concerns to info@aaeglass and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks for your continued support and keep up the creativity!

 


Monday, July 25, 2011

Featured Artist Christine Wilson of Blu Dragonfly






Christine Wilson of Blu Dragonfly has been a friend of AAE GLASS for a long time.  She recently took Tanya Veit's Extreme Glass Fusing Workshop in Denver Colorado. These are 2 of the pieces she made.  She has several beautiful dichroic glass pieces in her ETSY STORE.   Take a moment to learn a little more about Christine and her dichroic glass art.


Here is a bit about Christine:

I originally started out making lampwork jewelry.  One day I decided to take a fusing glass class at a local studio to see what it was all about.  I was hooked and started creating fused glass jewelry in my home studio.  All the pieces are started from scratch – I cut out the glass and create the design using dichroic glass and custom-made frit combinations.  In some of my pendants I select a decal that best fits the colors in the pendant.  Some of the pieces require several firings.   My jewelry consists of earrings, barrettes, bracelets and pendants.  I have been buying my decals from AAE glass and was so excited when Tanya's Extreme Fusing Workshop was coming to Denver.  This is the best class I have ever taken and what I learned has expanded my horizons in the fusing glass jewelry arena!  I highly recommend this class to anyone who has the opportunity to take it.

I originally started giving my jewelry as gifts to family and friends as well as selling to my co-workers.  The jewelry grew in popularity and I set up an Etsy website - www.BluDragonfly.etsy.com.  My jewelry has been given as gifts all over the world.  I also do local art shows and craft fairs in Northern Colorado and the Denver area.

Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your process and business Christine.  We wish you much success in the future.

New Dichroic Scrap Packs at AAE Glass


Tanya arrived home from her workshops in Denver, at Bella Glass Studios, and put together some brand new 90 coe and 96 coe dichroic scrap packs.  This new shipment of glass was hand picked and combined by Tanya.  This is the same glass she uses in her workshops as well in her own dichroic glass jewelry. 


The feed back on Tanya Veit's Extreme Glass Fusing Workshop has been phenomenal.  Even though Tanya divulges several tips and tricks in her workshop, the most common comments we have received are "I didn't think I could have so much fun while learning about glass fusing." and "I have a new passion for glass fusing that I haven't had in years."  This workshop not only teaches you the ins and outs of glass fusing at a high level, but you also get to meet other great artists and have a blast for 2 or 3 days.  This is a workshop like no other.


Be sure to check out our single decals and decal sheets as well as our popular silver findings.  This blog has several tutorials to help you along with any aspect of glass fusing. We will also be adding new tutorials as time goes on.


Have a great day and we look forward to meeting you in the future.


AAE

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Pre-Order These Silver Settings at AAE Glass



AAEGlass.com has its most popular silver settings on the way.  We wanted to give our blog, twitter, facebook followers and students first shot at purchasing them.  We will ship your orders once we receive the silver findings later this week.  We have been working overtime to ensure we get these silver settings for you ASAP. 

Anyone who has taken Tanya Veit's Extreme Glass Fusing Workshop knows the value of these findings.  These findings will not only earn more money per sale, they will separate your dichroic glass jewelry from other artists.  These findings are high quality, easy on the eyes, yet affordable. 

If you have any questions, please email us at info@aaeglass.com. 

Have a great week.

AAE

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

What is Dichroic Glass?


We get lots of questions about dichroic glass at AAEGLASS.com and on this blog.  Most are from artists looking to expand on the tutorials we have provided throughout this blog.  Another common question that we get is "What is dichroic glass?" 


I found this article at Wise Geek and it does a great job explaining the history of dichroic glass and how it came about. Very interesting.  Enjoy and share it with a friend.


Dichroic glass, also called fusion glass, is glass treated with various metal oxides to make it appear to have many colors. Developed for use in the American space program, dichroic glass is now popular as a jewelry and art material. The name comes from a Greek word meaning “two colors.”
In the 20th century, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began experimenting with treated glass to make astronaut face-plates that would block harmful spectrums of light. The developed process created dichroic glass, which uses fine layers of metal oxides to fracture and separate lightwaves. The resulting substance is used on a variety of objects, such as satellite mirrors and scientific instruments. It is also found on commercial products such as mirrors and camcorder lenses.
To make dichroic glass, the glass must be sprayed with micro-layers of metals, usually including titanium, chromium, gold, zirconium, and aluminum. This is conducted in a vacuum chamber, which evaporates the metals and fuses them to the glass in extremely thin layers. The fusion process creates a crystalline structure on the glass, which causes light to fracture. Each piece of dichroic glass has at least three colors: the color that reflects from the glass, the color of the glass, and a second refracted color that can be seen at a 45 degree angle. The process requires special equipment, and can be quite expensive to produce.
Treating the glass in this manner is somewhat similar to the Italian process of making Murano glass. This process has been used in Italian styles of jewelry and ornamentation for hundreds of years, and also employs metal oxides to create color and alter translucency. With Murano glass, the metal elements are added to a super-heated silicate just before it hardens, interweaving the colors and refractions with the actual glass. Because of the mixing process, Murano glass often appears to be multiple shades of one color, rather than the iridescent or rainbow colors apparent in dichroic glass.
In jewelry, dichroic glass is often formed into beads. In order to do this, the dichroic layer of glass is fired in a kiln with other layers of glass that encase it. Depending on the effect desired, the glass can be fired many times at a variety of settings, adding more layers if necessary. Dichroic glass beads are colorful and can be made in a variety of different shades, depending on the type of metals used in the vacuum process.
You can find dichroic jewelry in any color of the rainbow, available at jewelry stores and online shops. Because the process is costly, a single pendant or large bead may seem comparatively expensive for glass. Individual beads are available for approximately $20 US Dollars (USD) and up, while bracelets and necklaces comprised of the beads begin at around $70 USD. Earrings, which are usually rectangular or triangular in shape, can be found for about $18 USD.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Anna Blair AAE Glass Featured Artist




AAE Glass is proud to present Anna Blair as a featured artist.  Anna has been a customer of ours since the beginning and her work is fantastic.  She uses AAE Glass fused glass decals as well as anyone.  Thank you for sharing your work with everyone Anna.  We sure appreciate it. 

Here is some information about Anna Blair and her dichroic glass jewelry.
I live in Fort Worth, TX "Where the West Begins" with my husband and two cats, Nemesis and Hyacinth.
My pendants have been fired in three layers. The image is on the second layer and a layer of clear has been fused over it.  The image will never scratch or wear off.  Included with your purchase is a thick 2mm. solid silver serpentine 18" chain with lobster claw clasp and a gold gift box.
Anna's wearable art can be found on ZIBBET, ARTFIRE and ETSY   

Take a moment and view Anna's work at one of the sites above. 


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

World Kissing Day at AAE Glass


Today is International Kissing Day or World Kiss Day. I found these interesting facts in a book called THE SCIENCE OF KISSING.
  • The earliest literary evidence for kissing comes from India’s Vedic Sanskrit texts, dating back 3,500 years.
  • A passionate kiss can make our pupils dilate – probably one reason so many of us close our eyes.
  • Two-thirds of us tilt our heads to the right when we kiss, and it’s not correlated with right-handedness.
  • A man is far more likely to prefer sloppy tongue kisses than a woman. The added testosterone from his saliva may serve to enhance her libido over time.
  • We are not the only species to engage in kissing-like behaviors. Great apes press their lips together to express excitement, affection, or reconciliation.
  • In studies, people remember more of the details about a first kiss than first sexual experience.
  • Kissing works like a drug in our bodies, and can promote dopamine – the same neurotransmitter stimulated from addictive drugs like cocaine.
  • Our lips are packed with sensitive nerve endings so even a slight brush can send a cascade of pleasurable signals to the brain encouraging us to continue under the right circumstances.
Most of these facts are new to me, but so interesting.  In honor of World Kissing Day AAE GLASS wants to offer you 30% off our single decals.  We don't want them to be single anymore.  Use coupon code:
KISS
(excludes decal sheets, 5-12 packs, findings, bails, glass. Good for in stock items only, can not be combined with any other offers)