ABOUT DICHROIC GLASS & OUR PROCESS
Dichroic Glass is created in a special kiln with a vacuum chamber. The glass is heated to a specific temperature, then an electron gun vaporizes a blend of metal oxides and quartz crystal sealing them onto the glass. The proportions of the metal oxides or the number of layers of metal oxides determine the dichroic colors. The special effect of this glass is that it has a transmitted color and a completely different reflected color. Before Fusing, we stack layers of glass….. different dichroic colors , different textures of glass, and different dichroic glass patterns. Next we Fuse them together to marry the blend of glass characteristics. Each piece goes through the kiln process three to five times before they are wire wrapped.
Dichroic Glass is created in a special kiln with a vacuum chamber. The glass is heated to a specific temperature, then an electron gun vaporizes a blend of metal oxides and quartz crystal sealing them onto the glass. The proportions of the metal oxides or the number of layers of metal oxides determine the dichroic colors. The special effect of this glass is that it has a transmitted color and a completely different reflected color. Before Fusing, we stack layers of glass….. different dichroic colors , different textures of glass, and different dichroic glass patterns. Next we Fuse them together to marry the blend of glass characteristics. Each piece goes through the kiln process three to five times before they are wire wrapped.
Dichroic Glass : Metal Oxides coated on glass with electron gun in a special chamber, then cut, fused and ground to shape with diamond grinders or formed with a torch. Then each piece is wire wrapped by Berta. Berta is the “Master Rapper”.
We call Dichroic glass…..”Precious Silica”, and there is good reason for it. It is costly to make ….the equipment is very expensive. But it is so beautiful…I fell in love with it the first time I saw a piece. I knew Dichroic glass had to be my primary medium. Berta Heisler
We call Dichroic glass…..”Precious Silica”, and there is good reason for it. It is costly to make ….the equipment is very expensive. But it is so beautiful…I fell in love with it the first time I saw a piece. I knew Dichroic glass had to be my primary medium. Berta Heisler
Berta &Rex Heisler :Artists' Biographical
Rex and Berta Heisler began their new Art/Jewelry Business in the year 2000 and called it Zantana Designs. Zantana means “Revealer of Secrets”, so the meaning of our artistic practice is—Revealer of Secret Designs. Years before, Rex had been educated in the field of Counseling Psychology and had specialized in seminars on Therapeutic Metaphors , Cognitive Restructuring, and Psycholinguistic Patterns and Meaning. Meaning, Illusion , and Design in the Mind and in Nature have always fascinated Rex. Berta had been the owner and developer of her own Bilingual Day Care Center , she also was fascinated how children formed meaning from patterns of experience and patterns in their environment. About ten years ago Rex & Berta decided to change their careers and trade up for more creative expression in their lives. They both began taking training at the Eugene School of Glass, the University of Oregon, and soon realized that private tutoring from select Glass Artists from around the country best helped them to tap into a network of cutting edge creative skills and ideas related to Glass Art. And being around those kind of Artists was what worked best for them. So today, if you are able to attend one of the Art Shows where Rex and Berta display their art/jewelry you will be able to peer deep into one of Rex’s Boro pentants or Berta’s multilayered fused pendants and earrings and see another dimension, or a symbol, an illusion, or a hidden image that has special meaning. Not all of their work offers these “secret designs’, only a few at each show. Their working studio is near Redmond , Oregon, on the cliffs above Smith Rock State Park. Their latest venture is to replicate the incredible complex patterns and designs found in nature and micro-living organisms. The last set of pendant images in this collection will be based upon the Biological concept of “ Irreducible Complexity”.