Tuesday 28 April 2009

Bullseye Reactive Glass Testing - Results In At Chez Gloria!

We've been running some tests on the new Bullseye Reactive Glass - Reactive Cloud Opal and Reactive Ice Clear - and the results are in! We used frit or stringer in colours that are known to be Copper (Cu) Bearing Glasses - Turq. Blue Opal/Transp, Teal Green Opal, Jade Green Opal, Steel Blue Opal, Egyptian Blue Opal, Light Cyan Opal, Kelly Green Transp, Light Aquamarine Transp, Light Turq. Blue Transp and Emerald Green Transp. The samples were fired on 2" square 6mm stacks of the Reactive Cloud / Reactive Ice on the following Schedule: 400F/h to 1150F 50F/h to 1250F hold 60 mins AFAP to 1475F hold 10 mins AFAP to 960F hold 60 mins 150F/h to 700F 700F to room temp at natural cooling rate kiln off We got reactions on Turq. Blue Opal/Transp, Teal Green Opal, Light Cyan Opal, Lt Aquamarine Transp & Lt Turq. Blue Transp
You can view full sized photo's in our flickr photo set.
If you would like more information on the "reactivity" of Bullseye Fusing Glass then follow this link to Bullseye's Glass Tips: Glass Tips

Great News for UK Glass Artists At Chez Gloria!

Great news for all UK based glass artists. One of our colleagues, Gill Harrison, from Hollingdale Designs (http://www.hollingdaledesigns.com) has been awarded 3rd Place in the Delphi Glass 2009 Glass Art Competition for a gorgeous square plate:

That is a great achievement for any glass artist . . the Delphi competition attracts thousands of entries from all over the world in a variety of categories, but the fused glass category is the one which is subscribed to the most.

So . . Congratulations Gill!

Sunday 26 April 2009

What A Cracking Day At Chez Gloria!

After a bit of a late start this morning . . had a trifle too much Drambuie 'n' ice last night! :o) . . I discovered that a very kind american lady had decided to reimburse us handsomely in return for supplying her with some findings from our Etsy shop (dichro-findings on Etsy) . . I did have to check it several times tho . . cos I couldn't believe how much she'd spent! The day has gotten better and better since then . . with more orders on the web site . . and some purchases from our ebay shop too! . . I've ordered some more new findings styles from a couple of our suppliers . . and on top of that Jensen Button won the Bahrain Grand Prix in spectacular style . . Whoo Hoo! . . some glass samples I've made for testing new colour reactions have come out of the kiln . . and very interesting they are too! . . and the weather has been utterly fabuluous all day! New findings styles coming to the web site this week:
After some guidance and advice from fellow craft bloggers I've gotten a few photogs together of some of my glass art work for you all to see :

Saturday 25 April 2009

Welcome To The dichro-findings Blog Spot!

Welcome to dichro-findings blog spot! I'm very happy to see you here! I'll be blogging about our findings business, the web site and anything else I think you might find interesting. So what made us launch a new business in such dire financial times?? Well, as a glass art jewellery maker myself I've always had the same problem you've all had . . finding our jewellery blanks all in one place at a reasonable price where there is enough of a selection to suit everyones tastes and pocket. After years of searching thro the web sites bookmarking a site here and a site there and having to visit loads of sites and place loads of orders just to get my findings I thought it would be a very good idea if I put my money where my mouth is . . and do my own web site! That's when dichro-findings.co.uk was born. The guiding principle of the business is a simple one . . good quality products at a reasonable price. To achieve this I decided that we would be reasonable on retail pricing, we would offer multilples/packs on popular products at a lower price, we'd give loyal returning customers a chance to earn bonus discounts and we would regularly check suppliers prices to obtain the best value possible in our purchasing activities and any discounts we receive for buying in quantity would be passed on directly to the customer . . with our margin staying exactly the same all the time. It took a couple of weeks of researching suppliers, buying our first stock, buying the web domain names and building the site . . and on 1st March 2009 the new web site and business went live! Since then it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride . . no visitors, nothing, nada, for the 1st week . . then all hell let loose and we hit 10,000 site visitors in our first full month of trading. We hit our second big milestone on Thursday last when we reached 20,000 site visitors! . . and we're now sending packages to the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, France, Sewden, Denmark, the UK. We started with just over 40 products and since march this has now increased to over 175! I have to say that along the way, since the begining of March, I've had enormous help and encouragement from a number of people, a lot of them fellow crafters and customers . . so . . to all those people . . You All Know Who I Mean :o) . . a BIG BIG Thanks!