Welcome back Yourkowski

It's been a while since we've seen our friends at Yourkowski Glass so when we did we were blown away with their new work! Since each piece is one of a kind and it is selling quickly we have put just a few pieces on our website.

What's really unusual is that they make most of the dichroic glass used in their studio.  Of course by "make" I mean that they apply their own dichroic coatings to glass specifically formulated for fusing.

 What is dichroic glass?
 
The spectacularly vibrant colors exhibited by dichroic glass are created by a very sophisticated combination of extremely thin, clear, crystalline layers that interact with each other and produce very specific reflected and transmitted colors. There are no absorptive pigments used in this process. This allows all of the light energy to be either reflected or transmitted and, in turn, creates the rich colors that characterize art works created with this glass.

What is dichroic glass?

Dichroic glass is created via the application of many individual thin films on the order of one micron in total thickness. These films are comprised of alternating high and low index of refraction materials that produce multiple internal reflections. By varying the thickness of the layers carefully, different colors can be created, all with incredible vibrancy. The fact that the glass exhibits both a transmitted color and a different reflected color is why it is called "dichroic". Di- is Greek for two, and -chroic is Greek for color, thus combined we have "dichroic", or two color.

 

Dichroic films are applied in very sophisticated machines called "vacuum vapor deposition systems". In these machines an electron beam is used to vaporize materials. These materials then evaporate and are deposited onto the glass suspended above the evaporation sources. This results in a very pure, crystalline film. These films give rise to incredible colors and patterns. All of us who admire dichroic glass in art have the military and space programs to thank for this exciting new art form.

Speaking about their work "Most of the inspiration for our designs comes from our appreciation of nature. We try to reflect the beauty and importance of plant and animal life into our glass. Our pieces are also heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau style.

Being self-taught, our glass art is distinguished by their absolutely unique designs and the vibrant, bold colors of dichroic glass. We try to change the perspective of glass as a rigid, sharp, tangible substance to give the impression of flowing, growing, organic design.

We began creating fused glass in 1991 and now run a full-time studio. During the last 20 years we have created literally hundreds of sculptural glass pieces for private collectors across the United States. In addition we produce an extensive line of unique hanging ornaments. Our work is notable not just for it’s unique style, but also because we produce our own dichroic coatings."

Stop in and see!!     Click to see their page on our website.