Thank you for your interest in Fire Gems™.

My goal as the owner and artisan of Fire Gems™ is to bring you a unique and finely crafted piece of jewelry - something that is a one-of-a-kind statement of your personality and style. I strive to make each piece a work of art with an individuality that can only be crafted by hand - but with the quality of industrial standards. Fire Gems™ is a small business, so we are able to give each customer our personal attention. We love to see our jewelry bring joy to the individuals who wear it.

Because I know how heartbreaking it can be when your favorite piece of jewelry breaks, I take great pains to ensure that our pieces are durable and long lasting. All our jewelry is compatibility tested and properly annealed to help ensure it's long life. Since our jewelry is designed for you - our customers - please write us with your suggestions and ideas. If you find our web site and jewelry to your satisfaction, please tell your friends and family about us. If not, let me know and I will do what I can to make it right. My business can only flourish with the satisfaction and kind words of my customers. Thank you for your time and interest in my work.

About Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass is manufactured by vaporizing ultra-pure crystals of metallic oxides onto glass sheets in a vacuum chamber. Many layers are required, and the process takes hours to complete. Some colors can require as many as 49 layers of coating to produce. The technology to create dichroic glass was developed in Germany over 100 years ago, but dichroic has only recently begun to be used for jewelry.

Once the glass comes out of the vacuum chamber, we take the glass sheets, cut them into rough shapes, and build the individual pieces with multiple layers of glass. When the pieces are built, they are fused in a kiln. Often, pieces are fused multiple times to add more layers of glass. Some glass artists stop here, and produce beautiful (but fragile) pieces that often eventually crack due to stress fractures.

At Fire Gems™, once all the layers have been added to a piece, it is then annealed to make it more durable and reduce the incidence of stress fractures. We then grind each individual piece to shape and polish it. Other processes are used to compatibility test the glass, and stress tests are run to ensure that if a piece of our work is going to crack, it will happen while we have it rather than after our customers have it. Each piece of jewelry is 3-5 layers of glass at a minimum, and takes 3-7 days to complete.

How are Fire Gems™ pendants made?

All Fire Gems™ pendants are created by a process known as glass fusing. This process dates back to ancient Egypt. Glass is fused in a kiln by heating it to temperatures ranging from 1400 to 1600 degrees.

What makes them look so deep?

All of our pendants have a minimum of 4 layers, and some have as many as 20. More layers give the pendants more depth, color, and sparkle. It takes about 8 hours per layer to fuse a pendant. After the pendant is fused, the artist might also add hand carving or other techniques.

What makes them shine?

The dichroic coating is actually a layer of pure metal oxide that is applied to glass sheets in a vacuum chamber with an electron beam. The name dichroic comes from the Greek word "dichromatic," meaning: two colors. Our artist starts with the raw dichroic glass, then layers it, mixes it with other types of glass, and fuses it to create finished pieces.

How old is the art of glass fusing?

The ancient Egyptians were fusing glass thousands of years ago. Glass fusing died out as an art form during the Renaissance era because glass blowing was less expensive and faster. The art form was lost until the 1970's, when archeologists and glass workers got together to reinvent the art from fused glass left behind from the ancient Egyptians.

How old is dichroic glass?

The ancient Phoenicians invented dichroic glass (although they could only make it in blue and green colors). Today's more modern process allows us to create a rainbow of dichroic colors. Though the technique that the Phoenicians used to apply the coating has been lost in time, we are pretty sure that they did not use a vacuum chamber or an electron beam.

What's with the hole in the center?

At Fire Gems™, our artist prefers not to use glued on bails and findings. As wonderful as modern glues are, all glues break down over time. The holes in our pendants will last through the generations. Pieces from ancient Egypt have been found wearable centuries after they were created.

How does the artist make the runes and symbols?

All symbols or pictures are hand carved into the glass. Our artist does not use any chemicals or laser etching. Inclusions in the glass such as dolphins or crosses are made of .999 pure silver, unless specified otherwise in the description of the piece.

How do you make the beads?

All of our beads are created by a process known as lampworking.