Enameling Hotline
Welcome to Enamels & Enameling of Cloisonne Jewelry, Plique a Jour, Champleve and many other Enamel Jewelry Techniques.
I’m very excited to discuss cloisonne jewelry and enamel jewelry making with all of you. I hope this will turn out to be a great resource for all of us as we share our ideas, challenges, solutions, and finally our finished enamel jewelry. Anyone who toils in their basement studio on their future masterpieces knows that it can be a lonely place when you hit a speed bump. If we put our heads together, we can spend less time crying over spilt gold, and more time producing great enamel jewelry!
I encourage anyone and everyone that has questions 
or constructive feedback to join the conversation.
Send me your questions or comments, I will be
happy to help and share and if it is too involved to take
care of here, you will just have to come take a class!
You can upload one or more images to share or ask for help on,
just click on the “Browse” button below. Don’t forget to hit
the “Submit” button when you are through.
Jewelers for the Gulf
Hello Fellow Artisan,
Chris Hierholzer and Patsy Croft are putting together a fund for the families in Louisiana who have been directly affected by the Oil Spill. I know you have seen what is happening here in our neighborhoods. Many people are in need of help.
We’ve organized a Charity Auction on eBay Giving Works that will take place during the months of September and October for which a number of jewelry artists have already donated one of their pieces to be auctioned off. We are looking for more artists to contribute pieces to the auction, and we’d greatly appreciate it if you would mention the project in an upcoming newsletter.
Here are the details:
All pieces must be donated. 100 percent of the proceeds from each auction will go to Louisiana’s Second Harvest Food Bank, which has seen an increase in patrons since the oil spill first happened.
- If you would like to participate, please send us a high-quality photograph of a jewel you would like to donate, attach your name to the image file, send a description of your item and a link to your website (if applicable) no later than August 15th. If you have a mini bio, please send that as well, since many consumers like to “meet the artist” that they are purchasing from.
- There will be little hassle for your involvement, and all listings will mention the generous donations from each participating artist, which will likely drive traffic back to your website. We can also provide a “Giving Works” badge that you can put on your site to point people to your auction item.
- Once your item has been bid on and the auction closes, all you’ll have to do is ship the item to the highest bidder. eBay Giving Works will take care of handling all payments. I will contact you with shipping details.
- We will be promoting the auction through various PR activities to generate consumer interest in the auction items and recognition for all of the artists who donate.
- Some of the artists who have already contributed are Tom McCarthy, Jerry Scavezze, Patsy Croft, Brenda Radford, Ileana Rojas Bennett, Carolyn Bensinger, Chris Hierholzer, Mary Timmer, Ray Parisi and Mary McBride, Kathy Wilcox.
Please let us know if you have any questions. And click on the New link on the right for more info.
Thanks for your consideration,
Patsy Croft
“Jewelers for the Gulf”
patsy@patsycroft.com
205 478 9977
Alexa,
That is great, I love to experiment also. I believe we have so manny avenues that have not been used.
keep up the great work!
Patsy Croft
Hi Patsy,
Regarding the old leaded Thompson enamels, most of them had 3 digit numbers but the unleadeds had 4. Here is a link to a pretty complete list of the old Thompson leaded enamels. http://www.enameling.com/Thompson_Leaded.html
Sher
Hi Sher,
Thanks for posting this.
hi
thanks for the forum to ask questions
i received a box of old old enamels i have some items i know nothing about and was hoping you or somewhere else may know
1-kerber cardinal red 554
2_roka 1066 red garnet
3- red 175 ? maker
4- thompson 674 tr red ruby
thanks
theo
Theo,
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back with you. These number do not ring a bell with me. If they are old as you said they are more than likely leaded enamels. Most of Thompson’s Enamels had 4 digits in them like the 1066. I would make a test plate and fire them in small amounts and see what they are like, as in Transparent or Opaques.
Let me know if I can help father. Patsy
I am not sure about her wire thickness, I know she ordered them so they would be standard inventory. I do know if you take the proper precautions as flux on the walls of the cloison wires or a blue as we talked about you can have success. Also adjust the timing, you always need to fire just past the orange peel.
If you look at the Mandrill on my jewelry site, you can see those wires are as think a one mm. Big guys! And when you tackle these things keep an eye on the heat. If you stop before the enamel is fused it is okay, just place the enamel jewel back in the kiln,
Good Luck Patsy
Hi Patsy,
I dumped a bag of “failed” enameled FS pieces into a cup of etch-bath. It’s working but takes forever of course. My question is; if I plan to use opaque enamel front and back, does all of the enamel have to be completely gone or can I enamel over it if there is only a thin coat left?
Sher,
That is a good question. I have not tried to enamel over enamels that have been in contact with the Etch All. I usually remove all and stream clean before re-enameling. I have tried to fire after they have been partially removed and they turned out grainy and could never get a smooth surface.
It would be best to do a test on one, then you would know for sure what the out come will be.
Patsy
Tresa,
You are firing this too long or too hot. I say that because the enamel is climbing the walls of the cloison wires. What flux is this? It looks like it is burning, it has a bit of a muddy color in it = burn. And I can see in the purple it is starting to burn as it is getting a bit yellow.
Turn the temperature down and or the timing down.
Hi Patsy,
I just encountered a problem with a fine crack under my wires running across the center of my piece. I had used a couple of coats of Bovano 3 flux on the front and the back and then sunk my wires in and then after firing another coat of flux, I noticed the crack. The piece is domed but there a lot of wires near the center. I had purposely used very thin wire to avoid heat build up but it didn’t seem to matter.
Sher
Hey Sher,
I have found when I have had a concentration of wires in the center even though the metal it is domed the counter will collect in the underneath center, as that is where all the heat is. Enamels like solder move to the heat. Try to remove the counter in the center back and add counter to the back edges and re-fire. The thiner wire is a good idea also, there are many factors.
Good luck and let me know how it goes, Patsy
Hi Patsy,
Failure, I went to turn my kiln back on and got the TC warning again. I have to order a new thermocouple. Now I can’t enamel until the end of the week. I already ground and set up all of my colors. I don’t suppose it’s worth trying to use the trinket kiln. I don’t have a temperature controller. By the way, I was looking into buying one but it only had three settings, 800, 1300, and1500. What kind do you have?
Sher
The thermocoupler is very delicate you might just need to clean it. Do so by running the kiln at high for several hours and this will clean it. I have had the same problem and this fixed mine, a new one can runs in the hundreds.
The trinket kiln is great I have a friend that has never used anything else. It is at 1500 degrees just plugged in, so calculate less time on your firing. And it looses temp at the front because of the opening. You can place the piece there to have a bit less heat. I fire on a piece of used mica. A new piece of mica will jump on the first firings so fire it alone in the kiln a couple of times.
The controller you mentioned is the same I use and it does adjust between the numbers on the dial.
Patsy
Wow, you are incredibly talented. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to take on such a delicate task.
Thank you so much for this. It really gives me something to aspire toward!
Patsy – thank you for starting this! The Wave Necklace is 18K white gold, and the enamel, on fine silver, is back set into the piece. Easy.
Patsy,
What a wonderful idea-”Enameling Hotline”!!
Terri Sidell
YOU INSPIRED ME, YOU AND CHRIS, TO TRY SOME SILVER FOIL “SHINING” . SO I TOOK SOME SILVER FOIL AND BURNISHED IT BETWEEN TWO SHEETS OF WHITE PAPER, THEN TOOK THAT FOIL, STUCK IT ON A CLEAN ENAMEL TRAY AND FIRED IT IN KILN FOR ABOUT 1 1/2 MINUTES, JUST TO SEE IT THAT WOULD SHINE THE FOIL UP. THANKS I LOVE EXPERIMENTING.