Overfiring Enamels

Hi Patsy,

I hope this finds you well and having fun! I have a technical problem with my 22K+fine silver fused element from the Arrowmont workshop and hope you don’t mind my picking your brain! I’m sure your opinion is the best!

My problem:
This fused piece of gold and silver is slightly overfired but still usable-from the kilns at the workshop. There are no holes in it and the silver slightly climbed the gold wires but not so much as to obliterate cells.

I enameled it once and the Japanese enamel I used turned blotchy and ugly, so I removed all of the enamel with Etchall.

I re-enamelled it. Got some blotches but covered them with dark colors.

Upon final firing (of course) got an open pit or two…like burst bubbles.

Recoated, refired. The initial pits filled, got new ones.PITS…..but why mostly near the wires??

Recoated, refired! Same thing, old ones filled, got new ones. Some of the tiny pits seem to go all the way to the metal, some not. They are only occurring on the side to be ground…deeper enamel; not the “Russian” style side. The Russian style side was fine.

I am now removing all the enamel once again!!

I cannot figure this out since I only used fine silver and 24K gold wires. The pits occur at random spots and a bit more near wires. I’m wondering if the overfiring created some funky alloy even though my metals were pure??( I did get discoloration in the enamels too…an uncommon blotchy muddy nuisance that I didn’t expect)..Or, do I need to boil in baking soda after Etchall…is it possible there was some invisible residue from that?

Thanks in advance for any input or advice you may have!

Jan

Dear Jan,

Sounds like you have a couple of problems. One, when using the Etchall, an acid that eches out all the enamels, I will soak the piece for a day or so in water and use a stiff tooth brush to clean it well, before reenameling. There could be some acid trapped, and it would make sense in corners and next to the wire where there could be very small pits from the fusion process. This could help if it is the Etchall, but I have had the bubbles in bad enamels as well.

Usually you can tell they are bad before you fire the enamels. What you see is the enamel floating on the surface, after you have washed them. This is not to be mistaken for the fine as we call them, that we see when you initially wash the enamel. After you have washed off the fines and the water is clear some of the enamel will float = deterioration. This can cause bubbles in the enamels when firing, if it is really bad. If they are only slightly deteriorating you may see this after a few hours, when they have been sitting wet while you are working. This degree of deterioration will look cloudy in transparent enamels and never go away!

THROW AWAY ENAMELS THAT FLOAT!

The muddy, blotchy look in the bottom of your transparent enamel is the salts from the fine silver interacting with the enamels caused from high temp. In this fusion style of enameling I believe with the gold wrapped around the fine silver disc conducts the heat better. And for this style of enameling we need to lower our firing temps to 1400 degrees. I have over fired this last month as I have added more gold to the outside of the ring. This is the first time I have had the muddy, blotchy patches appear in the transparent enamels. And it takes place first in the warm colors that are senitive to over firing.

I have been happy though to be fusing my wires down, as I have been able to etch the cloudy enamels out and save the metal work.

Hope I have helped and Happy Enameling