Pilque à Jour

What is Plique à Jour

Miniature stain glass window effect in jewelry. Frames of metal with no backing allowing the light to come through. Developed in France and Italy early in the 14th century.  There are several methods of plique à jour, and I will show you the techniques I use.

This is how we usually think of pierced plique à jour. Most artists will use this method with the aid of Klyre Fire, a glue substance, to help  hold in the powdered enamels before firing. This piece of plique à jour is created in 18k gold sheet of 22 ga.  The use of gold gives you more strength and allows you to create jewels in a thinner gauge.

The Bird of Paradise Pendant is more involved. I want to show where you can go with pliqué a jour. Here I have chased the Bird of Paradise in 18k gold sheet of 16 ga. and cut away the negative space. I used 18k flat wire to make the leaves and soldered them in place with hard solder. With such large open spaces the use of foils aid in holding the enamel in, until fired, then removed. The stone setting took place before the enameling. Less worry of cracking your enameled piece.

This is a pair of cloisonné earrings with a drop of plique à jour leaves and a ruby. I would never get a stone cut like this much less be able to afford it. The leaves above the ruby is 18 ga sheet pierced and sawn out and filled with enamels.

This is a nice option when you have an unusual shape or maybe you do not have the color of stone you would like for your jewel on hand. This can be accomplished with creating a shape with 18k gold wire and soldered closed. The enamels in this case were laid in after the ruby was set. You can use Klyre Fire or back with foils to aid in holding the enamels in place prior to firing.

This enamel jewel of plique a jour is made of 18k gold sheet. The pedals have been sawn out and formed in a dapping block. The opens were pierced and filled with enamels  using foil for support. And assembled after firing.