Jewelers for the Gulf Donating to a Cause

News

Here in Orange Beach, Al. Many of  my friends are in trouble and more so in Mississippi and Louisiana 

Chris Hierholzer and I are making  jewels and researching a way to help those in need. Anyone interested, enamelist or metalsmith in helping the families whom have lost their livelihood  because of the oil spill stay tuned while we work out the details.

This is a place Chris and I think would be a great to help. Many, as we have found are donating to the Wild Life Foundations but not the people.

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana is fighting hunger in south Louisiana through food distribution, education, advocacy and disaster relief.
• One in eight people in Louisiana is struggling with hunger.
• We serve approximately 262,800 clients annually across 23 parishes in south Louisiana through over 235 faith-based and nonprofit member agencies.

OIL SPILL RELIEF

• According to the LA Department of Social Services, it is estimated that 47,656 households may eventually require food assistance due to the effects of the oil spill.

Second Harvest Food Bank member agencies have already experienced a 15 to 25 percent increase in the number of new people seeking emergency food assistance since May 1 in affected communities. We anticipate that this number will grow and that emergency food assistance will be needed in coastal communities for the long term.

• Second Harvest Food Bank serves all coastal Louisiana parishes that may be impacted most directly by the Gulf oil spill event – Orleans, St. John, St. Charles, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Vermilion, St. Tammany, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson and Tangipahoa parishes.

Taylor Smiley Development Coordinator

504.729.2820 direct  |  504.722.8864 cell

tsmiley@secondharvest.org

Start sending us your images today and we will begin posting them the first of next week on the eBay Giving Works. Our auction is planned to begin Sept 1  and run through Oct 30.

Some Artist whom have donated:

• Ileana Rojas Bennet
• Caroline Benzinger
• Patsy Croft
• Chris Hierholzer
• Mary McBride
• Tom McCarthy
• Ray Parsis
• Brenda Radford
• Jerry Scavezze
• Mary Timmer
• Kathy Wilcox

Look forward to hearing from you,

Patsy and Chris

Fluxes And Firing Tempertures

Fluxes for transparent and medium firing enameling. And firing time varies on the size of your jewel. I work small and like to start around a min and go up in seconds. Just a quick peak in the kiln at eye level you can see if the enamel has fused.

Copper

Fire at 1450 and up to 1500 degrees

Thompson’s 2030

Ninomiya’s   L11

Bovano’s  #1

Fine Silver

I make enamel and cloisonne jewelry. And Fine Silver is my choice of metals. The weight of the jewel as well as the strength is a factor and in choosing the gauge of the fine silver. For pendants I prefer 20 gauge and for earrings 22 gauge.

Fire at 1425 – 1450 degrees

Thompson’s 2020 medium firing or 2040 for a hard firing. In my work I like a hard firing flux on my bases.

Ninomiya’s  N1

N3 = pre – washed

G 110    hard flux

Bovano’s       #3 this is a hard flux with a blue base

Sterling Silver

Thompson’s 2040

Bovano’s #3   both of these are hard enamels and I think it is helpful in keeping the surface contamination down of the sterling silver away from the layers of enamels.

Gold

Fire at 1425 – 1450 degrees

Bovano #2

Brass and Stainless Steel

Fire at 1250 Degrees – 4-8 min.

Low to Medium expansion Enamels

Finishing Fluxes

Ninomiya’s N4

Bovano’s  518 and 619

Watercolors and Getting Started

Get yourself a set of Winsor Newton Travel Watercolors, A block of watercolor paper that is Hot Pressed and a #3 Sable brush.

The travel kit of colors have 10 – 12 colors, all you need to start designing your enameled project. A block of watercolor paper is just that. The stack of paper’s edges are glued together, because when it gets wet in normal conditions of painting with water the paper would warp , and it prevents that. Hot press is more likely to warp but it is a smoother paper than cold pressed. Great for small painting of detail. And I find a #3 sable brush is a good size to get the job done without spending on several brushes.

Now get busy and start playing!

Carving in the Enamel

Some thing you can do to enhance your work is to carve in the enamel. On this Nautilus Pendant I used white Askansas Stones to carve out the shape of the shell’s spiral.

Hi Jennifer,

Thank for the visit. I was not at the conference, but Merry-Lee Rae presented a lecture on cloisonne and used my images.

On carved enamels, yes I used a layer of flux and two layers of transparent red enamel. You can use a very fine diamond bit and arkansas stone bits. Afterward you should glass brush and or steam the piece to remove any trace of the stone and flash fire.

But as you know the layers are thin as transparent enamels need to be for clarity. And if you lay in the enamel in that small of a space it flows even. The chased flower petals had ridges and valleys. To enhance the visibility of this I carved in the top layer to follow this and expose the ridges more.

The Nautilus is also carved. This is posted in the topic Enamels, under Carving in Enamels. But this is a complete cloisonne piece, so the wires are at least .040″ high. And I actually over filled this, then carved the spiral of the shell into it.                            

Good luck, Patsy Croft

White Specks in Your Enamel

If you see white specks in your enamel, remove them. This is a sign of deterioration. Some times there is only a few and you can remove them before you place any enamel in your work. Sometime the enamel sits on the bottom and water will not penetrate the enamel at all. This it time to throw them away!

If you did not see this until the enamel is fired you can drill it out with a diamond bur and re-fire the piece before adding more enamel. This way you will not have a shadow where you removed the speck.

This is a real issue when using transparent enamels, an it comes from the enamels being left wet too long.

Repairing Enamels

Enamels are not very difficult to repair. If a piece has been dropped and cracked you can clean the piece with a jeweler’s steamer to remove any dirt that might have made it’s way into the crack. Let it dry!! so not water could be in the crack on top of the kiln as you dry your enamels before firing. An fire. Use the same temperatures yo know for the metal it is on and the the firing times you know from the size of the piece. Usually there will be an indention in the work and you will need to choose to fill with a soft firing flux that is made to be a top coat or sand the piece down to match all the surface again.

In the initial firing I recommend checking on the piece in the kiln through time to see when the enamel flows. Especially if it is not a piece you have made. This way you will know if the enamels are  harder firing or softer firing. Then you can match what enamel  you decide to add.

I can across this in a repair of a bangle bracelet from India. The enamel was much harder than any I had. But the design of the bracelet was in cloisonne and I was able to remove all the red in the broken cell and apply new enamel.

Cloisonne and Torch Firing Enamels

My only experience with torch firing enamels is in trying to add a finding that has come off in the process of making a cloisonné jewel.

What I found is you have to heat it indirectly as the fumes from the flame discolor the enamels.

Patsy

“The discoloration most likely came from the enamel being leaded. If you heated from the top then it will discolor. Sometimes when I fire leaded with a torch if the flame is to big combined with it being a reduction flame it will discolor the edges. Only fire from the bottom…..I place a thick soldering screen on 2 fire bricks on end and fire from the bottom…slowly bring fire up so the thermal shock won’t warp the metal or fracture the enamel…I start with the tip of the flame about 8 inches bellow the piece and stay there for 2 min. or so and then come up another 1 inch and stay for a minute or so…just keep repeating until the enamel melts…don’t let the tip of torch come closer than 2 inches from bottom of enamel….also I fire on a 3 prong trivet on top of the soldering screen….the soldering screen should be substantial….

……….since the leaded enamels don’t do so well after multiple firings with a torch……….Coral Schaeffer has some Ninomiya unleaded enamels that compliment thompsons… and work well with torch firings”.

Chris Hierholzer

Chris has shared some of his wonderful work, photos and descriptions.

Congo Mask, Missionary Series…Cloisonne,fine silver,fine gold foil, sterling silver. Leaded Enamels, Ninomiya. Tab set and torch fired. Brooch 2006

Jelly Bean Mask, Animation Series…Cloisonne, fine silver, fine gold foil, sterling silver. Leaded Enamels, Ninomiya. Tab set and torch fired. Brooch 2006

Color of Water series….Limoges,copper,fine silver and gold foil,sterling silver. Non Leaded Thompson Enamel.Tab set and torch fired. Brooch 2008

Pendant, Nocturnal pirouette series…Limoges,copper,fine gold foil,fine silver foil,sterling silver. Non Leaded Thompson Enamel. Tab set and torch fired. 2010

Thank you Chris for sharing!

And Chris will be giving a demo of his work in Tallahassee Sunday May 22.

Visit www.fsgnw.com/ for all the info.

Patsy

Plique a Jour and Torch Firing

In my research of alternative methods used in Plique a Jour I can across this article in Glass on Metal, by Carmen Lombardi. The issue is February 2009. In the article she used sterling silver as her metal to pierce out her plique design, used titanium as her backing ( enamels do not stick to titanium), and a torch to fire her enamels.        

There are many way to do things, check it out www.glass-on-metal.com/ Back issues run about $5.00

Thanks to Carmen for sharing, and back to cloisonne.

Obama and Whaling

There are plenty of places on the net you can read about this and have a say to our government! If we just sit back and not say anything then you are condoning their behavior!

McClatchy Washington Bureau

Print This Article
Posted on Fri, Apr. 23, 2010

New plan would allow whale hunts, with limits

Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: April 23, 2010 05:55:21 PM

WASHINGTON — A ban on commercial whale hunting since 1986 hasn’t stopped Japan, Iceland and Norway from killing 35,000 whales, according to U.S. government counts. Now the International Whaling Commission has proposed a new approach — legalize whaling for those three nations for the next 10 years, but impose limits and watch the whalers more carefully.

The plan doesn’t propose to phase out commercial whaling, even though whales in many areas have not rebounded in numbers and face other threats. Environmental groups say it’s far too weak and could open the way to more commercial whaling fleets launching from Russia and other countries.

The whaling moratorium brought a sharp drop in the number of whales hunted and killed when it went into effect. In recent years, however, the three whaling nations have been killing whales in increasing numbers. Last year, the three countries that hunt for whales despite the ban — Japan, Iceland and Norway — killed about 1,700 whales, including minke, fin, sei, gray and Bryde’s whales.

“What we recommend, our precautionary approach, is to set the numbers (for commercial hunts) at zero until scientists can prove otherwise, and they’re doing it backwards,” said Susan Millward of the Animal Welfare Institute.

Some whale populations have rebounded in some parts of the world, but many are in decline or their numbers are unknown. Whales also face other threats from humans, such as overfishing of prey species and ship strikes.

Japan has used a loophole that allows killing whales for scientific research, even though the whale meat ends up in supermarkets and sushi bars. Norway and Iceland have used a loophole that allows them to continue whaling because they objected to the ban. The three countries set their own quotas.

Over the past three years, a group of nations including the U.S. has been talking about a compromise plan that would restore authority of the International Whaling Commission and improve whale conservation. The chairman of the IWC, Christian Maquieira, on Thursday announced a proposal for the 88 IWC member countries to consider at a meeting in June. Much could change before they vote.

The proposal would allow the three countries to catch whales according to IWC quotas and would increase the organization’s monitoring of hunts.

The IWC said in a press release that several thousand fewer whales would be killed over a 10-year period if the proposal is adopted. It added, however, that the quotas didn’t represent a stable limit, that all countries would be dissatisfied, and that the whole quota plan would be open to debate in June.

Decisions of the IWC require a three-fourths majority. Japan has persuaded many countries to line up with its positions in past votes.

Environmental groups say they aren’t worried about traditional subsistence whaling in Alaska, but that hunt is politically connected to commercial whaling. The IWC also approves permits for Alaskan whaling. The next vote on that permit will be in 2012. Support from Japan and other pro-whaling nations will be needed.

The U.S. was one of about a dozen countries that helped craft the compromise proposal during the past three years. The U.S. and other members, however, didn’t immediately endorse the plan put forward on Thursday. Monica Medina, the No. 2 official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. commissioner to the whaling organization, said in a statement that the U.S. would review the proposal carefully.

Millward, at the Animal Welfare Institute, said that the proposed quotas represent only a small improvement over this year’s catch. In addition, she said Russia and other nations that authorized whaling by indigenous people would be able to start commercial whaling under the proposal.

Consumption of whale meat has been on the decline, conservationists say, but they worry that other countries could open new markets and find new uses for whales, such as medicine or food for farm-raised fish.

Once whaling for some countries is approved, other countries that don’t have indigenous hunts could claim they have the same right to commercial whaling, Millward said. South Korea has expressed interest in commercial whaling. The plan also wouldn’t prevent countries from objecting to the new plan and starting whaling, she said.

Patrick Ramage, the whale program director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, also called for a long-term push to end whaling and opposed lifting the moratorium for commercial whaling nations.

“We shouldn’t undo and abandon these hard-won conservation decisions in order to please the last three countries involved in this outmoded and cruel practice,” he said.

Thompson Enamel Workbook

If you really want to understand vitreous enamels, the expansion rates, what enamels match what metals and much much more, that the time to get the workbook from Thompson and read away. I know we live in a immediate gratification world but if you are serious about enameling build a strong foundation and research your materials.

www.thompsonenamel.com/products/publications/index.htm just $10.00

Plique a Jour with Alternative Backings

I have found in researching alternative ways to provide backing for plique a jour a material form Fusion Headquarters at www.fusionheadquarters.com Carmen at 503-538-5281

A material they carry is called Wet Felt and  comes in a 36″ x 36″ roll. This felt material can be cut in sections and shaped to your desired form. At this point you can let it air dry, or oven dry at 250 degrees until the form is hardened. It is still too rough to apply enamels on but if you layer on their fiber coat, as many times as it takes to create a even surface, then you can sand it to get a very nice smooth surface. Apply kiln wash and after all is dry, place plique a jour form on the felt form and enamel away!

I believe the materials are most helpful in creating larger forms such as vessels. I will post some photos soon.

Be sure to wear protection mask while sanding. And one draw back I found is that he shelf life of the fiber coat is short. So make yourself a note to shake it up often and when mine got too thick I added water.

Fusion Headquarters does not have the Fiber Coat on their site due to the short shelf life = 6 months, and the expense. If you call they will have it for you in a couple of days.

Cloisonne Enamel Repair

When you need to remove trash or a bubble in the cloisonne enamel jewel, use a diamond bur. And save this bur for only your cloisonne and enamel repair. A good quality bur, as the diamonds are smaller and spaced close together. If they are large a spaced out too much it will rip the enamel instead of a fine sanding.

One of the most important things is to glass brush the sanded area, be sure it is dry and fire. This way there is no shadow of the cloisonne repair work.And now you can apply more enamels to level the repair of the jewel.

There is more detail on this under Cloisonne and Repairing Cloisonne.

Back to play!

Plique a Jour

Use soft firing enamels. Or enamels of higher expansion rate.

Leaded or Non Leaded

Here are some facts from Bell Helwig of Thompson’s Enamel and you can read the whole article here

www.glass-on-metal.com/pastart/enamel_differences.htm

The absence of a US manufacturer will not detour the enamelist, nor will the use of lead free vitreous enamel decrease the quality level of items produced.  The replacement of lead bearing with lead free vitreous enamel will reduce the problem of exposure to lead due to sloppy hygiene and careless work procedures for those using lead free material, but if hygiene and work procedures are not also improved, some other toxic material will probably take its place.  Only the individual can improve his or her work habits and so to speak, clean up their act.

As to the specific differences between lead bearing and lead free, their advantages will be listed first.  This listing will compare those lead bearing enamels that were produced by Thompson Enamel with the lead free enamel produced by the same company.  This comparison does not include or preclude similarities for lead bearing materials produced by foreign manufacture.  Such a comparison would probably have an equal number of similar facts among the more common types and colors of vitreous enamel.  These differences must be stated in generalizations because no two enamels are alike, unless they are from the same batch.  Also, for example, a transparent red made from gold and a transparent red made from cadmium selenium, while both transparent and red and vitreous will always be considerably different under all conditions whether they contain lead or not.

LEAD FREE VITREOUS ENAMEL ADVANTAGES Lead free will by volume weigh less
     Lead free will be more acid resistant.
     Lead free may be ever so slightly harder (scratch ability).
     Lead free may absorb more copper oxide from the metal surface.
     Lead free may have a larger coefficient of thermal expansion.
     Lead free will have less water solubility.
     Lead free will have a slightly higher softening temperature.
     Lead free opaques will have less color variation due to different firing time/temperature relationship.

LEAD FREE AND LEAD BEARING EQUALITIES Index of refraction.
     Workability.

LEAD BEARING ADVANTAGES Lead bearing has a slightly decreased skin texture.
     Lead bearing currently has a greater color selection.
     Lead bearing has lead arsenate opal colors.

Opinions of My Own

I have been enameling for most of 20 years and using leaded enamels. The first 10 I wore a respirator and had my blood level checked yearly for lead. After the first 10 this got really old and I stopped wearing the respirator. I still have my blood level checked and had no signs of lead. I do not sift, I wash and wet pack. I do my sanding and  polishing under running water. And as an enamelist I keep things clean.

I use Bovano Leaded Enamels and Ninimiya Leaded Enamels. I can not replace the blues and greens of all ranges in the Bovano Enamels. And the Minoniya to me are softer enamels. They tend to blend very well. When an enamel is a lower fire enamel the molecules mingle easier. I find hard firing enamels do not. I really noticed this lately as I have been more involved with Plique a Jour. I can see when I finish the grain of glass in my blues are not mingling. So it is not as clear of a transition.

Patsy

Building a Strong Foundation

Get to know your products. We have several metals to choose from, some need different fluxes, some fire at different temperatures. The same goes for the enamels not only are these different enamels for different metals but different enamels. Lead or no lead? Some information on the differences is posted in enamels.

I know this is not what most beginning enamelist, or even enamelist in general, want to spend time doing. We all have that sense and need of immediate gratification. But enamels are not like color pencils, water colors, or oils paints, where you can see your colors by just laying them out. Our color palate is in fine grains of enamel with no color relationship to the fired enamel. Thus making it impossible to know what the color will look like until after we fire our jewel. It is no fun to look at a fired piece and say yuck!

Make color plates and know your colors, this will build a strong foundation of an excellent enamelist!

I will return with plate samples. But take all your blues and lay them out next to each other, make that perfect gradation. Try layering different colors on top of each other. And reverse that. You will be very surprised that the reverse can be so different! 

Cloisonne

In designing you cloisonne fine jewelry here is something to keep in mind. I want to show you what happens in cloisonne as wires attract heat and cause the base meal to distort.

This is a cloisonne piece I am currently working on and thought it          

would be a good opportunity to show how things can move.

If you are prepared for this you can make it work to your advantage.

There is a concentration of wires in the top left of my design. As I am layering in my enamels the cloisonne jewel starts to bow up in this area.

Here you can see the top left of the enamel piece is higher, and the right base of the enamel piece is bowing. This is common in Cloisonne. And can cause several problems if not dealt with. One, as you have planned your warm colors in the high area you could sand it all off while trying to make a nice even dome. Second in setting the right side will be higher and maybe your bezel will not cover the same as on the left side.

And the farther you go without knowing and planning more can go wrong. The counter enamel also likes the heat and will pool under this area, and can cause the enamel jewel to start sinking.

As the points of my piece are lifting and the center starts going down I know I have reached the limits of layering in the enamels.

Happy Enameling!

Keeping Things Clean

I read everything I can find on enameling. And last year I found a book written in the late 1800’s. There was a chapter on keeping the studio and kiln clean. I was happy to see this as I have heard many many times how anal enamelist are.

One thing most enamelist do not like is to get oxides in their fired enamel piece. It can cause cracking and bubbles. So the best way is to keep your kiln and trivets free of these oxides. The oxidation builds up on your trivets from use. So you need to wipe them off from time to time.

I use a blow dryer every few firings and blow out the kiln. Also the enamel can building up on your trivet, you can scrap it off and add some jeweler’s rouge to prevent this. This jewelers rouge is also what you want to put on the iron if you needed to flatten you work that is warping.

I use distilled water to wash my enamels. And I look prior to using the washed enamels for spots of deterioration. These look like small white spots. And when fired will remain white spots. If you see them and pull them out usually you are okay. But as you continue to work and notice the enamels are floating on the surface, you may have to take further action.

I had a lot of trouble a couple of years ago with enameling going bad. You can throw them away and reorder. You can re-wash them all along way while using the wet enamel. To remove the floaties. This mold like substance grows on wet enamels. So they may not show up in the beginning but hours later while sitting wet. You can rinse them with nitric and water. But not your reds. One problem that arises from this is it hardens the enamel. Meaning it is now a higher fire or longer fire enamel. Which can be used to advantage if you need it.

Happy Enamels!

Patsy

Enameling with Argentium 970

Argentium 970 is currently sold in grain and only from this one dealer, G&S Metals. I just spoke with them and asked why they do not offer it in sheet and other forms. The answer was they have not had the request for offering it. I explained the interest of enamelist. And was told they have a blog on the home page top left. They would be happy to listen.So enamelist here is an opportunity.   www.gsgold.com/ blog away!

I will purchase the grain and start some testing for plique a jour. I do not see a need for cloisonne as fine silver is great. But it would also be a good metal for vessels.

Happy Enamels

Enamel on Brass

You can enamel on brass.  Art Enameling on Metals by H.H. Cunynghame refers to enameling on brass. And Thompson’s Enamel sells it. Gilder’s Metal  is how it is listed and it is copper with a bit of zinc, 95% – 5 %.  It works with transparent enamels, sold for gold, silver, and copper, = medium expansion enamels, according to the their experts and you have no need for flux as it does not oxidize like copper.

Don’t fire it too often. After three or more firings, the enamel can jump off. Enamelled badges and emblems are very often made of gilding metal.

Working with Foils

I’d like to pass on some info about working with foil that I’ve been experimenting with. I use a lot of foil with my work with limoges.
I place foil between two pieces of ribbon or fabric and then lightly burnish. The gold foil is ready to apply but the silver gets a little curly and difficult to keep down. I take the silver foil and anneal it on a glass top stove by turning the burner on high and place the foil with tweezers on the hot burner and turn with the tweezers when the foil starts showing color from the heat. don’t want to let it set for to long… you must keep turning until the foil relaxes. The reflective quality with enamels is stunning. make sure that a clear enamel is applied over foil before color. When firing the foil I tap it lightly with a small pallet knife if any of it starts to lift. Just like with cloison wires.
Chris Hierholzer