Cloisonne Enameling: The opaque white coming into the transparent. I think it was leaking under the cloison wires?

Hello, I had a go with some transparent enamels this time in my cloisonne, but I had a problem with the opaque white coming into the transparent. I think it was leaking under the cloison wires? I tried to fire the opaque and transparent at the same time, I think was a mistake? I think the opaque leaked under the wire at the higher temperature it takes to fire clear?

Thanks for your kind assistance (I need it!)

Geoff,

Your cloisonne work looks great, you have the transparent green nice and clear.  In my experience when you apply the cloison wires and sink them down into the flux you should not have one color moving into other cells. If the wire is not all the way in the flux when you apply the colors the enamel can travel under the cloison wires. Lets say you put in the opaques enamel in all assigned cells of the cloisonne piece, and it is now dry after going all the way around. When you put in the second color = green here, it is wet and will suck the opaque enamels through any open space under the wire. The dry enamels will move toward the water. You even have to be careful the enamel it does not come through on the sides where the cloison wires are not real tight, as I can see here where the dark color enamel pulled through into the aqua cell.

So just check after you sink the cloison wires into the flux enamel that you have complete contact. If you do not I would rather burnish the wires down carefully, as they are very soft now and re-fire. This is common on a domed surface. Also as I work I try to keep the piece damp to avoid this and dry it all at once before firing.

Great job! Patsy

Out of Print Books

If you are in need of a book that is out of print Skip Pridgen at, books@tappinbookmine.com has been a great resource for me.

Call for Entries

Northern California Enamel Guild 10th International Juried Enamel Exhibition
Deadline:  April 19, 2010

The Northern California Enamel Guild, NCEG, will sponsor its 10th International Juried Enamel Exhibition at Lireille – Gallery of Contemporary Jewelry and Artin Oakland, California September 6 through October 16, 2010.
$25 entry feefor up to two entries.  All entries must have been made in the last 2 years.  All submissions must be for sale.  Applicants do not have to be a member of NCEG to apply, but must be a member of the NCEG to participate in the show.
The exhibition prospectus and entry forms are now available on the NCEG website at http://www.enamelguild.org/NCEG/activitiesExhibition-2010.php.   For more information, contact Anna Tai at email anna@annataienamels.com.

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.

Plam Beach Fine Craft Show

The Palm  Beach Fine Craft Show is this weekend, March 5, 6, 7, and Amy Lyons with Frances Kite and Marianne Hunter are exhibiting. If you are in the Palm Beach area it is a beautiful show and to see these artist work in person is awesome! Check it out.

Thick Metal Thin Enamel

A tip credited to Valeri Timofeev .

“thick metal = thin enamel, thin metal = thick enamel” This means if you are enameling say cloisonne, you can get pretty thick enamels on the metal plate of your choice, as long as you counter the same thickness. I have enameled to a mm in thickness on 20 ga metal= thin metal. But if you have 16 ga  metal and want to enamel on it, you can do so with one layer of enamel and no counter.

Here is cloisonne enameling and the                        

enamels are approximately 1mm in depth.

And here on the left is thick metals of  16 ga with                                    one coat of flux and one color of red enamel.

That Rubber Stuff

The rubber backing is called Tuff Break and Fred Woell sells it. The last I ordered his number was 207-348-5267.  I like it for several reasons. Not only does the rubber add to protect the counter enamel while setting, it also gives the enamel piece a cushion during setting which help me not crack the piece during this process,  and it take care of that tinny sound of the enamel against the metal once the piece is complete.

Many enamelist use glues or a piece of plastic behind the enameled piece and I feel this is a more professional element of the whole jewel.

Watercolors

A great way to get a better idea if your

enameling will deliver what you imagined.

I begin my enameling classes with an introduction

to watercolors. Because I enjoy imagery  in my work,

it is not as spontaneous as some. At one time I completed

my jewel to be made in colored pencils.

In searching to improve my artistry I could not find classes

devoted to colored pencils and discovered watercolors.

They use washes and layering. For me the layering is most like enameling, where I apply a layer of enamels and fire before applying another color,  they apply a layer of color and let it dry before applying another.

One book that was useful to me is “Light up your Watercolors” by Linda Stevens Moyers. In her book she starts color with the medium color = value, then going to her warm colors = interest points, and then the cool colors this being her darks. We need to layer in a different order as our warm color would burn out. So I try to apply them in the order of cool colors – my dark color first, and  medium color = value colors and last the warm color to produce the impact of color.

Happy Enameling!

Building a Strong Foundation

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 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 diferent colors on top of each other. And reverse that. You will be very surprised that the reverse can be so different!

Join Gansokin.com

It is easy to join Gansokin. And if you have not joined be sure to do so. It is a great place to see what other jewelers are talking about and has a hugh resource library.

The Ganoksin Project
http://www.ganoksin.com/index.htm

The gem and jewelry world’s foremost information resource on the Internet. Open to the public, Free of charge – a substantial library of articles, publications, reports, and technical data on gem and jewelry related topics; as well as a sizable collection of art and jewelry galleries, for both the casual visitor and the professional.

TRANSFERRING YOUR DESIGNS

TRANSFERRING YOUR DESIGNS

After you have drawn your image on paper, it is sometimes difficult to transfer this image to the base of Fine Silver. A couple of things that might help you, after you have fired the flux coat on the Fine Silver base, is to use either a Stabilo pencil or Spot Pens (made for black and white photography retouching). You can sketch out the design on the fired flux enamel coat with either of these, and place your cloisonne wires accordingly.

The lines of both will disappear in the first firing and not effect your enamels.

Purchase you Metals from One Reliable Source.

I have seen several students, all located in different area of the country with either the wrong metal or impure metal. When you are enameling for fine jewelry it is most common to select fine silver as your base metal. For several reasons, sparkle and clarity of the enamels, and second the enamel fuses to the fine silver.  With hobby style resources available for purchasing metal and the introduction of new metals such as Argentium silver it is easy to get the wrong product. Before you begin working with any silver, it is not that easy to tell the difference. But once you have began your project, maybe four layers of enamels later you start seeing the bubbles and discoloration of impure metals.  I highly recommend to buy all your metal from one reliable supplier, and only one. Then you know exactly were you purchased it and can hold them accountable if it is fine silver. But more than likely, if it is from a notable refinery they will not have a problem of recognizing metals. 

Enameling on Copper

When applying your base coat on copper use very fine ground enamels, this will ensure quick coverage to eliminate oxidation. =little brown spots on the metal.