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Vitreous, or "fire" enamel is the result of fusing powdered glass to a
metal substrate by firing between 800 and 910 degrees Celsius. The powder melts
and flows, and when it cools down it hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous layer
fused onto copper, silver or gold. I have a personal preference for enamelling over
copper, since I find the affinity between copper and enamel to be remarkable.
The powdered glass can be dry sifted or wet packed (when the grains are suspended
in water). I rarely use dry enamels, since I prefer the precision and clarity of
wet packing, despite it being much more time consuming.
When fired, enamel powder may be transparent, opaque or opalescent, which is a variety
with a milky opacity, the intensity of which can usually be manipulated through
fire. Enamel has many excellent properties: it is smooth, hard, chemically very
stable, durable, can assume brilliant, unalterable colours, and is very resistant
to high and low temperatures, just as glass is. Its hardness also lends the fragility
of glass: it may crack or shatter when the substrate is harshly stressed or bent.
Colour in enamel is obtained by the addition of various minerals, like cobalt or
iron. Enamels may be leaded or unleaded. For their unsurpassed richness of colour
and transparency, I only use traditional leaded enamels. The lead is encapsulated
in the enamel, but nonetheless it is present, in all my pieces, like it
is in all lead glass used in jewellery like for example Swarovski beads. Due to
laws regarding lead content in jewellery, I will not ship my enamel work to the
state of California.
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French for 'raised field', where the surface is carved or etched out to form pits
in which enamel is fired, leaving the original metal exposed in the raised fields.
The enamel can then be leveled up with the metal, left lower or raised higher.
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French term meaning 'greying', where dark, often blue or black background is applied,
then blanc de limoges is applied on top, or, for "noveau grisaille", which
I prefer for its ghostly appearance, opalescent (translucent, milky) enamel, building
up designs in a monochrome gradient, paler as the thickness of the layer of light
color increases, achieving a three dimensional appearance.
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Possibly my favourite technique, on glaze paints, or China paints, as they are also
used on pottery and stained glass, are very finely powdered enamels with very high
content of metal oxides (pigment) and a very small amount of flux (glass). They
vitrify in the kiln at similar temperature than regular enamels, over a surface
of regular enamel. Contrary to those, though, with on glaze paints I do not use
water as an application medium (although this is also possible), but an oil medium.
This technique, when using the tiniest brushes, allows extraordinary detail on diminutive
surfaces, in a time-consuming painting motion similar to pointillism on a very small
scale. A more free-hand application akin to watercolour is also possible, although
in this case the great amounts of oil medium posses other technical difficulties
when it comes to firing.
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French for 'cell', where thin wires are applied to form raised barriers, which contain
different areas of enamel applied above the original metal form. The wires can be
attached to a first layer of enamel or soldered to the metal base. The enamel can
then be leveled up with the wire cells, left lower or raised higher.
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We normally use the term 'painted' when none of the other techniques apply. Just
like a regular painting, but using enamels instead of paint over a regular metallic
surface, most often copper sheet.
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Fabrication applies to the construction of jewels by traditional means, as sawing,
cutting, forging, shaping, soldering and assembling components made from raw materials
(sheet, wire, tubing, etc).
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