Process videos
Enamelling step by step


I have taken a series of videos to illustrate some techniques and processes, that I hope will give more insight into my work. Enamel is often regarded as a mysterious, almost occult technique, so I hope these videos will help demystify it, and perhaps spark your interest in enamelling.

The videos below illustrate the entire process of the making of one necklace. On the right, you will find videos illustrating different enamel techniques and complementary processes.

The videos can also be watched full screen and/or HD, to do so, click on the HD button while the video is playing to go to the Vimeo website, and there you can also click on the full screen icon. If you click on full screen first, HD will be off.


Index of Step by Step videos:

Grinding and washing enamel
Making colour palettes
Shaping the metal
Annealing and pickling copper
First layer on copper base
Firing first layer
Shading enamels
Silver foil and on glaze paint
Painting with on glaze and burnishable silver
Firing burnishable silver

The first step before starting enamelling is to prepare the materials, the enamel itself and the metal substrate.
In this video you can see how I grind the enamels finer than commercially provided in an agate mortar, which is harder than the enamel, and so it won't contaminate it with particles). I grind enamels for delicate work or to blend different enamel colours to get the exact shade I want, and then I carefully wash them, first with tap water and then with distilled water, a necessary step in places where the water contains minerals that would contaminate the enamel.

Sorry about the repeated scene in the video, I'll fix this soon.

Once the enamel is washed, I need to know how it would look on different metals and over other enamels. To show this process, I took three videos and wrote a longer explanation, this can be seen in my blog, following this link.
You can watch the video that shows the end of the process above.


In this video you can see how I shape the metal, doming it, in this case copper, to be enamelled.

After shaping the copper, I anneal it. Annealing is heating the metal until the molecules are redistributed, and so tensions in the metal from shaping are eliminated, togheter with impurities and grease.
Annealing copper makes it oxidise, and so it needs to be pickled in an acid solution, which then is neutralised with sodium bicarbonate, and rinsed. The copper then has to be quickly enamelled to avoid tarnish forming on the surface of the copper again.

In this video I am appliying tragacanth gum and wetpacking a gradient of greys to the back, and then the first layer of white enamel to the front of the copper base.

Firing the first layer of enamel to copper, cleaning and enamelling second layer.

Here I am shading different colours of enamel. This is a process of several thin layers that are applied and fired, and on to the next.

This video shows the 4th and last shading layer for the background. I sometimes use a sewing needle attached to an old brush stick to move grains of enamel around.


In this video I am cutting little bits of silver foil, and applying them on to the enamel. Not shown, I fired them in place.

The video also shows how I mix powdered on glaze paints with oil medium (paraffin). These paints will be used in the next step.


In this video you can see how I paint details with on glaze oil paints (several different layers that were fired before moving on to the next layer), and a layer and signature of burnishable silver as a final layer.

In this video I am evaporating the oil medium of the burnishable silver, and firing it.
I am then burnishing the silver so it appears shiny, and then selecting snd stringing the beads for the necklace.



Technique videos
Enamel techniques and processes


I have taken a series of videos to illustrate some techniques and processes, that I hope will give more insight into my work. Enamel is often regarded as a mysterious, almost occult technique, so I hope these videos will help demystify it, and perhaps spark your interest in enamelling.

The videos below illustrate different enamel techniques and complementary processes (only one right now, but more to come soon!). On the left you will find the videos that show the entire process of the making of one necklace.

The videos can also be watched full screen and/or HD, to do so, click on the HD button while the video is playing to go to the Vimeo website, and there you can also click on the full screen icon. If you click on full screen first, HD will be off.


Index of Technique videos:

Raising copper sheet



This video shows fragments from a process of about two hours.

Here I am raising 0.8mm rectangular copper sheet, doming it from the center in a soft slope towards all edges which lay flat on the table.

Due to the hardening of the copper as it is worked, I annealed (and pickled, which is not shown) the metal several times to re-cristallise the molecules.

The sheet is worked over a flat anvil with a boxwood hammer and a steel hammer, the latter has a "drop of wax" polished head that transfers this sheen onto the copper. I also used a steel burnisher for laying the edges flat.
The raising hammering motion follows a nearly-spiral pattern, from the center to the edges, and the hammering stops at two or three millimeters from the edge. This process is repeated, and little adjustments made, several times, until the desired shape is achieved and the plate doesn't wobble when spun, which shows if the curves are balanced.

The final polish is achieved with a glass fiber brush and powdered pumice stone. After a final cleaning of grease, dirt and any oxide that may be left, the plate will be ready for enamelling.