Mike Warren
My interest and pleasure in enamelling seems to have developed into the making of items in champlevé silver jewellery. Usually when starting a piece of work, I have soldered a square section wire around the edges, but this has to be done very carefully and the solder can often discolour the enamels and sometimes produces gas bubbles which can cause escalating problems. Cutting the cells with scorpers has achieved quite good results, however it is for me very time consuming, and it is obvious that it takes years of practice to really master this technique.
Etching with nitric acid is another alternative - very much faster cutting, but has a tendency to cut sideways and needs respect in handling. My preference is to use something safer if it will give me a satisfactory result. Using Ferric Chloride on copper and brass in a weak etch of 1 part to 7 of water has always surprised me how cleanly it cuts [4oz Ferric Chloride to 100 ccs stock solution]. I am now trying the equivalent on silver. Unfortunately there is very little written information available and I possess most of the enamelling books. Gudde Skyrme and Peter Wolfe's booklet [Camden Workshops] seems to be the only one that I found mentioning this etchant; even Oppi Untracht's 800 page “Concepts of Jewellery” has no mention, also “Glass on Metal” has not covered it to my knowledge.
The following procedure has given good results from the first trial.
As at summer 1999
Eileen Schneegas
Exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet light (as from the sun) is suspected of leading to cataracts and macular degeneration. Everyone should wear sunglasses with lenses that block 99 to 100% of both UV-A and UV-B, and not only on sunny days. The UV light comes through undaunted by cloud cover.
But few enamelling books mention that radiant heat sources, such as kilns & torches, can also give off UV spectrum light and infra-red light. Most of my enamelling books state that work in the kiln should be watched frequently. They fail to mention that it is important to protect your vision against UV and infra-red.
Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” was the title for the themed exhibition for Conference 1999
Lesley Miller
If you are a comparative beginner and feel that "The Kiss" looks rather complicated, there are plenty of ways round the problem without having to do endless, boring tests. Adapt part of the picture, or design something which either combines the different techniques which are new to you or allows you to try them out separately. For example, make an enamelled pendant or dish using the patterning of the golden clothes as a starting off point.
For the hair and other dark areas and black lines etc. try using the painting, underglaze and liquid flux techniques. For the texturing on the clothing try sgraffito through liquid flux at the first firing, or through very thinly sifted opalescent yellow or soft white in final firings. For the flowers etc. try applying tiny quantities of mainly opaque enamels over, or leave clear. For faces, etc. try underglazes (outlines, eyebrows, etc.) direct on the copper with flux or pale yellow transparent over: then (in the final two low firings) a very thin, wet stencilled layer of opalescent, followed by painted detail (lips, etc.) in the final firing.
Enjoying it
When Dorothy told me she had photos of my work shown at the AGM and was proposing to put them in the Journal, I said "very nice" or some such. Then she added, "would you like to write an article to go with them?" Ah! Crafty!
So, back in time.
Although I had worked my way through several crafts, with wood, pewter and lino-cutting, it was not until some way through a course in Jewellery making at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London that I discovered some very dusty lumps of enamel in an even dustier cupboard. A not so dusty tutor was persuaded to show me basically what to do. It was a wilderness. Firing supports had to be made from iron and coated with rouge to avoid flaking - messy.
Reprinted from the BSOE Newsletter Autumn 1996
Pat Johnson
The enamels in the accompanying table (below) are listed, from left to right, in order of hardness, with DW1 being the hardest of all.
- DW1
- C141
- Soyer 161
- Soyer 160
- Blythe 3025
- C144
- C143
- Soyer 59
- Soyer 148
- C100
- Soyer 615
- Soyer 77
- Soyer 159