Kathleen Kay

 

As part of a Middle School Craft Week, I spent a day working with eight-year-old children, letting them sample very simple enamelling. Groups of four children each had a thirty-minute period in which to produce their 1½" discs. I think I worked the hardest, but the youngsters really enjoyed their very brief sessions.

 

I had decided the plan of working in advance, and had also cleaned and flux coated the fronts, and counter-enamelled the backs, of just four copper discs. Two U5 kilns were lined up, together with a bowl of water for quenching the first coats, and for cooling burned fingers should this prove necessary. Sheets of clean paper, sieves, enamels and decorative media were all laid out neatly. We used small wooden blocks to support the discs, as I have always thought that chasing sifted copper discs with a palette knife is a mug's game.

 

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