Tutorial – Controlled Enamelling – Richard Casey
Lynn Flounders
Four men and five ladies eagerly watched as an array of plastic carrier bags emerged from Richard’s hold-all.
Each one contained a large bowl or dish or portrait. The large bowls are specially spun for Richard to enamel in his own style of line drawing and graphic art; a large bowl of white background with only black enamel design was particularly striking. Wet process black had been used to create this masterpiece. All the lines are drawn with either carbon paper - which fires to leave a red line, or waterproof markers which fire out completely, leaving only the ground coat visible.
Richard's first design was a very stylistic fish - one never meant to be served with chips! The background was white on a steel tile. The fish was drawn freehand with a Pentel N50 marker - various swirls, lines and circles made up the pattern. These lines were to contain the enamel as each cell was wet laid. Care needs to be taken to keep to the lines but you can always go back once the enamel has dried a little and persuade it to go nearer the edge.