Experimenting With Liquid Enamel

 Something that's been on my to-do list for a while now is trying liquid enamel. I had a few weeks "break" over Christmas {not really a break as I was making new stuff!} so at long last I got round to ordering some of the liquid enamel powders. I got a few basic colours and a white so I could mix different shades. I also bought a white crackle base powder to experiment with.

I mixed up the colours with distilled water in totally unsuitable containers - too tall and thin and I've since bought some wider pots - and started painting. I applied the liquid enamels to a base of cream opaque and on two of the pieces I fired a layer of white crackle base before applying the liquid enamel.

Lumps in the enamel means I didn't mix properly!

Once I'd finished painting I set the copper pieces onto a warmed soldering block to speed up drying. When they were dry I started scratching designs {I use that word in the loosest possible context} into the dried enamel using a wooden skewer.

I then fired them using a torch. In my excitement I forgot which two had the crackle base. The effect you should get when you apply a liquid enamel on top of a crackle base and then fire it is the crackle base pushing through the top layer and creating a cracked effect but as you can see it didn't work very well on the two pieces I tried it with.

I did get the start of a crackled effect on the bottom corners of this piece but I did read it needs a larger area, in other words a bigger piece of copper, to work properly.

I liked the effect mixing the white liquid enamel powder with the other colours gave - a kind of speckled effect which reminds me of ceramic glazes. The "straight" colours with no white added came out a bit patchy in comparison but that may be because I got the mix too runny.

I then etched them all for a matt finish.

I still have work to do but it's a fun thing to try. I think it works better when you go with the flow rather than try to be too exact and it seems you can get different results with the colours depending on how long you fire them for - the oranges I mixed came out a bit on the pink side the first time I tried them then more orange the second time....

I did make a few pairs for sale but I feel the need for more practicing {and some more colours!} ☺

Enamel Experimenting And Gold!!

This week I have mostly been playing with enamel. 

I've been wanting to try using wire to create "cells" along the lines of cloisonne but nowhere near as exact {or skilled}.... no, I went for a slightly more rustic approach and used 16g {1.2mm} copper wire which I formed into jump rings then placed onto the partly fired second layer of opaque enamel and fired until the rings were fused into the enamel.

I pickled the copper rings beforehand to make sure they were nice and clean before placing on the enamel. I wanted them to stand a bit proud as I was then going to fill them with wet enamel.

I filled the rings with wet enamel then let the enamel dry naturally before firing.

They worked ok. There was some firescale on the surface of the enamel that pinged off the copper wire as it cooled but I think that adds to the rustic style. Next time I might try a thinner gauge wire but I do like the texture it gives the enamel in my first attempts.

I also spent some time teaching my friend Nicki how to torch enamel. She enjoyed herself and a few hours later went home with these pretties.

••• Gold!! •••

No, I haven't gone all Spandau Ballet on you, I'm referring to the simple gold studs I made recently after an order for gold ball earwires didn't go quite as planned. A customer asked if I could make her some gold ball earwires and I said yes of course I can and ordered the 9ct yellow gold wire. When I started to ball up the wire I discovered that it doesn't like balling up very much and quite a bit of it just shrivelled and turned black. I managed to get three out of the ordered five pairs of earwires made which my customer was happy with and then refunded the difference for the missing two pairs. 

Which left me with lots of mangled looking gold wire and a slightly annoyed feeling because I was quite a lot out of pocket..........until my brain clicked into gear and I remembered I have a rolling mill! Meaning I can melt the gold wire and put it through the rolling mill to make a small piece of gold sheet that I can then do things with!

So that's what I did and after adding a leaf vein texture to the gold sheet I made three pairs of simple studs.....

The studs have sterling silver posts and scrolls as I wasn't going to go as far as buy gold versions and gold solder. I'm very much still a silver girl at heart ♥ 

I still have a tiny amount of gold left so watch out for a silver pendant with a small gold ball somewhere about its person coming soon{ish}!

A Splash Of Colour And Some Twirly Studs

I've been playing with my enamel colours again and creating my own "blends". It's fun sitting at the table with my different colours and mixing them up to make new ones. Enamels don't really mix to make new colours but you can achieve some really pretty speckly effects. Using the same colour groups work better than mixing colours opposite each other on the colour wheel. I found this out when I mixed some purple and lavender enamels with a bright green hoping I'd get a nice purple/green mix but it just looked grey when it was fired. If you looked closely you could see the individual colours but the overall effect was dull but luckily the beauty of enamelling is you can fix it with another layer (within reason!) What I have learned with mixing colours is if it looks dull in the pot it will still look dull when it's fired........... :D

The hoops above are enamelled in a mix of different greens with some transparent turquoise layered on top on the bottom section.

These were originally a really dull orangey-grey (one of my not so great mixes) so I revived them with some more opaque and transparent oranges and a sprinkling of cream and lighter orange on top. They make me think of marmalade.

This pair were victims of the purple/lavender/green horror mix so I brightened them up with more green opaques and a budgerigar green transparent. I love the effect sprinkling opaque enamel on top of transparent gives you, it reminds me of lichen.

I finished off a few simple stud earrings in copper and silver this week too. I used thin strips of metal and coiled them with round nose pliers like you would make a spiral to form cute twirls. I soldered the ends then after sanding one side flat I soldered them to a base, tidied them up then added posts and oxidized them.

The copper pair remind me of chelsea buns!

Add Some Colourful Enamel Discs To Your Jewellery!

Here's the first batch of enamelled discs I made a couple of days ago that are slowly being listed on Etsy. Doing 36 at once was fun - I normally do about 4 - 6 at a time when I make enamelled stuff for jewellery but once the counter enamelling was done the best part of adding the colour went well and was quite relaxing to be honest, very therapeutic! Here's a few photos of some of the discs.......

Having made the very important decision as to which colours to go for ( I have quite a few!) I had to decide on size and quantity. I went for packs of 6 small 11mm discs with one hanging hole and packs of 4 discs slightly bigger at 13mm with two holes for now. The 6 disc packs feature 3 colours from the same colour group and the 4 packs 2 colours. The colours aren't set in stone and can be mixed. 

The backs of the discs are counter enamelled in black which stabilizes the enamel and copper and prevents cracking and each disc is enamelled with two layers of opaque enamel on the front. I was glad to find I hadn't thrown away a pretty lavender shade I had in a Soyer enamel. It's a great colour but has a high firing temp which doesn't make it a good idea for torch enamelling but it works ok for simple discs.

I dug out a yellow I had too but seldom use but I think it goes well with the orange and red.

Shades of blue - robins' egg, seafoam (one of my favourite shades) and aqua. I think I have to say that the greens are my favourite - the pea, mint and lichen look so nice together.

That Feeling You're Being Watched.............

Ever get that feeling? I was totally engrossed in the very important things we online sellers have to do on our computers, humming along to the Arctic Monkeys on Xfm when I felt I was being watched and turned round to this......

This is Tuppence. Known as Tuppers, she sits on my work table (previously known as the dining room table) usually on top of anything that gets in her way and just stares at the back of my head using her strange cat powers to make me turn round and give her food. She's like a silent watcher, always there when I turn round and I'm sure her main reason for being is so she can appear out of nowhere to leap onto my knee everytime I sit down in the front room.

She is very much a lady, despises my other two (male) cats and I'm pleased to say she understands what the word "no" means unlike my other two male cats.....

Summer Colour - Enamel Flower Earrings and Pendants

After a few weeks of concentrating on metalwork making hollow form pendants and earrings I needed a burst of colour so out came the enamel powders and some pretty pre-cut copper flower blanks. Yes I could saw out the flowers myself but I didn't :D
I felt like mixing up the colours a bit by sifting a mixture of opaque enamels together and firing at the same time. Previously I would only do one colour and fire it then add another colour, fire, then another colour but mixing the second layer of enamel colours saves time and doesn't do any harm. Mixing two different enamel powders won't result in a new colour as such, eg. mixing red and yellow won't produce orange but a speckled blend of red and yellow. Mixing similar shades is good as the different coloured speckles aren't as obvious so the end colour looks more solid. It gives you more options.

The earrings above are a base layer of seafoam then another layer of seafoam mixed with lichen and pea which produced a lovely sea green shade with sprinkles of brown and cream added on top.

I made a pendant with the same colours but this time I mixed the seafoam, lichen amd pea enamels and put them in a pot. The resulting colour was slightly different to the earrings but that's the fun of mixing your own blends - you don't know how they will turn out until you fire them the first time. You can then add another colour in the second layer to change the overall look if you want to. As I'm writing this I've had a sudden urge to try to achieve an ombre effect with similar shades of enamel. I think applying the enamels wet with a brush will be the way to go. This idea obviously need some thought.........

These bright young things, currently on their way to Oregon, are a mixture of sunset orange with sprinklings of scarlet, pink and brown. The pink completely disappeared in the orange and the brown is very subtle too (in other words you can hardly see it!)

I was asked to make the pendant for a custom order which means I'm now out of the cute flower blanks. I did create a few templates just in case I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and felt like sawing out my own flowers which I may do as I now do enjoy sawing which is something I never thought I would say, or I might just buy a few more which would be much easier if a bit more expensive!

I wanted to use up some sterling beads and spacers I've had for ever so combined them with some more mixed colour enamel discs and "lily pads". It's nice to do a bit of wirework every now and then!

Enamel Experiment

I was browsing the forum on Barbara Lewis's Painting With Fire ning group the other night and saw a photo a member had posted showing how to fire an opalescent enamel correctly. He'd used what looked like a chasing on air fold formed copper disc and looking at it set something off in my brain!

I liked the idea of having a definite break in the surface of the disc which would make enamelling it in two different colours slightly easier than trying to achieve a gap or straight line by my, at times, rather shaky hand :D

So I got the disc cutter out and my torch and mallet and started playing. Made the fold, miraculously pretty well centred I have to say, into the pickle, a quick clean up then started playing with the enamel powders. I really wish I'd taken some photos along the way.......

After counter enamelling I used a small piece of card (a Moo minicard actually!) to cover one side of the front of the disc then sifted the nut brown onto the other side, carefully cleaning up any stray bits of enamel with a small paintbrush then fired it. I did try to sift both colours at the same time to start with but soon realised that wasn't a good idea - some of the seafoam got mixed with the nut brown and I had to abort and start again.

A quick clean up inbetween (enamelling isn't quick) then I sifted the seafoam and fired again. Repeated the whole process with another coat and this was the result...

I decided to pickle the discs again to remove the firescale then oxidised them to black and added some long sterling earwires with a matching czech glass bead.

It got me thinking about other designs.........like how having the fold running top to bottom slightly off centre to allow for the hanging hole would look pretty cool or just enamelling one side and leaving the other plain, textured or stamped which I would oxidise later.

I've certainly got lots of ideas buzzing round my head now. I'll try and remember to take some photos next time too :D



Torch Enamelling - What I've been Up To Recently!

I've admired enamelled jewellery for a while now and not too long ago did a blog post about Etsy seller tekaandzoe and her wonderful kiln enamelled creations. I didn't think at the time that it was something I would ever be able to do as the cost of kilns plus lack of space would be a problem for me.

That wasn't until I saw an advert for a torch enamelling tutorial from US jewellery supplies website Beaducation by Steven James. It's a great tutorial showing the basics on how to torch enamel on copper. Of course I bought it! I then spent hours scouring the internet for more information on torch enamelling, where to buy the tools I'd need and of course the enamel powders. There are quite a few UK sites selling enamelling supplies and tools but as usual I found the US sites had more choice (why do we always lag behind?) I bought some enamel powders from a couple of UK sites to begin with - Cookson Gold have a good selection but bear in mind the leaded enamels have to be sent by courier which costs £11!

So armed with my prepared copper discs, a not very suitable trivet (I've since bought two much better one's from Thompson Enamel), a small kitchen sifter as the proper enamel sifters I'd ordered hadn't arrive yet (patience is a virtue I know!) and a few opaque enamel colours I nervously "had a go".

My first attempts were amazingly fine which surprised me, just one colour on flat copper discs, although I was slightly alarmed when the red enamel powder turned black on contact with heat (that's normal!) and that was it I was hooked! As I read somewhere recently - enamelling isn't difficult to do it's doing it well that's the hard part.

What I've learned so far :

• You must wear a particulate mask when using powder enamels - some enamels contain lead, arsenic, cadmium and boron - not the sort of stuff you want to be inhaling

• You can use a butane torch for enamelling - it works fine for small pieces

• Yes you do need to counter enamel (enamel the back) your pieces. Copper and enamel expand and contract at different rates when heated and cooling down and counter enamelling the copper helps stabilise the tension between the two reducing the chance of warping and cracking

• Transparent enamels do need to be washed if you want to use them over other colours otherwise they can appear cloudy. You can get away without washing them if you're using them directly onto copper though

• A fired piece that appears fine at first can fiendishly change after a couple of minutes, hours, days or weeks! Cracks, pits, tiny hairs that you didn't see at the time of firing and black spots can appear which can be very frustrating

• If you see a black spot in the enamel as you're sifting don't hope it will "blend in" and not show when the piece is fired, it will!

• Enamel pens (available from Thompson Enamel) are not very easy to use

• Two thin layers are better than one thick one

I'll stop for now but I could go on for much longer! Below are some of my fledgling enamel jewellery designs, I'm still finding my way and having fun experimenting. I'm pleased that some of my enamel pieces have sold which always helps when you're trying something new and wonder if anyone will actually like it! I'd love to hear from anyone with enamelling tips or anyone who's thinking of having a go themselves :D

Ivory and Coral Flowers

Purple and Lavender Discs

Opaque over Transparent

Seafoam Green and Chestnut Brown Flowers

Seafoam and Nut Brown

  Terracotta and Sterling Disc