Book Review: The Art of Enameling

Title: The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration
Author: Linda Darty

Pictures: 8/10
Clarity of Instruction: 7/10
Complexity: 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10

This book to me felt sort of... run together. Everything was one after another after another. It didn't really give you any room to think, to breathe and digest what you' had just learned. Maybe it's just me, but I find that problematic. 

On the other hand, this book did give me a lot of hope, because it went into detail on how to use a torch to fire enamel, rather than just a kiln. At this point, I'm working with a Max Flame micro torch, and loving it. This book (along with a separate article over at beadingdaily.com ) helped me figure out that I really could use the torch for enamel work, if I was willing to think about how it could be done. It also put me in mind of doing some really detailed pieces, combining chasing and enamel work, with an oriental or middle eastern flair. Who knows, maybe I'll do both some day...after I have a kiln mind you. Because that's the thing I didn't know up till now. I thought you had to keep your piece /still/ when you were firing it, but with a torch, according to this book anyway, you can't do that. You have to move it around to allow for even heating. I'll cover more about torch fire and enamels another day though.
 
This book is also an odd combination of art gallery and historian. Along the tops and sides of most of the pages there are pictures of enamel work, in all different styles and complexity levels. The work is...stunning. I could spend hours just looking at this and drawing ideas. I just might do that anyway ;). Each of these mini galleries though has to do with what's being discussed on that particular page, with the exception of the pieces shown off at the beginning during the tools explanation. It allows you, or at least me, to see and think "  ok, this is some examples of what /can/ be done with this technique their telling me about....now how could I use it?"

As to the historical bit, there are sections and pages throughout the book that talk about how enameling has been done throughout the ages. One page discusses the processing of enamels, quoted directly from a 12th century German monk. Another shows samples of painted enamel pieces of the likes of Lady Russel, and the Duke of Nevers. I loved reading these sections, it made me think of the way some teachers will share interesting side notes. Things that still have to do with your topic, but maybe you wouldn't have known or learned otherwise. 

So, to cap it all off, if you don't mind a fast paced book, this really is a good book to take you through learning about enamels. Heck, even if you don't read it you can look at the gallery shots and get ideas from that...but seriously, you should read it, otherwise you might end up doing things like I did, and finding out that quenching after firing is a baaaaaaad idea. 

Do you have any thoughts on this book? Feel free to comment below. :) 

Book Review: Torch-Fired Enamel Jewelry

Title: Torch-Fired Enamel Jewelry: A Workshop in Painting with Fire
Author:  Barbara Lewis 

Pictures: 8/10
Clarity of Instruction: 7/10
Complexity: 7/10
Overall Score: 8/10
It took me eons to get my hands on this book, but it was well worth the wait. I love playing with fire, and my Max Flame torch is my best friend. <3 I try to find a way to use it for almost every piece of jewelry I make, in some way shape or form, simply because I love playing with fire. It doesn't often turn out that I can just yet, but I try. This book, kicked that into overdrive.
The 'getting started' section covers things I never would've considered, including etching copper sheet, and what the author calls 'hot riveting'. The etching...I don't even want to think about the money I'd have to sink into it, but I admit, I am very interesting in trying that one day. As to the hot riveting, sadly, with my microtorch, it's just not possible. The flame is simply too big. I'll have to upgrade to MAPP at some point.. probably when I get an actual workshop ;) The color play in this book is lovely, and the projects are interesting. I admit, most of them are not to my personal style, on the flip side though, that doesn't mean there is a single project in here that I wouldn't attempt. Just flipping through this book has me scrambling for my sketch book so that I can draw out ideas and make color notes, things I want to try.
One of the things I found really interesting to learn is that enamel doesn't mix like paints do. Which, yeah, in retrospect makes total sense. It's made of glass particles, why would it mix like a liquid? (Paint does count as a liquid right?) So what do you do if you can't find the shade you really really want? Get a transparent enamel. This was the most stunning advice I'd ever found. The idea is that the transparent holds a.. a  'ghost' of the color. Hmm, that's not the clearest way to explain that. Try this:  Say you want to make a green pendant, but you don't have any. You do have blue and yellow though. If you layer a blue enamel, and then overlay it with yellow, you'll get speckles. Looks pretty, sure. But it's not what you wanted is it? If however you take a blue enamel, and fire a transparent yellow over it, you will get a green. I can't vouch for what green yet, because I don't have any transparent enamels. ^^ I'll have to test that out at some point in the future for ya'll though. 
This book is... possibly one of the coolest books I've found. I love the ideas that I've learned from reading it, and I cannot wait to expand my enamels so that I can work with it even more.  One idea that I'd love to try out someday, that this book inspired was a series of necklaces, one for every month, with a different enameled flower for that month.
One thing that isn't covered within the book, but is mentioned on the author's webpage: Thompson Enamels does NOT sell their enamels in 3oz packages as is suggested in the book. You have your options of 1oz sample packs, 2oz or 8oz for individual colors. This is important to keep in mind, as 3oz really does make a big difference. However, if you're going to get into this, you have two options that I could hunt down. 1) You can buy from the Painting with Fire studio. Their colors are SO much better organized than Thompsons, in my opinion. (I admit though, that could be because of my browser.) 2) Is that you can buy directly from Thompson Enamels. The upside, you can get it directly from the manufacturer, and any blame can be placed directly at their feet.  Both of these have their upsides and their downsides. Choose for yourself based on what you think you can afford.
** An interesting note that I learned is that colors like red, orange and yellow are often more expensive because they will have some amount of gold in them.
I will add a disclaimer as a final note. In this book the author states that micro torches do not get hot enough to work with enamel. However, after reading this article, I was willing to take the risk and see if it was possible. For this post I'll leave it at this, it IS possible, if you're careful and you're willing to make mistakes at first.
Do you have any thoughts on this book? Feel free to comment below. :)

Article Dissection/Response

I’m subscribed to a host of jewelry email lists, including Beading Daily. The article below is taken directly from one of the emails they sent out, perhaps a week ago, and is my thoughts and comments while reading through it. Let me know what you think? I’ll start any of my thoughts off with >>> so ya’ll can be sure they’re mine ^^.
 
Confessions of a Torch Enameling Junkie: Experimenting and Exploring New Techniques
More than a year after I first tried it, torch enameling is still holding the top spot of my favorite jewelry-making techniques. But it's a fickle love affair; I can't seem to get consistent results, so for now I'm just going with the flow and enjoying the happy accidents--of which there are many!


Just this week I've experimented with overburning, layering transparent enamels on opaques and vice versa, metal stamping into hot enamel, applying copper designs on top of enamel, enameling in selective spots on a surface, and intentional quench crackling. (All of these samples are enameled on copper using a MAPP gas torch with a nearly full moon. Your moon phase will likely produce different results!)
>>>>I have the same issue of being unable to get consistent results with my torch enameling, although I'm not using an MAPP gas torch, I use a Jumbo Max Flame. (Itsy bitsy studio has me nervous about using a MAPP.) 
Overburning or Overfiring Enamels


For overburning or overfiring enamel, I simply torch-fired my samples as usual, but once the enamels reached the glassy state, I kept going a couple of minutes or even more and then allowed the piece to cool. Most often the results were very interesting spotty designs but, unfortunately, the colors are too dark for them to be very distinctive or attractive--in other words, kind of a muddy mess. The egg yellow turned out pretty well, though, and mixing a sprinkle of robin's egg blue onto an overfired white surface created an interesting speckled pattern as well.
>>>>O.o  I never would have considered intentionally overburning. I just though I was screwing up XD.  It does make me wonder though, could you do overfiring and remove some of it selectively? Create a space type picture? Or would it be too muddy?


Applying Copper Patterns Over Enamel


This is my favorite. After enameling using rich, deep colors (transparent Harold purple and opaque cobalt blue, in this case), I simply removed the torch for a moment and placed a pre-cut piece of patterned copper on the still-molten enameled surface and immediately applied the flame again, just long enough to see the copper sink just a bit, securing it to the enamel.
This is kind of tricky; I recommend patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time before you try it! Seriously, it is tricky and you need to have the patterned copper positioned on the edge of something so you can easily put down the sifter and pick up the copper with tweezers or pliers and place it on the enamel, because you'll be holding the torch in your other hand. I don't recommend turning off the torch and taking time to place the copper and then going back to the piece with the flame later; the cooling that will happen during that time can cause the enamel to crack off when you reapply the flame.
After the enamel has cooled, you can give the copper a scrub with steel wool to clean off some of the firescale and bring back the bright copper on the high spots, or you can pickle it. It doesn't hurt the enamel.
>>>>This is something I've thought about for a while, but since I couldn't entirely get my enamel to cooperate, I didn't want to try layering until I managed it XD. I love layering techniques and patterns though, and it makes me think of some of the old antique pieces I love pinning and creating reproductions or riffs on those. 


Selective Enameling


My next experiments, selective enameling and intentional quench crackling, were definitely more miss than hit, but a few of the pieces did turn out interesting. For selective enameling, I used a binder like hairspray (or Klyr-Fire) to put enamel just where I wanted it on a piece of copper. In some cases I sprayed on the liquid, and in some cases I  dotted it on using a chopstick; then I sifted enamel on the liquid and tapped off the excess. The enamel powders adhere to the liquid but not the dry metal. I allowed the binder to dry and then applied the flame, resulting in spots of enamel on the metal.
>>>>Hair spray??? How did I never run across this? I knew you had to get klyr-fire, but held off due to pricing atm. But if I can use hairspray... Ohhh... I think Im a very happy woman. Please someone tell me I'm not the only one that didn't know about this?
This was more successful in some cases after pickling the enameled pieces to bring the bright coppery finish back to the metal, though this piece hasn't been pickled. I love the colors on it, both the enamel and the heat patina, but I have no explanation for the line down the middle!
I can't stress enough how important I believe it is to experiment with enameling or any jewelry-making technique you're interested in, after you've learned the basic methods. Next I have liquid enamels, sgraffito, and decals to play with. Once you're comfortable with the torch and the supplies, you can be free to try new ideas--which is how all kinds of interesting designs appear! That's how I made the discovery that you can in fact enamel on brass, though I later learned that many people say that you can't. You just have to find brass that has less than 5% zinc content, which can involve some trial and error. (Barbara Lewis has a selection of brass that can be enameled at PaintingWithFireStudio.com.) Transparent enamels are especially gorgeous on brass.
If you too are in the experimental stage of torch enameling or if you're interested in learning this fun technique, we have a great enameling kit offer for you. Pauline Warg, a master at enameled jewelry making, has chosen a gorgeous color palette of enamels just for you, and we've bundled that sampler along with her scrolling tool, a sifter, a trivet, some copper blanks, silver foil, and three popular torch-enameling resources--Barbara Lewis's Torch-Fired Enamel Jewelry book (the book that started it all for me!), her Creative Torch-Fired Enamel Techniques DVD, and Pauline's Basic Jewelry Enameling: Torch Fired TechniquesDVD--all at an incredible savings. Just add your own torch and you'll be making gorgeous colorful enameled jewelry in minutes! See below for details on our exclusive enameling kit.

P.S. There was too much to include here, but you can read about intentional quench crackling, mixing opaque and transparent enamels, and metal stamping in enamel on the blog.
>>>There is so much in just this one post that I want to try and play with... So many ideas and things to try. Hopefully I'll get  a nice day at some point and be able to post up some enamel experiments. :D Do you have any experience with enamel? Any tips or tricks to try? Let me know in the comments below!