Enamel Samples

 

Enamel Samples

 

Today I had my first encounter working with copper enamelling. Firstly my tutor took me and four other students through the process of how to enamel and showed us how to polish up the final product. Firstly I had to degrease my copper piece using some Cif and water. I cleaned the surface with some tissue. I then had to add some backing enamel to the back of my copper. I sprayed the back with gum (which is a mixture of wall paper paste, fairy liquid and water) then using a sieve I sieved some enamel on to the surface and repeated the process again and finished off the layer with another spray of gum. Next time I do the process I will make sure to add lots of gum to keep the backing on because I didn't add enough and it crumbled off. Next you leave it on top of the kiln to dry for five minutes.

Next you can design and add your many colours of enamel. There are opaque colours, transparent colours and flux which keep the colour of the copper. Sieve evenly your chosen colours on top of the copper surface. Then place your sample carefully onto a steel frame to hold and support your copper sample. Using the fork place the sample into the small kiln on a temperature of 900 degrees for 2 minutes. Take it out and tap gently on to the surface of a heat proof surface to release the sample. After a few minutes take a pair of tweezers and carefully drop the sample into cold water to cool off.

These are my final samples I chose to make paper hearts and used them as a template before sprinkling the enamel into the surface. I found this successful and I would defiantly do it again next time I would add more enamel for a stronger colour and improve my backing enamel other than that I’m pleased with the end result.