Hello Tonia,

I use liquid enamel and am familiar with your difficulty.

When enamel flakes off or a wrinkled or a matt surface occurs for me it is always because I've applied the enamel too thickly - or the mixture is too strong. The enamel should have the consistency of thin pouring cream. I suggest you try a sample that you have weakened with water.

If your thinner layers are burning out, it is probably due to too much time in the kiln. Fire a thin layer until it is just beginning to shine and not yet smooth and then withdraw. You can now add the next layer. But if the first layer is flux, it is best to fire it until it is clear before you add the next layer.

I fire liquids for 90 secs at about 890C for general work. If I want the lovely reds that flux can yield over fire-scale, I don't go above 820C

Less mistakes occur in enamel work if you have a means of reading the kiln temperature and use a stopwatch/countdown timer.

Best wishes

Harry

Hello Tania. First read my article on cleaning metal. notebook#1 liquid enamel under photos/ page 1 steel preparation. When enamel doesn't stick, flakes off, peels etc., it had do to with improper cleaning. The cleaner your using leaves a film on the metal to which the enamel won't adhere to the metal. I use steel, I haven't used copper, but cleaning is the same. Don't touch the metal once it's been clean, you body oils will react to the enamel, and won't allow for adhesion. When metal gets to the melting point, the ground coat, or what ever enamel your using should become part of the metal, not just sit on top. Cleaning is the crucial first step. You can beat your head against a wall trying to find a solution. Clean metal, and a digital pyrometer. Every firing should be timed to your kiln temperature. The length of firing and temperature depends on your kiln and what your firing. Good luck Charles Winkel

Thank you Harry

I think you've spotted my stupid mistake... I am leaving my thinner enamel in the kiln for way too long; about 5 mins. I'm going to go and do some research on reading and regulating the temperature of my kiln, I've been avoiding the expense as I though most people got by without but for a beginner its probably necessary.

I really appreciate your help, it becomes quite disheartening to continually fail the most basic technique repeatedly ;-)

Five mins is too long. If you fire at 800C you may need 3 mins for a piece 4x4inch.  At 930C only 1 min is sufficient. Smaller pieces usually fire quicker.

Thank you

Thank you. I am in the UK and we do not seem to sell either the Awesome or the Comet cleaner; I shall see if I can find out what a local substitute is. Still looking for a pyrometer....

dear Tonia, I agree with what Harry and Charles suggested for you to do. I use a wonderful cleaner for copper here in the US; called Penny Bright. But you probably don't get this. A good substitute is "Pumice".it leaves no residue. I anneal my copper first to 'green' (one minute) that takes the oil of the copper and then cleaning is easy .After the pumice, you can rinse it with dishsoap and make the test under running water to see if the water "sheets" off your piece.  Dry it and pour the liquid flux on it and keep it in motion until you see the coat even out. I let this layer get just half way dry before I sgrafitto my lines with a wooden point. Dry this well before firing. Hope this helps,  ingrid

Tonia, If you are in the UK, look at www.guildofenamellers.org/

The Guild is a good place to learn - there may be workshops in your area.

On cleaning. I bought the American 'Pennybright' at our annual Guild Conference.

For my own work, I degrease by burning off residue in the kiln - that also encourages an  oxide 'bloom' which gives lovely tints to whites.

For some work, I deliberately apply grease (by rubbing the copper on my forehead). When liquids are poured on this they then take up interesting pooling patterns - good if you look for an abstract effect.

Thank you

I've just tried degreasing in the kiln and using a thinner/ watered down liquid enamel and leaving it in the kiln for less time and eureka! it worked :-). More practice needed but at least there's progress.Thank you so much for your help.

Thank you also for the link.

Thank you Ingrid; I needed advice on sgrafitto as when I've tried its crumbled a bit at the edges of my lines; I'll try it again before its fully dry. I'll also ask my boss at work for a little pumice and I'll give that a go after heating the copper for a bit.

Hello

I am really new to enameling; I've been on a course where everything worked fine but now that I'm trying to enamel at home with my own kiln everything is going wrong - I can't yet fuse a simple layer successfully! I have been trying for a few months and am just wasting materials.

At the moment I'm trying to just coat a piece of copper with white liquid enamel. The copper has come from a website dedicated to enameling products so I think it is suitable. I have tried cleaning the copper by either rubbing with a household cream cleaner, or a bit of ground enamel or wet and dry paper; I've not noticed any difference between these methods. So, I clean my copper and then shake my liquid enamel to mix, it comes ready mixed so I think it is the right consistency and it coats the copper well, I can see a little pink showing through at the edges. I then let it dry on top of the kiln, I have tested this by scratching away a bit and it does appear to be dry. I then fire it in a kiln that has been heating up for nearly an hour but which I've turned down, the stilt I rest the copper on turns a cherry red; if I heat up any more the enamel burns away.

So, my problems, if I heat briefly I get a matte finish which hasn't fully fired (I don't know if a matte finish is what you get from liquid enamel, it would be good if it was but I'm not sure), if I go for longer I get bits of enamel lifting off, or I get a wrinkled glossy surface and the copper starts to show through. If I put less enamel on I don't get the enamel lifting off but it burns out; I did have some success with doing three thin layers but I still got a wrinkled surface on my final firing; I have tried grinding this back and re-firing but the result was still uneven on the surface and the colour was patchy. I have seen examples in books where the enamel is scratched through to the copper for effect before firing so I do not think I should need to build up layers to stop the copper showing through.

I think I'm making basic beginner's mistakes; any advice would be much appreciated as I don't know what to try next.

Thank you