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Persian Enameling

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 3, 2012 9:43 AM EST

    It does seem like starting from raw materials would be very time consuming. Enamlists are not typically used to making their own colours ;-) But if I decide to do something like this where would I find cobalt oxide?

  • Bonnie Beerkens
    • 0 posts
    March 6, 2012 7:58 AM EST

    Hi Catherine,

    I saw that Chris and you continued the exchange away from this forum, and that you decided to go for enamel paint first. However, for the sake of completeness and future possibillities: cobalt oxide can be bought in stores that supply pottery materials.

    Good luck, and would love to see how your experiments work out.

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 6, 2012 8:25 AM EST

    Here are my initial tests - these were all done with a water medium I got from Coral Schaeffer. I tried China paint, 1660 Ultramarine (opaque) fines and 2680 Prussian (transparent) fines. The china paint is the darkest, and clockwise is Ultramarine and Prussian. The Prussian was harder to scratch as it had a strong tendency to flake. The slightly over-fired sample is on 1010 Undercoat white, the best fired one is on 1020 Titanium white and the slightly under-fired one is on 1030 Foundation.

    http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150587362178107.381880.608113106&type=3

    I am doing them very rough until I find a combo that works and then I will try something more formalised

    C

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 6, 2012 8:43 AM EST

    Try this one. I foolishly uploaded them directly from my camera - so I don't actually have them on my computer.

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/enamelforum/photos/album/1651156616/pic/list

    C

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 6, 2012 8:46 AM EST

    I have just heard back from a graduate of Islamic Art and Material Culture from the Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Department (University of Toronto)! I am excited! She says she will meet with me, and is going to Iran next month and will follow up by visiting minakari studios and taking photos of the process!

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 6, 2012 9:49 AM EST

    Were you able to access the photos on the YahooGroup? If not, I will download them to my computer and upload them here later today when I have time

  • Bonnie Beerkens
    • 0 posts
    March 6, 2012 10:00 AM EST

    She must have become inspired by you. Wonderful how the inspiration passes on.

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 8, 2012 3:48 PM EST

    I have posted a blog under the Sgraffito tab - but the formatting is not working like I want - the text is not next to the correct pictures - but you should still get an idea

    http://grainsofglass.ning.com/group/sgraffito/forum/topics/persian-minikari

  • Catherine Crowe
    • 2 posts
    March 2, 2012 5:24 PM EST
    I recently had an Iranian guy bring in an extraordinary piece of enamelling. It was traditional - appeared to be a white ground that had a blue liquid coat that was scratched through before firing. Then painted details were added after. Very finely detailed work. He took lessons under a master when he was in Iran, but that was many years ago and he has forgotten most of it. But now he wants to try again. He is not concerned about doing it in a perfectly traditional manner, or even traditional designs - but he wants the blue on white effect. He would rather use the lead free enamels.

    I just thought I would check with the list before starting on a battery of tests to see what will work. Is anyone familiar with this style of enameling? Any suggestions before I get started?

    I am worried about liquid enamel crackling over a regular coat. Any thoughts? I was going to try with Titanium white, but it tends to craze and develop deep cracks if fired low ...
    This is not the piece he brought in - but it shows the technique

    http://img1.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.293399545.jpg

  • Ara mousavi
    • 4 posts
    January 23, 2022 5:54 PM EST

     it's 10 years after you wrote about it but I might be able to help you with this if you still want to have any information about persian enamelling

  • David Wendelken
    • 5 posts
    May 4, 2022 8:10 PM EDT
    Ara mousavi said:

     it's 10 years after you wrote about it but I might be able to help you with this if you still want to have any information about persian enamelling

     

    I don't know if the original poster wants the info, but **I** certainly do!

    Feel encouraged to share!