Hi folks, when wet packing enamel (especially transparent) I oftem do small test pieces to get my colour combinations and other aspects right before I start on the project at hand. I tend to use small pieces of thin silver (.4mm) just to work things out, and though I don't have many issues when I am enamelling the final project (which is much heavier material) I constantly find the enamel layers on the thin material delaminate, especially if you grind them flat prior to a fire polish. Just curious as to why this occurs, is it just that the thin material moves as you refire each layer and somehow cause a problem with the fusing, or some other issue?

Cheers

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

This is caused by the difference in expansion/subtraction of the enamel and silver. Counterenamelling will balance out the stress that occurs and will fix your problem.

Cheers

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your reply, and your right, being just test pieces I haven't bothered to counter enameled them, as I do with the main project.

Interestingly the delamination often occurs between the different enamel layers and not from the substrate, in this case silver. If you look at the flakes under high magnification they look like mini lava flows that have not fused together. I guess if the lower layer is moving around while the next layer is melting it causes some surface tension that prevents the proper fusion. This is also intesting because it only occurs when wet packing, if I sift the powders on, even without a counter enamel, the layers fuse correctly.

Thanks once again, and hope I haven't bored folk too much, but I always like finding answers to things such as this

Cheers

Bruce