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I’ve been working on a project I would like to share and ask for your general advice.
This is my first post to the forum. I’ve benefited greatly from all the knowledgeable people who contribute their time and expertise. I’ve been learning enameling for about a year. I started with some enamel classes at the Art League and now I’m experimenting in my home studio.
The piece is a relief of the island of Martha’s Vineyard. It’s a prototype for a necklace pendant.
A casting was done in sterling silver. I know fine silver is preferred for transparent enamels but I wanted the strength of sterling. I depletion gilded the piece through five cycles. Each cycle included an annealing in the kiln at 1200 for 2 ½ minutes, then pickling in Sparex #2 for roughly 2 minutes. After brushing with a soft brass brush, the cycle was repeated.
There are three firings of Thompson Cascade Blue (2510) that were sifted on. I sprayed lightly with Klyr Fire between layers to get adhesion to the sloped surfaces. Each firing was done at 1400 for approximately 2 ½ minutes. There is no counter enamel.
The piece is 35mm wide. The base is 1.0 mm thick. The edge walls are 1.0 thick. The highest depth of the relief is roughly 0.5mm.
Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions.
Happy New Year!
Steve
Hi Stephen,
You can move the depletion guilding along by using a torch instead of the kiln - it goes faster - Heat gently, take the torch away, repeat the torch again gently then take the torch away. You will see the oxide shadow when you remove the torch from the piece. Pickle the metal until it appears white and frosty - Using a very soft brass brush under water and some liquid soap, gently burnish the metal. Dry - Continue to repeat the process until you have a fine silver layer - you will know when the surface of the piece is done when it appears completely frosty white. You do not want to rub hard as you will remove the fine silver surface. Once out of the pickle use a baking soda and water rinse to akalize the surface.
You must apply a counter enamel - or else your top coats of enamel will pop off - Having both sides of the metal enameled counters the movement of the metal as it cools. Think Oreo cookie! I dont know what 1.0mm equals in gauge - I always go by guage # -
You should also know at what degree your enamel's melting point is - some are hard, medium and soft - so if you want to add another enamel to the top you don't want to have a soft melting enamel under a hard melting enamel - Thompson has a chart for all their enamels. 1450 degrees is the melting point for glass enamel and you won't have to keep it in as many minutes - but if your timing works for you and the temperature, go for it
Hope this helps,
Trish
Hi Trish,
Thank you very much for your suggestions.
I'll try using the torch for the depletion gilding. I read about both processes (torch, kiln) but I used the kiln only because there was a description in the Thompson Enamel Workbook where it describes metal preparation. I'm definitiely in favor of anything that will make the process easier!
As far as the firing temperature, I'll increase the temperature to 1450 from 1400.
I was hoping to avoid counter enamel so that the back of the pendant could be finished brightly. Maybe I could use a clear flux. The base of the pendant is 1.0 mm which is ~18 GA. The relief adds another 0.5 mm in thickness so those areas should be closer to 15 GA. I used this table to convert thickness to gauge: Sheet Thickness
Thanks again.
Steve
Hi Steve,
I didn't realize you want the back to show - and 18 gauge should be good without a counter enamel - If you don't already have it, Linda Darty's book ,
The Art of Enameling is a must have in your library.
Have fun,
Trish
Welcome Trish
Can I buy a book by Linda Darty translation into Polish?
Regards