Hi everyone. I’m new to cloisonné enamelling and am having trouble with my base coat.
When I fire it in the kiln it comes out with a yellow tint in it which can stay that way right until the piece is finished.
Fine silver seems to fair worse, sterling is a little bit clearer when I fire it a second time.

I have tried the following brands:
-‘W.G.Ball Leadfree Transparent Enamel Clear Flux, 477 for copper and silver’ (Comes out very yellow on silver)
-Latham Enamel Normal Flux T200
-Latham Enamel Silver Flux T232 (this one is yellow on fine silver but not as yellow as the others)
-WGBALL Transparent Enamel Powder – Hard Silver Flux (7266)
-Milton Bridge 8102 Silver Flux

I have a small Prometheus kiln and fire my enamels at about 710 degrees celsius (1310 F) for about 2 minutes until glossy

I apply the flux by sifting with an 80 mesh.

Any help will be much appreciated

You need a flux for silver. The best silver flux I know comes from France by Soyer Email. It is Flux nr. 3 from Soyer. You can get it here. https://www.enameling.com/Soyer.html

edmund, Germany

Here a picture of Soyer Nr. 3 on Silverfoil. No traces of yellow

Hi Nothando,

I'm interested to hear, whether you tried the Soyer flux.

Edmund

Hi Edmund,
Thanks very much for your reply.

I have ordered the Soyer flux and it’s perfect! Fires beautifully clear. Very happy with the results.

The only drawback is that it’s leaded so I can’t layer my unleaded enamels over it. Once I’ve finished my unleaded enamels I may switch over to leaded enamels, unless I find a non problematic unleaded flux
(All the fluxes I had listed above/previously tried are indeed intended for use on silver. Some of them were unleaded so it’s a pity they’re not working out for me)

But otherwise thanks very much for your help as I can now count one reliably clear flux in my arsenal.

Hi Nothando,

I am glad that you are satisfied with the Soyer Flux. Have you ever tried Thompson Clear for Silver 2020 lead-free? It also becomes slightly yellowish, but when different coloured enamel is fired over it, the yellow makes nearly no troubles. It is often also helpful to burn the 2020 several times and at slightly higher temperature to get it clear.

Hi Edmund

Another enamelist also recently recommended the Thompson 2020 to me. As I live in the UK it’s not easy to get a hold of. I have ordered some from Rio Grande so it should be here in a few weeks. Thanks so much for the tips on firing. Will let you know how it goes once I receive it!
Have a good weekend.

Nothando.

Hi Nothando,

if you want to buy Thompson enamel products again, you can buy most of the Thompson program here.: http://enamelsupply.com/
Tom Lundsten sells Thompson Enamel products via Denmark.

Edmund

Yes- I had recently become aware of that website/seller. They are on holiday for a few weeks, hence ordering from Rio. But it’s good to know that I can now get the Thompson enamels a bit more easily