Hi Trish 

I am new to the site

I am a second year metalwork student in Dublin

Last year I was only doing flat pieces,

then I read in my tutors book about using glue on 3D work,

so I went for it

I have attached some photos of one of the Slugs that I have made,

Its a box, the lid is on the bottom of the piece.

It was enamelled by lots of drysifting onto wallpaper paste

The colours are Wenger Ice blue, and an unknown dark red maroon

The enamels were given to our college by one of my tutors

whose late father Paddy Mcelroy had been a tutor in NCAD.

When I enquired with a supplier about Wenger Ice Blue ,

he told me that Wenger ceased trading 45 years ago

Do you know if anyone else makes a similar colour?

The maroon colour was in a coffee jar with no name on it

there was lots of small lumps of powder in the jar 

I used a twesers to place the lumps on the slugs back

one of the lumps cracked in two

I love the colours and the way the maroon leaves a contour around it

but where can I get more?

Rae

p.s. love the site 

WOW! this slug is awesome - how big is it? and you did all that raising yourself? super job and yes, I agree that blue is incredible - Was Wengar an Enamel company in Dublin? I am going to investigate this for you and try to resolve it? Lets hope someone else can help.

Regards

Trish

Great job on the enameling...love that blue slug.  I've never heard of using wallpaper paste.  Thanks for the tip. Wish I had some ideas for matching the old blue enamel...just have to experiment I guess.  

Re Wenger. Here is an exchange of emails I had with Pat Johnson last year:

Dear Harry,

Wenger was taken over by Latham who were in turn taken over by Milton Bridge. In the Vitrum Signum catalogue, the Milton Bridge enamels list old Wenger numbers (all 63xx) but they don't list amu 61xx numbers. However, they do have an opaque Lime Green. Perhaps you could get a small sample of that and see if it behaves in the same way as your old Wenger sample. In my experience, the enamels in this range of colours have not changed much over the years (a lot of them are weird), with the exception of the whites and creams.

Good luck with this,

Pat

----- Original Message ----- From: "Dhruvasimha" <
To: "Pat Johnson"
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 7:34 PM
Subject: Wenger enamel


Dear Pat,
      I've been given some old enamel powder. It is labelled as Wenger. There are a few colours but only one that is of great interest, it is Wenger Lime-Green opaque 6155W. It behaves as though it may be unleaded inasmuch as it creeps away from leaded. Have you any knowledge or memory of Wenger enamels? There is nil on the internet search.

Best wishes, and I hope you are keeping well.

regards

Harry Nicholson
--

Addendum;

 The Milton Bridge lime green proved to be quite unlike the Wenger colour.

Harry

Thanks everyone for your praise

the slug is about 6 inches long , 4inches wide and about 3 inches high, it just fits into our kiln in college, I did all the raising myself. its probably a little overfired, but overfiring seems to bring out the turquoise in the ice blue.

I think Wenger might have been german or british company, I can get the code for the ice blue when i am back in college next week, I am sure it starts with a 6 and ends with a w, as pat says below

I have attached another few pics of the slug being raised

Hi I have just noticed a selection of wenger enamels on ebay UK that may interest you. 25/07/14

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOB-LOT-OF-VINTAGE-ENAMEL-POWDERS-JEWELLERY-MAKING-SILVERSMITH-ARTS-AND-CRAFTS-/261540965347?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item3ce50e6be3

Thank you, Sarah. They date from 1947 and so might react oddly - but I'm bidding. I'm interested in laying dissimilar enamels side by side -  different viscosities can yield ridged surfaces.