Does anyone have any samples or test tiles of opalescent with or blue fired directly on copper that you would be willing to photograph and post?  I am following the instructions in the glass on metal link; but, I am not sure the results are what I should expect as there is no color sample in the Thompson catalog.

Hi Tonya,
Does it matter if they're leaded or unleaded colors? Are you only interested in particular color numbers or brands? I have lots of small samples I could photograph (the samples of each color range from 1/4" X 1/4" to 1/4" X 1/2"). They include transparents and opalescents from Ninomiya, Bovano, Schauer and Thompson. Most of my enamels are leaded. I can post photos of them if they're what you need.

Melinda,
I apologize for my lack of clarity. I am using unleaded Thompson Enamel opalescent white and opalescent blue.

Thank you,
Tonya

Tonya,
OK, no problem. It looks like the only unleaded blue or white I have is 2061 opal white, and unfortunately I don't have a sample of it on bare copper. Good luck with your project.

Hi Melinda...I have been disapointed in opalescent Enamels, even though I followed the same dirrections Tonya has been following...
I had decided I was expecting too much...as in mother of pearl...
I have The Thompson Opalescent colors...Do you think the leaded opalescent colors work better?

Hi Melodie,
I don't have much experience with unleaded opalescents so I can't compare leaded to unleaded opals (my only experience with unleaded opals: I used one for my sculptural enamel round box). I like Ninomiya and other Japanese leaded enamels from Enamelworks because they are almost all the same firing temperature and there are some beautiful colors and a wide range of levels of transparency, from semi-opaque to semi-transparent. I think enamel alone may not be enough for you if you want that strong mother-of-pearl look; you may want to use foil under your enamels. My Tree Frog Enamel has Ninomiya P201 semi-opaque opal white over flux on the throat, with transparent blue over it for shading. I like it because you could still slightly see that peachy flux-on-copper coolor through it so it looked more like skin. I also use P201 in clumps for the little white bumps all over the throat, and I used it for the white reflections on the tree. It was also mixed with S320 to lighten one side of the shadow at the bottom of the throat. I put NG302 for a final wash of opalescence over the throat. P229 semi-opaque light yellow is used on the tree, NG352 opal apricot and NG315 opal yellow are on the face, arm and fingers. I hoped they would mitigate the harsh lines at the edges of the foil on the arm, but I wasn't totally satisfied with that effort. I liked what happened with the frog fingers using opals and foil, though. Have you tried that approach?

Melodie, if you want that Mother-of-Pearl look, you should really see Joanne Conant's "Sea Biscuit" and decide if that's the look you want. She taught me cloisonne and you can see her work on this site. Check out her "Sea Biscuit"; she uses lots of transparents and opalescents over foils. I've seen it in person and it's just stunning.

I use a lot of opalescents in my work, in different ways, but I only use leaded enamels.

 

I haven't worked with unleaded opalescents, but from what I have been told, they behave differently from leaded opal enamels when fired

 

I use them as bases and I use them for nouveau grisaille. I upload two examples. The lily is transparent enamels over a rather opaque opaline, I have described this process in my blog: http://blog.innershelter.net/2010/06/painting-watercolours-with-glass.html

The blue piece is a grisaille (white opalescent over blue transparent). A good control of the opalescence of the enamel is necessary for this technique, and I am not sure that is possible with unleaded enamels. Again I have not tried. The opalesncent enamels I use, gradually turn milkier with a careful fire.

 

Foil under opalescent can give a beautiful effect, but be sure to isolate opalescent enamels from silver with a layer of flux, since they react and become stained and yellow.

Mer,

Thank you for your response.  I applied the opalescent as a top layer as well as mixed with a transparent.  I am going to try using it as a base.  When you say use it as a base, is that with or without a flux layer?

Mer,

I also wanted to thank you for posting the images.  It looks like the cloudiness that I am seeing is an expected reaction; so, I will also look at using a lighter coat of opalescent to see if I get results that are more appealing to me.