About a year ago someone posted a method to make shards of enamel for decorating other enamels. The enamel was melted on some metal, I think, then bent to crack it and loosen it. Can't remember the details but it made perfect sense at the time. Can someone refresh my memory or correct it? Thanks in advance.

I am sorry Candy, but for the life of me I don't remember this technique - I know that you can melt enamel in a crucible and pull our strings of enamel, but that's about it. In the future if you do not get a response from "Ask the Experts" its because we are Stomped!

I am sorry Candy, but for the life of me I don't remember this technique - I know that you can melt enamel in a crucible and pull our strings of enamel, but that's about it. In the future if you do not get a response from "Ask the Experts" its because we are Stomped!

You can use titanium sheet to melt enamel. The enamel will for while stick to titanium. After the enamel will cool it will pop and release the enamel "lump", you can crush it or use at is. If the enamel will hold on the titanium just bent the titanium sheet little bit and you can release the enamel from the sheet surface.

Many thanks Rudolf Molnar! The the titanium should work well, as you say. I feel lost without our old Grains of Glass site to reference!

Dziękuję Rudolf za dobrą radę :-)

Another way to create shards. Sift enamel on a piece of copper (I usually use 18-22 ga.) that has not been counter enameled. When the piece cools you can easily bend the metal and all the enamel will pop off in pieces and shards. Be careful of your eyes and hand cuts while you do this. Sift a variety of colors overlapping for variations. Fun and easy!

May be, that you the PDF-File "Enamel Stones - Design" mean, that i had upload a time ago. Here is a excerpt of this File.

Excerpt.

If you have no coarser grains or enamel lumps, you can make it by yourself in different ways.
1) Lay a leftover piece of silver-foil onto a support-sheet.
2) Build up small pile of enamel onto silver-foil.
3) Burn it, until the enamel is molten completely.
4) Remove the supernatant of the foil. The foil under the enamel-shift must not be removed.
5) Break the enamel in a mortar so fine or coarse as you need it.

In the same manner you can apply the enamel onto a copper foil. By copper-foil you must break off the enamel from the foil. The copper-oxide on the back of the enamel must, in this "stone making-technique", not be removed..

The other possibility:
1) Apply a small pile of enamel onto a thin (0,2-0,3 mm) stainless-steel sheet.
2) Burn it until all enamel is molten.
3) Let sheet and enamel cool down. For most steel sheets the enamel rebound after a short time.
4) Break the enamel in a mortar.

Instead of enamel-grains you also can use little glass-pearls like seed-pearls or so called Roncalli-pearls. These pearls have a diameter of about 1 mm. Be sure that the pearls are from glass and not from plastic. Crush it like the grains in a mortar.

End of Excerpt.

 Picture made in the Mosaic-technique

 Detail of the above picture

Edmund

Thanks Edmund. I think this must be the method I was trying to remember. I appreciate you posting it again. The mosaic pictures are wonderful and very helpful!