I am Lillian Jones, an Enamelist in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is a tutorial lifted from my blog at [url=http://www.ganoksin.com/blog/lillianjones]www.ganoksin.com/blog/lillianjones[/url], and my website is [url=http://www.enamellist.com]www.enamellist.com[/url] Torch Fired Cloisonne on Silver I enamel on silver, and have discovered that torch firing is super easy and cheap, and can look great. I use propane and butane for this, either of which can be purchased at the local hardware store from less than $20. Turns out it's really easy to get the bright beautiful cloisonne on silver that I usually get with my kiln, except the back is black, which is not really a sacrifice. Pictures are so much easier to understand, so here goes. I start with FINE silver, a disk and some round wire. Sterling doesn't work. I am going to fuse a rim onto the disk, so I start by measuring the disk. And cutting a length of wire a little less than the final circumference. I plan to hammer it into a flat washer, which will make it bigger. Using butane, I fuse the wire. Solder will not work, because we will be fusing later, and the solder will eat through the silver at that temperature. Round it into a ring, And flatten it into a washer. Or whatever shape: I am using a circle for an example. Dip it in a fusing agent, place it and fuse it. You can make it yourself, but I use [url=http://www.bluefuseforsilver.com]Bluefuse[/url] I like to heat it from below, using propane or air/acetylene. This is the same technique as granulation, only using wire instead of little balls. It also makes the silver nice and shiny for the enamel. Sometimes this is called 'flash-fusing', and the shine holds up under intense heat. Punch a hole for a jumpring or bail, Dome it slightly, And I am ready to put enamel on it. First I'll apply the counter enamel, with the torch above the piece. If you heat it from below, you will lose your nice shine. Here I am using a little butane torch for a heat source. I am using Ndidi's suggestion of Thompson's Grisaille Black enamel. Now I apply a clear enamel to the front, using rubbing alcohol instead of water or Klyr-fire. It seems to burn off cleaner, and leaves a clearer coat of enamel. Heat it from below until it melts. Here I've switched to a hotter torch (actylene, but a big butane might work, propane does work) Here I am holding the trivet with a clamp, but you can set the trivet on a tripod, like Chris's great tutorials or use a third hand. You need to be careful holding the torch. Now I begin the wire work by marking my axis with a sharpie. And make the wire design. This is going to be fairly simple. Place the shaped wires with Thompson's holding agent (I hate Klyr-fire) and heat it until it glows. The wires will be stuck on, and ready for color. In this picture I have picked a color pallet of green and blue and yellow. And here I've filled the cells. Firing with mapp gas, and a cheap little torch tip from Lowes. And there it is, filled with enamel. I have stoned the enamel down with a diamond hone. Adding some decorative elements, as it is a rather plain design. And finished, all done with a torch. I made this for a friend who is always lost. It reminds me of this granulation piece I made as a class sample.

Thank you Lillian for putting this tutorial together!! This is so through. The little tricks like using rubbing alcohol, and the blue fuse are priceless. Thank you so much! Sb

Fantastic tutorial Lillian, especially the fusing of the siver base, blue fuse is new to me ! I would probably move it to a kiln for the enameling part later,but you made the point,that all can be done with the torch, Ingrid Regula

later

Great tutorial Lillian, thank you for sharing. I haven't been enameling in awhile so this sounds like a good project to get me started. Where do you buy the blue fuse please, I'm not familiar with this.Thanks Ginny

Great tutorial, Lillian! What gauge sheet metal and wire did you use for this project? Also, interesting torch set-up...can you elaborate on that, too? Thanks so much for sharing. I learn so much from this group!

Just a wonderful job of producing the tutorial, as well as great work. Love the granulation sample.

I use 22 or 24 ga. sheet, and 16 or 18 wire, just depending on the look I want.  This was 24 sheet and 18 wire.  The torch was a Mapp gas cylinder and an ordinary tip.  I'll try and put up an image tomorrow.

www.ornamentea.com.  There is a link up in the tutorial that tells you more about it, with granulation information.  The link is where the word 'bluefuse' is, and is hard to spot because the text color is similar to the link color.

Very nice. Thank you.

Leszek

Great tutorial, I would love to see how to create a stand for the torch. I use cooking gas for my torch firing.