When choosing which transparent colors to use and trying to imagine how they will look when fired, it might help to think about them as if they are pieces of sheet glass held up to light, like the kind used in stained glass windows. When you hold a sheet of yellow glass in front of a sheet of blue glass, the two combined will begin to look green (depending on how dark the colors are), because as you look through the yellow, you will still see the blue. If a pale pink sheet of glass is held up over a dark blue sheet of glass the dark color will still be dominant, and depending on how dark it is, it may or may not be affected by the pale pink.
If however, the back sheet of glass is pale blue, and the front sheet of glass is pale pink, the pink sheet will have more of an effect on the color in the back and you will see lavender. Â Working easily with transparent colors takes practice, which is one reason it is wise to limit your palette when you are learning how to enamel, allowing you to become familiar with each color you use as you experience it in a variety of combinations. The same color does not need to be repeated in every fired layer and it is often more interesting if different hues are used in subsequent firings. My first enameling teacher, Bill Helwig, once told me to fire transparent lime green over a coat of fired pink and I resisted, wondering how in the world lime green could make my pink seashell look better. I remember well his explanation that red and green are complements (something I knew but never associated with layering transparents). It was a startling discovery and one I've never forgotten, to see that pink sea shell, still look pink, but suddenly more luminous, rich and almost iridescent with transparent lime green its surface. I began sifting oranges over blues, yellows over purples and layering many variations of these combinations. Experiment. Depending on the darkness or lightness of the colors you use, the effects can be dramatic.
(Notes from Linda Darty)
If however, the back sheet of glass is pale blue, and the front sheet of glass is pale pink, the pink sheet will have more of an effect on the color in the back and you will see lavender. Â Working easily with transparent colors takes practice, which is one reason it is wise to limit your palette when you are learning how to enamel, allowing you to become familiar with each color you use as you experience it in a variety of combinations. The same color does not need to be repeated in every fired layer and it is often more interesting if different hues are used in subsequent firings. My first enameling teacher, Bill Helwig, once told me to fire transparent lime green over a coat of fired pink and I resisted, wondering how in the world lime green could make my pink seashell look better. I remember well his explanation that red and green are complements (something I knew but never associated with layering transparents). It was a startling discovery and one I've never forgotten, to see that pink sea shell, still look pink, but suddenly more luminous, rich and almost iridescent with transparent lime green its surface. I began sifting oranges over blues, yellows over purples and layering many variations of these combinations. Experiment. Depending on the darkness or lightness of the colors you use, the effects can be dramatic.
(Notes from Linda Darty)
