Forum Posts

• January 17, 2019 4:04 PM EST

  in the topic Polishing enameled piece in the forum General Discussions

  Hi folks
  I want to know how you polish your metal base after the enamel is flash fired or glossy without scratching the glass?
  Does anybody use OTEC walnut polishing machine?
  Or can I use tumbler with steel shots and cerium oxide?
  
  Rudolf
• February 10, 2018 5:13 PM EST

  in the topic Gold and fusing in the forum General Discussions

  Hi Mary

  If your piece is fabricated not casted so it´s less porous you can skip the ultrasonic cleaner. This is better for casted pieces, if you don´t have one just rinse well and enough under running warm tap water.

  With 18K gold you will have the fine gold surface after approx 5-8 times, 14 karat need more but depend how strong acid you use how long you will let the piece stay in the acid. When you heat the piece the surface cannot turned black. You need pickle until the surface will stay "gold yellow".

  Trish is right, if you can change the design to use 14K gold as a base and just make silver base enamel with 24K gold foil it is better. I know sometimes this is not possible. Check the gold wedding rings in my albums. They were 3D printed, casted from 14K gold and then enamelled. I did the depletion gilding around 10 times sometimes the rings were 24hours in sulphuric acid. After the enamelling the not enamelled part turned in kiln brown,light black or how to call the oxidized color. So I put the rings back to acid for approx 10 minutes not to ruin the leaded enamels and when the oxides dissapeared I continued with enameling.

  Hope this helps

   

  Rudolf

• February 10, 2018 3:08 PM EST

  in the topic Gold and fusing in the forum General Discussions

  Hi Mary

  I am not sure about gold filled material but I think this material is not good for enamelling because of the high heat in kiln or torch firing.

  You can enamel (nearly) any type of gold but the question is how you need prepare the surface and what the color will look like. The best info you can get in book Enameling on precious metals-https://www.amazon.com/Enamelling-Precious-Metals-Jeanne-Werge-Hartley/dp/1847972055

  Problem is the white gold, you need to know what is used in the alloy. Normal 14K yellow gold (not the casting alloy that contains silicone) you can prepare using depletion gilding and when you have fine gold surface you can enamel it. Sometimes casted jewellery have already the fine gold surface after casting so you need just make 2-3x the depletion gilding in sulphuric acid. Everytime clean the surface in baking soda solution, tap water then in ultrasonic cleaner and rinse with demineralized water!! If any acid will stay on the surface it will turn black (spot) when you heat the piece.

  18K yellow gold or green(gold and silver only, no copper) is best for enamelling.

   

  Rudolf

• August 7, 2017 3:56 PM EDT

  in the topic How to make copper wall pieces in the forum General Discussions

  I am not sure if mentioned here, but the counter enamel must be hard firing enamel.Best is hard firing flux. If you use the same enamel on front and also for the counter it can make drops that melted and drop down from the back. The counter enamel must have higher melting point that the front enamels.

  Rudolf

• July 13, 2017 6:04 AM EDT

  in the topic How to make copper wall pieces in the forum General Discussions

  Thank you Trish