3.31.2009

make it hot

ENAMELING!

This is my attempt at motivating myself to start making things with my hands again.
Maybe sometime this weekend I can get a few hours in on this puppy. I was having problems with heating last time I fired her up, but I hope the problem is either gone or can be fixed easily.
Let's hope I don't have to order any parts or anything.
I'd like to start working with the "watercolor" enamels I got for Christmas and maybe make a sweet little dish or two.

My "studio" (what was once our dining room table, since the wedding I've moved my workspace to the spare room desk)


Lumps of hard glass enamel make shiny smooth dots and swirls.




Taken during the fourth firing on this piece - melting lumps at 1500F. When they're smooth and molten, I stick a long sharp tool through that little opening and drag it through the melted glass.


Et, voila! It comes out like this:



This is another one I made that night. The two biggest pieces yet. They're about 8" wide and because my kiln is so stout, I couldn't enamel the back. It still looked sweet though, and I painted some varnish on the back to seal the copper fire scaling.



Her are more pieces that I made as gifts for those of us who helped us so tremendously during the wedding. Hopefully they're all being displayed with love in their new homes.







I don't like the idea of the little initials on there so much anymore. I think if I start making these for reals I want to have some other kind of non-alpha marking to brand them. A specific color swirl or dot combo? Another metal piece but twisted into a shape of sorts. A number?
Maybe I could number all the pieces I do, big and small, and that could be their name identity.

I hope that someday I can make a little extra money selling these on etsy. People love their copper enamel jewelry over there and I have found very few people selling larger pieces like mine. Certainly none with swirl and cloisonee work. Walking the Spring Arts Festival this year I wished I could build up an inventory to sell like that. Perhaps sometime this year I can do art walk in St. Augustine, or here in Gainesville?
Someday, maybe.
I always have to remind myself to start small, and keep loving what I do. No need to turn this into a chore.

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