{ A*hnllnn[*rtru*|M**tldft lssues71 Feb2002
JITflMYLIM
Evenas a child,I alwayshad a loveof art and the beautyof nature.
My introductionto enamellingcame via the Lapidaryworld. I leamedstone cuttingat the BankstownLapidary Club.Here I saw the enamellingwork of NormaAlce and her class.Initially concentrating on lapidary,I entered the competitionswith som6success, eventually deciding to try for the overallchampionship trophy. As enamelling was oneof the categori€sthat @ntributeto the overallpoint score ljoined Norma'scla$s in 1995. lmpressedby the potentialbeauty of the work and the scopefor expressionin enamelling,it soon becamemy preferredmedium. I joinedthe Enamellers,{ssociation which pav6d tlre way fcr my attendanceat iheir wo!'kshops and enabledme to meetother enamellers.
Fay Rooke'sworkshop taught me manydifferent techniquss and openedup my horizonsto the manypossibilities. In particular,the use of pliquea jour, cloisonne,shaping of the copperbase and the use of silverfoil. Debbie Sheezel,in harworkshop, taught me the useof glycerineand fine lines.My mostrecently attended workshop was JennyGore's. Sh6 taught me aboutstenciling, the useof lustre8,oxide and goldand silverleaf.
With NormaAlce's encouragement and help, I submittedthree of my piecesto the 33rd IntemationalEnamelling Art Exhibitionin Japan.All threewere included in the 1999catalogue
I try to incorporateand combinethe techniqueslearned in the variousworkshops to developmy ownstyle and to achievethe effectsI desire.Most of my work is basedon nature,panicularly fishes, birds, flowers and lreos. I prefermostly to use transparentcolours often over silverfoil- Priorto my introduclionto lapidary,I completeda TAFEcourse in woodtuming. My lapidarywort includedsilver working and the fabricstionof jewellery.I am able to createcomposite pieces containing combinations of woodtuming,lapidary, silvenvork and enamels.
Mostof the work I do is for my own pleasureand for occasionalcompetition. I havegiven a fetrrpieces to family and friendsbut havenot attempledto sell any majorpieces. (l can'tbear to partwilh themyet) Thereare so many conceptsto learnand achieve,l'm trying to graspand applythem as muchas I canto createitems of beauty. Another year of enamelling begins and who knows THANKYOU whereit will leadus. Hope it's a good journey for you all. Jimmy Lim, Jenny Gore, Rex Steele Merten,Antonia Lomny,
GP The deadline for material for the next issue is March 23rd, 20A2. All articles, commentsand news are welcome.Send to BarbaraRyman 71 George St, Thinoul 2515 NSW. NEWS Ph/Fax A2 4267 2939 @ "Muriel Wattinne will be going to France for an Email:bryman@ozemail. com. au extendedperiod. While she is away EnamelsArt Rite Productswill be minded by Cath Large. Although all contact numbers will be trans{eredto Cath it is better OPPORTUNITIESTO EXHIBIT that you put your orders directly through to her number:(07) 3371 8670. Very soon she will also be COL,OR.LIGHT AND ILLUSIOIY: GIASS_.IQN connectedto Powerup to receive e-mails. So keep MEru - a,uriedexh;biton presented by the San putting your go orders through and on enloying Diego EnamelGuild. enamelling." The Exhibitionwill be held at tne dpanishVillage Art @ pen Fromthe of Jenny Gore Center,Balboa Park, San Diego CA. lt's open to all "l have now almostfinalised the schedulefor my trip artistswith the primaryemphasis in the work being to the States. enameland havingbeen madewithin the last 2 years. Slidesare due by May 15b.The exhibitonruns from I wifl be leaving Adelaide on the 24th or 25th March, August 17 to August 30,2AA2. arrivein LA and startthe workshopsin Miami, (paintingenamels), then go to New York where their Send SASE to AEN for a copy of the prospectus. annualconference is held in New Jersey.I will show slides there and give a workshop on reticulation,then the followingweekend, one on stencilsin New York. BOOK REVIEW by Antonia Lomny Fromthere to Washington,reticulation, and to Wisconsinfor some R and R with a friend I met on the Here'sa gift ideafor someonestarting out in enamel- lndia trip. Next stop, Houston Texas, subject a new book on the basics of enameflingon copper undecided,then TempeArizona, also undecided.In San Diego it's back to reticulation,Then l-A, simplycalled "Enamelling". lt is by JoanBolton undecided,and Palo Alto, also reticulation!(Glad it's King and is part of The Art of Crafts Series published my favouritething at the moment!) Back to LA to by Crowood Press, UK. come home and collapsein a heap. Dedicatedto the Guild of Enamellers(UK), this new So, if anyonehas some suggestionson 'mustsee or book on enamellingtechniques is well presentedand do' placesetc, I would be delightedto hear from you! full of colour photographs,with clear explanationsof the various stages involved in craft or hobby I have been asked if I have sfides of contemporary enamellingon @pper, small"mini-project' ideas and Australianenamellers. I have fairly recent ones of the special technical and safety tips that should help the participantsof the India exhibition,but if you would novice avoid some of the more avoidableerrors when like to sent others I will be happy to show them, or if starting out enamelling. you have never sent me sfides, please feelfree to do so, just 2 or 3 would be fine. In fact the instructionsare well written and pretty thorough,guiding the readerthrough each essential I will be back in Oz by late June, hopefullywith some step of enarnellingas if on a guidedvisualization. For interestingenamel news! ease of following the instructions,the book is ring bound, so that it's easy to leave open when working Jenny Gore, on a selected project.
The mini-projectslook fun, doable,and appearto be e-mail: [email protected]. ap well graded, the only potential down side of the book
Note: Contrary to some expectations the following is Miscella n eous Resources not about relationshipscontaining human beings but rather what follows is a summary of a "break out" Daniel Smith Inc.(") sessionhosted by Bill Helwigat the EnamelistSociety (800) 42667 40,htp: //danielsmith-com Confergnce this past October at Arrowmont. Thanks large mail-order art supplies to Roxane Riva for taking notes and to Judy Stone for trying to transcribethem. Resources on the Web Controlled Breakup, as opposed to uncontrolled breakup, is merely experimentation with over firing www.ganoksin.com and pull through (the process by wfrich a layer of a must for any metal nnrker. Home dthe enamel is broken up and pulled throughan over layer Orclfd chat site and all kinds d information of enamel) until it is controlled to the enamelist's satisfagtion.Bill discovered that he liked the effects of www.pmclay.com the break up he got quite by acc ident one day when for info pmc site all about he over fired a piece he was working on.
www,frantz,bead.com These are the steps involved in controfledbreakup: gol4 silver foil and led l. 'Anneal to green" a piece of copper sheet. This is the process of placing copper in a hot kiln only Www.w4eappAnatus.com longe4oughto burn off the grease and turn the metal glassuorking supplies grey/green. 2. After degreasing, Helwig brushes on Thompson www.elery.com LCE 2 on the back of the metal and sifts a similar pnpblue resource, etching and plating supplies coloredenamel over the back that he will be using on the front. www.shshech.com 3. Fire and file edges. inexpensive custom dies 4. He then pours some liquid white (533) on the front of the piece startingat the top e(ge and letting it drip www.thistothat.com down to evenly coat the front. The surface can be answers all your questions about adhesives masked with masking tape to prevent enamel from covpringthe whole piece. He then dries the piece and www.etchallcoE sgrBfittoeshis imagethrough the 533. Bill calls this B & B Products "making a cartoon."Any color liquid enamel can be siie for a fai1ly saft glass siching product used but Bifl prefers the white. The piece is then fired. 5. Color is first introducedonto the image with a wash www.softflexhm-coq of qcrylic enamel or paintihg enamels or oxides.The source for colored wires piece is fired. 6. The next step to creating texture is to make a www.smallparts.com stencil and mask off the areas you don't want textured.You can put maskingtape tabs on the back source of all kinds on tools, copper tubrng of the stencil to help pick up the stencil from the piece. Sift or sprinkle a thin layer of coarse particles wwwjckgroup.com (6C)/80mesh) of a lead free flux (2030) over piece. publicationfor everythingpertaining to jewelry Particle size and viscosity determinethe amount of industry.Pt&lishes an annualsourcebook bregk up. The thicker the coat the greater the texture. The longer you fire the more the break up. Next sift to various thicknessesother lead free transparents80 mesh. Carefullyremove the stencil.Fire. Bill says that an Fveragefiring of enamel to copper is 5 minutesat 1450and for enamelto enamel.2 minutesat 1450. Howevgr,the "gallery"section at the back of the book Practicalknowfedge, aesthetic inspiration, a valuable providesmore inspirationof what an enamellercan summing-upand "show 'n' tefl",completed by a very aspireto, with some beautifufillustrations featuring pfeasantwind-down at the local pub, made this the work of UK enamelartists, such as Jane Short an excellent workshop and one to be recommended and SarahWilson. when it runs again.
All in all a well presentedand illustratedbook, worthy Post-Plique-a-Jour. for all first timers(including me)! After Val Aked's plique-a-jour workshop I rushed home and fired up my kiln while my enthusiasmwas still at 850 degrees. I fired a number of trial pieces as Jan$rv 2992., - by Rex SteeleMerten an outcome of my new-found confidence and I thought some of my fellow enamellists might be I was privileged to attend Val's latest five day interested in the results. Some of what l've done may workshopwith nine other participantswhere we were be as new for them as it was for me. introduced to the beauty, mystery, and frustration of this challenging technique. We were a mixed lot. One of the materials we used was Kaoryool.I found Some had already been introducedto plique-a-jourby that its soft, slightly furry surface tended to let the Val in prior workshops.Others, like myself,had done enamel sag a littlewithin the cell. Wetting and rolling some cloisonneand champleveenamelling either with the l(aowool ffat helped, but I couldn't but wonder if Val or at one of Caroline Delzoppo's inspiring there wasn't somethingbetter, more resistant.(By the workshops,or as part of previousstudies. A few were way, if anyone has any sure-fire suggestions... absolute neophytes, never having done any please?) enamellingat all. My father had used graphite blocks for setting up Many of us had some idea of the challengeof plique- solderingjigs, so I cleanedone of these and tried it as a-jour from previous experience with cloisonne and a base upon which to fire the plique-a-jourcells. This champleve. For me, at feast, the idea of making worked OK, but the surfacs of the graphite broke enamelflow, then stay, across open spaceswas quite down into a thin layer of powdered graphite which daunting. Having done stained glass work, I had was messy. lt came off the enamel satisfactorily,but it some idea of the charm of pligue-a-jourand looked stuck all over me. One advantageof the graphitewas forwafd to applying some of the same aesthetic that it acted like a heat sink, so that it took ages for principlesthat I had applied in macro to the micro the enamelto cool.This could be usefulwhere slow, world of jewellery. controfledcooling of annealed gfass is required (this is probablyafready well known to many, but hey, I'm Val, as rnany of us know, is an experiencedteacher on a steep learningcurve here). who inspiresconfidence by both her preparationand her calm patience. Always positive, Val soon Some years ago, I had experimentedwith transparent dispelled any anxiety or doubts with her clear enamel layers over pave set diamonds in platinum. explanationsof techniqueand anticipatoryadvice as This worked quite well, but I discovered that the to what to expect during the practical processesof enamel easily slid away from smooth polished chargingand firing(and flring, and firing,and firing,..) platinum.lt occurredto me that perhaps a very thin, the cells.One of the most hearteningelements of smoothshim of platinumresting on the Kaouool enuld Val's workshopwas her real-worldpractical expertise be a good way to keep the enamel from sagging which was manifested in the beautiful plique-a-jour through the cells. My platinum scrap tends to mount jewellerywhich she herself had made. These pieces up over the years, so I scratchedaround and found a - were an inspirationwhlch, although sometimes few piecesthat I could roll out to shim thickness less expressedthrough gritted teeth, helped us to believe than 0.1 mm. ft worked! that "if Val could do it, so can we." l've now done a number of test pieces, resting them The five days went, as they alwaysdo, all too quickly. on very, very thin scraps of platinum.The platinum A surprising variety of works and concepts were heats up quickly with the enamel. Firing times are explored- the majority,to Val's credit as our mentor critical, dependingon the size of the piece. My test and inspiration,successfully completed. Finished pieces were only small (fargest was about 10mm pieces ranged from spectacularbowls to pendants, square in area), and I found that firing seemed to earrings, objet-d'art, and lids. Some of the pieces averagearound 50 secondsto a minuteat 850 were breathtaking, leaving me as an experienced degreesC. They turn out well. The enamelfuses nice workingjeweller in awe of the artisticability and and flat againstthe platinumand a small tweek is all practical perseverance of my fellow participants. that is requiredto separatethe work from the platinum Having attended a number of Val's workshops,I am once it has cooled. Grinding-backtimes are much always impressed by their format and seemingly shorterand I don't seem to have as many subsequent effortless ffow. Everyone comes aw€y satisfied. fillingsand firings,although this remainsto be proven in the tonger term and with larger, more ambitious golds,champleve, crayons, watercolors, large scale pieces. Mosaics, portraits,grisaille, deep bowls, overglazes, Riso, screen-torch,firing, foils, basse taille, PMC Several things have really jumped out at me during enameling, plique-a-jours, electroforming, fenic this steep learningcrrrve. chlorideand nitricacid etchingand charts. Also a beginnefs course in enameling. 1.. Plique-a-jourenamelling is morechallenging than anythingI've done,jewellery-wise. Over 2OO pages, including 32 pages of color 2.. Keep written records of firing times and photographswith a preface by Woodrow Carpenterof temperatures as you go. Enclosed is a guide I Thompson Enamel. Prepublicationprice of the first devised for keeping such records. My mistake is 100, limited edition, 5x10 inch, sewn, cfothbound only allowingfor 8 firings! book is M9. 3.. Colours change dramaticallyaccording to depth of cell. peing innatelycautious, I startedmy first piece Pubfication scheduledfor summer 2A02 using tl.5mm thick fine silver. This depth made my Order now and save. Or reserve your copy. colours too dense. 1.2mm was better, but this would depend on the over-all size of the piece, area of the ENAMEUNG with PROFESSIONALS makes a cells, apd strengthof colour. Being used to cloisonne valuable additionto your library and a wonderfulgift and champleve,this factor really surprised me. (hey, for enamefists,art lovers,jewelers and collectors. l'm just a beginner) Noted enamelists such as June Jasen, Jean Jenkins 4.. Do Val Aked's next workshop on plique-a-jour and Audry Komrad have written chapters for this enamelling. book. 5.. Be thankful for any feed-back and sharing of knowledge. Please fill out this form'and'send to Lilyan Bachrach, 4 Rosslare Dr. Worcester, MA 01602 USA. Checkpayabte to LilyanBachrach www.ena{nglinqcla$sgsJ'gom ls coming (Reprintedwith permissionfrom the VitreousVoice, Enclosed is $49 chk: USA postpaid, numbered copy, EnamefGuild West December 2001 Newsletter.) ENA MELIN G with PROFESSIONALS. _Enclosed is $10 chk to neservecopy at $55. Plus Construction is nearly finished on postage. www.enamelinqcl?sses.com.This really exciting _Pleasesend me a card when this book is available resourcefor enamelingclasses has been madeso for purchase. anyfacility or teachermay fist directly on thesite. The _Pfease send a flyer to the name(s)and address(es) site is independent of any commercial or on the back of this page. Please Print- organizationalties. lts sole purpose is to promote Name enamelingby expandingawareness of the class Address...... opportunitiesavai lable. Emaii.....'.....''i;i.:p. It is expectedthat the site will be runningbetween Christmasand Ne,wYears. lf it's not ready the day €P this flyer is from the Enamel Guild south you checkin - checkback. newsletter and refers to the book, Enamelling with Professionals,which was mentioned in the previous It is consideredvery acceptableto tell EVERYONE issueof AEN. - Ed you knov aboutthis site.Tell Art DepartmentDeans. Tell newslettereditors. Make a linkfrom YOUR site. d'.J...J"a"J"i"d '.J"J"dtJ.d"i"i"Jdd"i'..J
Announcing a. unique new book for evefvone irytetestedin the art and techniques of enamelinq AustralianEnamel Newsletter ENAMELI N G with PROFESSIONALS 71 GeorgeSt ThirroulNSW 2515 - 6 issuesper a year Edited and published by Lilyan Bachrach,enamelist Subscriptions of BachrachArt Enamelssince 197A Regular- $20.00Student - $10.00 - More than 20 of the leading enamelists describe the NewZealand $25.00 IntemationalEconomy Air Mail- working method they have developed for their $25.00 speciplizedenameling techniques.
Topics include:Cloisonne with fine silver and/or gold d"d wires on fine silver, sterling,copper and steef, Karat "d"i..J'i"d"d"d v*rJ'Jr.d"d"d"d't'"lf* 4