Cloisonne Last Step, Maybe

Well this may be the last step, or I may decide to put it back in the kiln and make it shiny. Oh, by the way I got a kiln for Christmas! D found a Paragon on craigs list that was in really good condition, less then a year old and half the price. Yay! He is so good at finding great things at great prices.

After looking at the photos you can see where granules of other colors of enamel made their way into the wrong color sections. And, where in some of the tighter areas I didn't get enamel in at all. Darn.

But it's my first piece and was definitely a learning experience. The camera found all of the flaws. Which  makes me think taking a picture between layers might be a good idea so that I know where I need to make corrections...I do have a pair of magnifying jewelers glasses...maybe I need a stronger pair? (click on a photo to see the detail)

This piece is now completely matte finish and is very smooth. The texture feels like well worn sea-glass. The wires that outline the design are copper and will get darker and patina over time. It will be interesting to see how this changes the look of the piece. If it happens anytime soon I'll show it to you again. Here it is before I sanded down the wires and enamel, cloisonne rose.

 
This last shot is the back. Since I forgot to take photos of it for my other posts I thought you might want to see what the counter enamel looks like...kinda like denim.

Cloisonne Wires and Enamel

Here's the cloisonne after the first coat. I've been told that it's going to look great when I get done with it. I'm not so sure. I worked with colors that I don't usually choose. But I wanted colors that had good contrast so that I could see how it all works.

As you can see my wires shifted a bit during the first firing and then I had to fire them a second time since a couple of them were not seated in the glass.  My last class is tonight and I'm hoping I can get the glass filled to the top of the wires. I'm going to pack some enamel on before I get to class so that I can fire immediately and then hopefully get another coat on during class. It's a big piece and I should have listened to the instructor on how long it takes to cover a piece this size... 

A Mint Romance