About the service
Vitreous enamel is ground glass fused to metal in a muffle kiln at roughly 780-850 C. I work mostly on copper and tombac, because both hold enamel well and give even, predictable colour. Every blank is annealed first, then the firescale is pickled off and the surface degreased down to bare metal: enamel laid on a dirty sheet lifts off in the first firing, and no amount of later work saves it. The back gets counter-enamel. Without it thin copper warps, because glass and metal shrink at different rates as they cool, and the front face answers with hairline cracks you can only see once the piece is polished.
The technique follows the drawing. Cloisonne keeps colours apart with fine ribbon wires, soldered or set into a base coat; the cells are filled with wet-packed powder and fired three or four times until the glass stands level with the wires. Champleve puts colour into recesses cut with a graver or etched into the sheet, so the metal itself carries the pattern. Painted enamel - the technique Russian workshops call finift - is written with overglaze colours over a white ground, portrait, flower or a small landscape, and every layer needs its own firing. Colour changes in the kiln, and that is the part clients rarely expect: reds and pinks are difficult over copper, transparents over silver foil go deeper, and an overfired green drifts towards yellow. So I fire test tiles on your metal from the same batch of powder before the real piece goes in. After firing the surface is stoned flat, cleaned, and given one short final firing for gloss - or left matte if that suits the design. The finished plaque goes into a bezel or claws, and hinges, posts and ear wires are fitted after enamelling, so the kiln never sees a solder joint it could release.
Honest notes before you order. The kiln and red-hot metal mean a proper workshop with an extraction hood, goggles and gloves; enamel powder is never inhaled - it is wet-packed and handled with a respirator. Enamel is glass. It ignores water, sunlight and years, but a hard knock or a bent base will chip it, so this is not jewellery for sport, climbing, building sites or heavy manual work. I do not stamp hallmarks: an independent maker is not entitled to strike them. When the base metal is not precious, the piece is sold as author-made costume jewellery and I say so plainly in the description.
What the work includes:
— sketch, palette selection and fired test tiles on your metal;
— blank preparation: sawing, annealing, pickling, counter-enamel;
— cloisonne, champleve or painted enamel, your choice;
— two or three firings, stoning and a thin finishing firing;
— setting the plaque into a bezel, assembling earrings and pendants;
— photographs of the finished piece and a short care note.
What repeats and what does not: shape, size and colour scheme I can repeat closely, but the flow of transparents and the fine texture left by the fire is slightly different every time. That is how firing behaves, not a fault. A usual pair of earrings or a pendant takes 5 to 12 days; a painted miniature takes longer.
The technique follows the drawing. Cloisonne keeps colours apart with fine ribbon wires, soldered or set into a base coat; the cells are filled with wet-packed powder and fired three or four times until the glass stands level with the wires. Champleve puts colour into recesses cut with a graver or etched into the sheet, so the metal itself carries the pattern. Painted enamel - the technique Russian workshops call finift - is written with overglaze colours over a white ground, portrait, flower or a small landscape, and every layer needs its own firing. Colour changes in the kiln, and that is the part clients rarely expect: reds and pinks are difficult over copper, transparents over silver foil go deeper, and an overfired green drifts towards yellow. So I fire test tiles on your metal from the same batch of powder before the real piece goes in. After firing the surface is stoned flat, cleaned, and given one short final firing for gloss - or left matte if that suits the design. The finished plaque goes into a bezel or claws, and hinges, posts and ear wires are fitted after enamelling, so the kiln never sees a solder joint it could release.
Honest notes before you order. The kiln and red-hot metal mean a proper workshop with an extraction hood, goggles and gloves; enamel powder is never inhaled - it is wet-packed and handled with a respirator. Enamel is glass. It ignores water, sunlight and years, but a hard knock or a bent base will chip it, so this is not jewellery for sport, climbing, building sites or heavy manual work. I do not stamp hallmarks: an independent maker is not entitled to strike them. When the base metal is not precious, the piece is sold as author-made costume jewellery and I say so plainly in the description.
What the work includes:
— sketch, palette selection and fired test tiles on your metal;
— blank preparation: sawing, annealing, pickling, counter-enamel;
— cloisonne, champleve or painted enamel, your choice;
— two or three firings, stoning and a thin finishing firing;
— setting the plaque into a bezel, assembling earrings and pendants;
— photographs of the finished piece and a short care note.
What repeats and what does not: shape, size and colour scheme I can repeat closely, but the flow of transparents and the fine texture left by the fire is slightly different every time. That is how firing behaves, not a fault. A usual pair of earrings or a pendant takes 5 to 12 days; a painted miniature takes longer.
