Monday, March 9, 2009

My Adventures in Enameling

A few months ago, on a whim, I bought a sample box of enamels. I had seen some other artist doing some cool stuff with torch firing enamels. Traditionally enamel work is fired in a kiln...but torch firing creates some super cool colors and textures. Enamel is basically powdered glass. So when you heat the metal with the enamel sifted on the top it fuses to the metal.
Today I played around with this really big, thick circle of copper I cut out. I was envisioning a really solid shade of aqua. But as I layered on the enamel the top layer cracked and started to spread apart. So I sifted some yellow enamel into the cracked areas and heated it up again until it all kinda fused together. I love the way it came out. Happy accidents are the best!