[Jewelry making - Article 00157] - Re: [Orchid] Bought Old Enameling Powders & More - Now What?

[julietg]

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    Reading books helps a great deal in figuring out what you've got and
    what to do with it, whether you've bought enamel, old tools or have
    picked up something off the side of the road, etc. I would definitely
    put on a dust mask and put the powders in clean jars with labels
    stating when/where you bought them and what you think they might be. I
    would not wash them at this stage because moisture causes enamels to
    break down and do funny things on your work. When you are ready to
    test them on metal or mica sheets using a kiln (or a torch) then youy
    can take a bit of powder from the jar into a cup, wash it by filling
    the cup with water, stirring the powder and pouring off most of the
    water with the finest grains carried in it.(keep a bucket handy for
    the rinsing, the fine grains can eventually cause problems in your
    pipes) That leaves you with the coarsest grains in the cup and that's
    what you want to use to test the color. You can place the enamel on
    your piece with a brush in its wet state or dry the enamel on a paper
    towel or shallow Pyrex bowl and sift it. Always wait for your enamel
    to be dry on the piece before you fire it.  Most procedures are
    covered in books like Margaret Seeler's The Art of Enameling (my fave)
    or books by Oppi Untracht, Edward Winter, Herbert Mayron, etc....A
    look through the Orchid digest under Enamel Bits will help you out
    with book titles and enameling equipment suppliers. I also recommend
    taking a class in enameling. There are some great guilds to join if
    you can't find a school in your area and their members can also help
    you out. Good luck and have fun! Juliet Gamarci  

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