[Jewelry making - Article 00090] - Re: [Orchid] Gesswein Colorit enameling unit

[Allan Heywood]

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    With regard to cold enamels--   In my view, to compare cold enamel
    directly with traditional enamel ......" 

    Noel's  post perfectly demonstrates where the heat in this thread
    comes from.  The crux of the matter is the marketing ploy by people
    who describe their products as "cold enamels" and thus "trade off"
    the millenia-old reputation of vitreous enamel. 

    When the word "enamel" is applied to jewellery it implies only
    vitreous enamel - not plastic - not even very clever plastic. 

    To describe a resin system as "enamel" to the jewellery-buying
    public is as misleading as describing other polymers as "bronzes" and
    "clays". The active components in these materials are synthetic
    resins - plastics - it's as simple as that! 

    In several respects composite photopolymer systems (eg Colorit,
    UltraUV) are superior to vitreous enamel. The main one is that as
    plastics they are less susceptible to fracture and chipping from
    sudden impact. For some applications they are "easier" to apply than
    vitreous enamels. Because they cure at roughly room temperature using
    actinic light they can be used in a variety of ways that would be
    difficult, if not impossible with vitreous enamel.  They are very
    clever materials, and should be treated on their own merits as Noel
    rightly suggests; their possibilities as embellishing materials are
    extensive and in the right hands they will be very exciting - there's
    no argument about that. 

    The argument is simply that they are not what the public understand
    to be "enamels". 

    It's an economic imperative that drives this sort of poor-taste
    appropriation of the mystique and aura of a demanding craft.   By
    equating the two materials in the public mind both the original and
    the imposter are devalued.  Using these sorts of synthetic resin
    systems demands about the same amount of skill as the average 5 year
    old's colouring-in book. 

    John Ruskin had it pegged I reckon:  "There is hardly anything in
    the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little
    cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's
    lawful prey" 

cheers
Al Heywood

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