[Jewelry making - Article 00991] - Re: [Orchid] Cloisonne Enameling on Cast Silver

[Allan Heywood]

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>      I have used both and believe me, fine is the only way to go. 

    Pat - there are literally millions of cast and
    stamped Sterling silver  pieces still floating around e.g. the
    Charles Horner Art Nouveau stuff - and I defy anyone to get more
    reflectivity using cast 999 fine silver than the majority of those
    pieces. 

    Hundreds of thousands of Sterling compacts, pill boxes, vanity sets
    picture frames etc have been made and many of them are still in
    existence. Although most of them weren't cast, the principle is the
    same - you are not enamelling on the Sterling alloy itself, but on a
    layer of pure silver. The surface of an object made of 999 fine
    silver and the surface of an adequately depletion-enriched 925 Ag or
    for that matter 800 Ag object will appear IDENTICAL once they have
    been heated to redness, with or without vitreous enamel covering 
    them. They will be a uniform, flat, no-gloss silvery-white regardless
    of whether or not they were highly polished prior to firing. 

    If you have brought up a substantial, even layer of pure silver on
    the surface of your Sterling that is what you will see through the
    enamel. If there are no casting flaws e.g. pits, inclusions, etc -
    and there rarely ever are if the piece is cast using the best of the
    available technology by some one who actually knows what they are
    doing - then you will have no problems. 

    Problems invariably occur when people attempt to enamel castings
    they or their mates or the bloke down the road have produced. While
    these might be perfectly adequate for the average bit of jewellery
    nothing but the highest quality castings will survive multiple
    heatings to bright redness unscathed. 

>    Also it should be minimum of 18 ga. 

    Walk into any antique dealer and inspect some old
    enamelled Sterling jewellery. 

    Yes, you can fire/pickle/fire/pickle sterling until the surface has
    no copper or  zinc 

    Sterling contains no Zinc - if there is Zinc there it ain't
    Sterling. 

    left, but even then you are walking a treacherous path with the
    stability of colors and transparences. 

    The incompatability with silver of enamels containing colloidal gold
    is well-known and occurs when there is ANY amount of silver in the
    surface to be enamelled - it is irrelevant whether one uses Sterling,
    999 silver, or gold alloys containing silver. It is an entirely
    separate problem. 

    Here are some pictures of Sterling pieces and one 18k yellow piece
    I've enamelled, including two Horner brooches and the hatpin
    yesterday ( hatpin is < 0.3mm thick  - try making that out of 999
    fine silver and expecting to use it without it folding up at the
    first push)  The pendants are about 0.5mm thick, the brooches, 2mm,
    the frogs were new work for a Melbourne jeweller: 

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~pictures/Sterling_01.jpg
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~pictures/Sterling_02.jpg
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~pictures/Sterling_03.jpg
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~pictures/Sterling_04.jpg
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~pictures/18k_01.jpg

cheers
Allan Heywood



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