[Jewelry making - Article 00030] - Re: [Orchid] Grisaille

[Donna E. Shimazu]

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    Hi Cherie, I haven't done grisaille myself but I know what it is. 
    It's the application of finely ground white enamel on a dark enamel
    background to create an image.  The finely ground white enamel is
    mixed with oil of turpentine and other types of oil to create
    different flow/application properties.  It's a very painterly
    process.  Instead of creating an image using dark on light (like
    charcoal on a white piece of paper), you're using the dark
    background of the enamel to provide the dark and the adding the white
    enamel to create the light, sort of working in reverse. 

    The firing process is supposed to be very challenging because if you
    overfire, the fine layers of white that create different intensities
    of greys to white get absorbed into the dark background.  Also,
    you're sort of limited to flat surfaces because you don't want to
    deal with movement of the background enamel as it will distort your
    white image.  You also don't want to deal with any background enamels
    that tend to craze (crack) for the same reason of distortion.  I also
    read somewhere that it's easier to work on copper than silver because
    the expansion characteristics of copper were more compatible with
    enamel, causing less crazing and movement. 

    Hope this gives you a rough idea of the technique. 

Donna

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