Hello Orchidians, and Noel,
Noel it was lovely to meet you at the Orchid Dinner during the SNAG
conference, as well as so many other Orchadians!
I’m just home from an Art Festival, and have just caught up on the
Orchid posts. I see that the issue of the term enamel has come up
again, and so I find that I again have thoughts to post to this
thread. : )
And, for Pet's sake, can we stop gnawing on the nomenclature?
With the greatest of due respect Noel… NO I don’t think that those
of us who want to share correct and those of us who DO
use vitreous enamels will want to “stop gnawing on the nomenclature”
as you put it, any more than we would want to lazily use the
incorrect “nomenclature” for such things as pickle solution, nitric
acid, flux, emeralds, sterling, or the name niobium in place of
titanium, or any other term for a material being used!
I think to do so would be completely counter productive to the
sharing of correct, useful, and helpful … which I was
given to understand, is the main mission of this Orchid Forum, and
the Ganokin Project as a whole.
I don’t see jewelry in the books that Charles
Lewton-Brain writes use lazy unspecific materials terminology. So
why should we in the Orchid forum become so lax or lazy with our use
of accurate names and descriptions for the materials we are using?
It makes a huge difference to the answers one would post back to any
specific question posted on the forum to know specifically what
material the person posting the question is really using. I am some
what surprised that you would want to defend using a loose and
inaccurate term for a material.
So it isn't traditional enamel.
No it is not enamel at all, period! not traditional, not
non-traditional… NOT enamel of any sort.
Neither is the Red Devil paint I put on my kid's dresser, but
that is called enamel. No one is misled by that.
I fail to see how one poorly and inaccurately named non-enamel paint
product is a reasonable defense for inaccurately naming another
non-enamel product with the same misleading & confusing term.
Additionally I think that it is a given that people will be less
confused about the difference between Red Devil enamel paint on wood
and vitreous enamel on metal jewelry, than they would be about the
difference in materials and their use in the production of vitreous
enamel in jewelry, and resins in jewelry.
I don’t think that anyone is coming down on resin here or you and
anyone else for using it, it’s a very cool product. But rather I
think people are sharing the truth that it is VERY different than
vitreous enamel, and that it is confusing in every sense to keep
perpetuating the inaccurate name and description in this forum
dedicated to the sharing of accurate about metals and
jewelry, as well as to the public. As would be the case if one were
to use the name nitric acid instead of the name sparex, or silver
instead of nickel, or Mexican opal instead of Australian opal.
Let's just agree to disagree, OK?
Noel No, not OK. I have to decline this request!
I will not “agree to disagree” if this request in any way implies…
letting this issue rest, and allowing people to continue to use
inaccurate names for products such as enamel, without voicing my
opinion and sharing my knowledge.
I do “agree to CONTINUE to disagree” with the misuse & inaccurate
use of the terms Enamel, Plique-a-jour, Cloisonne, and a host of
other improperly used terms for resins products and the like. I will
continue to post, and explain to any newbies who use the term
“enamel” when they mean “resin,” the differences between the
materials, and hope that my interest in accurate terms for materials
might help and contribute to this forum. And I will continue to do
the same with any other item, or material if I believe I have useful
to share!
I whole-heartedly agree with David Popham who’s post was very
eloquent, and I am personally grateful for posts from Alma, Louise,
and James, and to all the other people who’s posts clarified the
differences in the materials in question, and gave such useful
examples of how we don’t accept the same misuse of terms in regard
to other jewelry items, such as gem stones, etc…
It is with the greatest respect that I post this, and that I
continue to care about this issue, I in no way want to insult those
people who use epoxies, resins, or any of the brand name coloring
agents to create their work. I only want to clarify the difference
between those materials they use, and the vitreous enamel materials
I and others use.
With Best Regards To All
Sharon Scalise
@Ornamental_Creations
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~sscalise/