IN THE STUDIO - my enamelling corner

People are usually curious about artist's workspaces, and also about HOW they do what they do, so this little post is just to give you a sense of what I do and how I do it, with my enamel on copper.

Firstly ...here is a photo of the door into my rather crowded studio/workshop:  My workshop is in my garden, just a few feet away from my house, which is just great for aching legs, no climbing up into the roof any more!

This photo shows my "enamelling" table, at the far end of the studio:

Top left are all my  tubs of enamel powders.  These are special enamels made for use on metal.  Enamel is, in fact, ground glass, so the powders look like....well, powder.  Sand, ground ultra-fine in fact.

  The copper bowls are bottom right...two of them "cut" with a plasma cutter, to create interesting top edges, and even cuts in the body of the bowl, holes thro which one will be able to see the colours on the inside of the bowl.  Using a plasma gun is "interesting" to say the least - I have my heart in my mouth all the time as the beam from my gun cuts thro the metal - while I pray that I don't end up cutting thro fingers or arms at the same time.

The process of applying the enamel to the copper is quite complex and has taken a long time to perfect - in fact, I do get rejects from time to time, since the kiln, shown below, plays a very large part in the process and often the results are more surprising than expected!  And sometimes not what I might have hoped for!

• Each bowl has to be carefully prepared - degreased - before the addition of the powder.  The cut bowls have to filed, to ensure that the edges have no sharp shards left from the plasma cutting. 
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• Then, the bowl is sprayed with a special adhesive, and enamel powders are sifted onto the bowl in a particular way.  Enamel powders can be transparent, or opaque, and they melt at differing temperatures, so experience is needed to have some sense of what might happen inside the kiln.  I have to say - even then, I get both nasty, and wonderful surprises sometimes!   Some of my fellow glassy artists call it "the will of the kiln gods"  !!
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• The enamel is allowed to dry and then sometimes, I will "scribe" patterns into the enamel.  Removing the enamel in this way means that the heat can attack either the metal below, or the colour below.  This will give varying effects, as does the addition of more layers of enamel.
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• The bowl is in the red hot kiln for a very short time - no more than a couple of minutes - for the enamel to melt onto the copper.  It is carried carefully to the kiln on a metal trivet, with a long-handled fork under the trivet.  This is a bit on the scary side! One hand needed to open the kiln, protected from the blast of intense heat;  the other hand, also protected,  balancing the bowl and trivet while carefully placing it inside.   Having a bit of a hand tremor is NOT helpful. 
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•  The time that the bowl is in the kiln will also affect the enamel...on the steep sides of a bowl, softer enamels often "slide" down and this creates the most gorgeous effects.  I try to achieve this, and control this as much as is possible
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• Taking a red-hot bowl, balanced precariously on a metal trivet, which in turn is balanced on the tines of a big fork, out of the kiln, is even scarier than putting it in.  But gotta be done!!!
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• This process is repeated numerous times, until I feel that the bowl is "finished".

Because of all the variables, no two bowls are ever the same.  This is part of the joy of this process for me. Colour ebbs and flows, often looking remarkably like flowing washes of paint.  The copper sometimes glows thro transparent areas.  The colours and effects are wonderful - and permanent.   Here are some examples of finished (available!) bowls:  prices range from £23-26

below, you can see the outside of the above bowl.  A soft white enamel is used under a harder green;  the soft white bubbles up thro the green, creating this lovely random texture

In this little bowl below, lines are scribed into white enamel, and the heat of the kiln turns the white to green in places - an effect I knew would happen.  The inside of the bowl has a transparent clear enamel allowing the copper to glow thro...imagine this with a tea light! Or three of them as a centrepiece of a dinner table!  I often put them onto round mirrors, which reflect the outsides...that looks really striking as a table centre. 

Finally, just in case you are interested, I have a few on ETSY too:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JACKIESIMMONDSSTUDIO  (click here)

I am aware that many of my blog followers are painters,  ...but we are all artists, after all, and I hope you managed to find some value in this post!  If nothing else, my life as a painter has informed my use of colour with my enamels, and with my glass - and it is rather nice to be creative in all sorts of different ways!

Next post will show some of my glass, and the processes involved.  Still learning there!  In fact, still learning in every area.

Do feel free to ask questions - happy to respond.

Jackie

Enamelling - a new adventure

Expanding one's artistic and creative skills by trying out a totally new medium, can be exciting and enervating. It can lead to important self-discoveries as you try out new ideas, finding some which will inspire you,  and some which are hugely challenging for you, as you work outside of your usual "comfort zone" .   


I have just returned from doing an enamelling course.

Enamelling, in the way I tried it, was a magical fusion of art and craft. Creating an enamel image on a piece of flat copper, or decorating a copper bowl, was like drawing and painting all at the same time.  I was able to create shapes, edges, and drifting colour effects by manipulating the enamel powders, which are, simply,  fine particles of coloured glass, which are fused to the copper by heat in a kiln. 

I found myself unable to respond quickly and immediately to the changing "needs" or demands of an oil, pastel or watercolour image. This was uncomfortable and disturbing for a dyed-in-the-wool painter of figurative subject matter!  However, what I discovered instead was that the alchemy of heat and glass and metal led to surprising and unexpected results,  which, for me, was all at the same time scary, novel, and charged with excitement. I had to learn to expect the unexpected, and to respond accordingly.   

As you can see from the photo above, I produced both bowls and flat panels.  The bowls were heart-stoppingly unpredictable;  I truly had to learn to "go with the flow" - bit of a pun there, since enamel on a curved surface will flow, often in unexpected ways.   I discovered that every bowl is unique, and in some of my bowls, there is an unseen story of emotional turmoil....some bowls which emerged from the kiln causing despair and despondency, were only successful after many a deep breath, and further firings with heart in mouth.  The panels, on the other hand, were easier to control, and provided me with a way to work small - something I have never done successfully before - and I will certainly explore this further; I love the strength of the colours, some of which are opaque, and some transparent, built up in many layers which gives them great depth.   I also enjoy the finish of the works - they glow, like small jewels, and look like small, beautifully varnished oils, with impasto effects in some cases, or watercolours behind glass in others.  

I feel these little panels will look rather special either framed or perhaps displayed on a miniature easel on a table..........so I have decided to acquire a small kiln and spend a proportion of my time exploring this fascinating new medium .

  

apologies for the poor photography...I have yet to find out how to photograph shiny panels!

 I would encourage all who read my blog to try out something new once in a while.  you just might discover a new path to follow, one which may provide new insights and ideas which will, in turn, feed into your other work.

Christmas is fast approaching, and I am sure many of you will be busy for a time with family and friends. I hope I may be forgiven if I miss a week, tho I will try to find the time to write over the holidays.  I wish you joy.