Guild of Enamellers - Conference Classes

Above is the Art Clay & Enamel pendant I made after taking Mr Ueedas class at the Guild of Enamellers conference. If you're interested in enamelling it's worth joining the Guild of Enamellers and learning from the immensely talented fellow members. I went to this years conference and would've loved to have done ALL of the many classes on offer.
Membership benefits include:
A quarterly journal of information, tips and techniques for both the beginner and experienced enameller plus sources of materials and equipment.
Access to the Guild’s library of books and VIDEO/DVDs. (UK only)
Opportunity to attend regional workshops (fantastic ones!)
Opportunity to attend the Guild's Annual Conference, a weekend of workshops, talks and apply to have your work assessed for an award....
All of this costs the princely sum of just £20.00 amazing!

This years conference classes included:
Jane Short ~ Basse taille brooch in a day
Dorothy Cockrell ~ Cloisonne Mr Ueedas ~ Enamel on Art Clay Silver Jill Leventon ~ Fold Forming & Press Forming Lesley Miller ~ Stencils for Enamelling Janet Notman ~ Torch Firing Copper BeadsMany people were trying these things for the first time so the results are fantastic! I'm putting together some pictures on the Art Clay embellishment and enamel class I took with Toshihide Ueeda ~ it was truly a wonderful experience and he and Daisukeb Minagawa (his interpreter) made it a very pleasant learning experience.
Can't wait until the next conference!

Nic xx

Enamel Testers Lavenders, Purples, Golds and Reds

Above are my third set of enamel samplers (see the first Opaques HERE and last weeks set below). As mentioned previously these test firings are direct onto well Burnished Silver Clay.
On my screen, the colours are quite true, with the exception of Rich Ruby Red (which you have to tilt to the light to see a deep dark red) but feel free to ask questions or there's a MUCH higher res photo on my Flickr photo stream.
All comments and experience sharing welcome & feel free to link to any colour tests of your own!
Hope this is useful to folks :)
Nic xx

Soyer Jewellery Enamels - Colour Testers

Above are my second set of enamel samplers (see the first Opaques HERE). I've tried to photograph the colours as accurately as possible but feel free to ask questions or there's a higher res photo on my Flickr photo stream. Not every colour is probably at it's best, they might be changed by different temps or times but I've followed the temperature notes in the catalogues as much as possible. My personal favourite from this group is Soyer Jewellery Enamels 27 Deep Blue, which has made a perfect "Night Sky" for my "Not a Creature was Stirring" brooch.
All comments and experience sharing welcome & feel free to link to any colour tests of your own! :)
Nic xx

Christmas Designs and Enamel Prep.

I seem to get in a panic about Christmas earlier every year! I aim for an August start… but it can be hard to find the time, especially when I've been lucky enough to receive plenty of commissions. Ah well, better late than never! Here's the prototype of a brooch design I'm working on. It might also end up being a box pendant..

As you can see, there's still plenty of work to do, but the idea is that there will be a back piece, which will have dark blue enamel or resin added. I'm also going to add a star to the back, maybe top RH corner?

Then the text needs tidying up....and plenty of sanding and finishing before seeing what our little mousie will look like fired!

My final thing for today will be to tumble this lot (prep for my enamel experiments) and finish off the cuff links for a customer order. Really pleased with how the JC stands out will look fab when they're oxidised.
Nic x

Making Enamel Samplers

PMC / Silver Clay is just "perfect" for enamelling, but if you're going to work with enamels, you need to know they change colour when fired! Another issue is many enamel sample pics are taken on copper and fine silver produces different reactions and colours....

Above are over 60 different enamel testers that I got from the helpful folks at Vitrum Signum. I've made it my mission to find a palette of colours I can work with on fine silver. Hopefully by documenting my experiments I'll save you some time and trouble.

To make each sample as equal as possible (and to allow for future identification) I've made 64 sampler leaves (+extras) engraving the make and colour reference on the back of each one. I also added LowF to low temp enamels and HF to Higher Temp ones. Eventually they'll create a very useful, colourful graduated sampler necklace!

Above are my first 15 enamel samplers. I've tried to photograph the colours as accurately as possible and have added some notes. Not every colour is probably at it's best, they might be changed by different temps or times but I've followed the temperature notes in the catalogues as much as possible. My personal favourite from this group is Soyer Jewellery Enamels 606 Moss Green, which although labelled as Opaque is surprisingly transparent.

All comments and experience sharing welcome! :)
Nic xx