I had a wonderful day today, learning to enamel with Rachel Gogerly. Rachel is a fantastic craftswoman, artist and tutor.
A few months ago, I did an introductory day with her, producing these samples.
We used the wet layering technique, and even carved our own spatula out of goose feathers! Of course, I made many of the classic beginners’ mistakes like putting my greasy paws on the enamel before firing, which dulls the lovely transparency. So nice of me to give Rachel the opportunity to teach the class how to remedy these mishaps! Hmm someone had to do it I guess!
I was very excited this morning to be traveling to my second class – how to blend colours.
Step 1 – choosing our colours. Like kids in a candy shop!
Step 2 – grinding the powder or lumps in a pestle and mortar, until the enamel is the consistency of caster sugar
Step 3 – washing the enamel and transferring to our dishes
Step 4 – wet layering and blending. This is Rachel in action (a bit blurry…)
We used two techniques – blending two colours together, and using flux to get a gradation of the same colour. My first sample was a bit hit and miss, with the middle colours just NOT blending! But they would be lovely on the same piece separated by a silver line.
One of the students is a professional jewelry maker and engraver, who brought his own piece – stunning… He did this free hand! I’m looking for an engraving class or workshop at the moment, so had a quick chat. According to him, it’s easy! Well, he has been doing it 34 years… Something tells me, as with most of these things, it’s going to be harder than it look!
A great day, made even better by sunny weather and a picnic on the lawn outside for lunch. I’m now bursting with ideas and have already signed up for my next class! I’ve also been playing with dry sieving and decals, …
… but more on that another day. Now… time for a cuppa and some more knitting. Bye for now!
Aventures in Silver 