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09/01/2006: "enameling 101 : part one"

when i was shopping for my enameling gear and before that when i was trying to decide whether or not to take the class, i did a lot of searching around on the web for anything i could read up about enameling. there is not much out there. so in the interest of helping out the next person who does a little searching on the subject, i present enameling 101. here is a bit about my tools, process, what i have learned so far and some finished projects.

this is my little baby kiln. yes, it is tiny. it works great. all i do is plug it in, wait about 45 min for it to heat up and we are ready to go. the kiln heats up to about 1450 degrees. this makes it the perfect temperature for glass and precious metal clay (which i know next to nothing about, that will have to wait for another class).
so, step one is plugging it in. step two is what you do while you are waiting for it to heat up - clean and prep. i do enameling on copper. so, i start with a punched copper shape of some variety. it is about the thickness of a penny and i have all kinds of different shapes.

first i punch a hole with my nifty little hole punch. with the punch i can put multiple holes or put them anywhere i want. much better than pre-punched shapes.

next, file sharp corners, rough spots etc so it is nice and smooth.
and finally clean it. copper shapes come coated in a bit of oil and the glass doesn't stick well if that is there.

at my class we cleaned the pieces with soft scrub, which i don't like because of the bleach and i have to wear gloves to do it. figuring that if the goal was to cut oil and dish detergent is perfect for that, i tried washing with a scrubby sponge and dish soap last night. worked great. End of Part One.