A New Color Adventure: Enameled Beads

I spent an afternoon at a friend's studio last week, learning how to torch fire enamels.  I've been wanting to learn for a few years now.  I love playing with color, so this seemed to be right up my alley.

I was so excited when my friend, Christine, offered to show me the basics.  Unfortunately I was so focused on playing with the enamel, that I forgot to take any pictures in Christine's studio. :(  But here is what I came home with.

This is very obviously a beginner's attempt.  The top left bead doesn't even appear to have color on it, although it is shiny.  But here's what I love about enamel:  I can just fire this black bead up again, add enamel, and it will look fine. It is a very forgiving medium.  Next to the black bead is one that is ivory color.  It looks a bit darker in the photo than it actually is.  Next to it is one that was supposed to be ivory with an overlay of green, which is just barely noticeable.  On the bottom right is a blue bead, that could probably benefit from an additional layer of enamel.  The green speckled one was my last bead.  I started with 2 coats of blue and then I scattered green frit on it and got the speckles.  The 2 headpins have a nice layer of color, but some of it chipped off the ends.  I've since read that headpins can be a bit tricky.

Before the day was out, I'd ordered enamel supplies from Barbara Lewis's website and I ordered her book from a local independent bookstore.  I was so giddily happy that night. Enameling was like color heaven for me.

A few days later, my goodies arrived.

I tore open the box! Oh!  Wow!  I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning!

I have my biggest show of the summer in a few days and I'm currently in full panic mode.  So I haven't really had time to play with my new "toys" yet.  As soon as the show is over, this will be my next focus and I'm raring to go!

In the meantime, I've have an extensive enameling Pinterest board, which has tons of inspiration and tutorials, in case you'd like to check it out. I've also gathered up some wonderful samples of torch fired enameled jewelry to share with you here.  Enjoy!

AJE team member, Melissa Meman, sells both finished jewelry and enamel components. I hope my enamels will look this pretty someday!   Here are some examples.

Sue Kennedy, also creates enamel components.  Wouldn't these be pretty in some autumn jewelry?  Fall is coming up faster than you think.

Or, if you don't want to let go of summer yet, you can try these pretty lilac beads.

Ellianne's shop focuses exclusively on torched fired enamel jewelry and components.

And here's the shop that originally started my love affair with enamel, Teka and Zoe.  I am the happy owner of two pairs of earrings from this shop, (these are actually, probably kiln fired, not torch fired, but I find her work very inspiring and I want everything in her shop!!!).

So stay tuned for "The Further Adventures of Linda's Enamels".  I'll keep you posted.  What is something that has fired up your creative enthusiasm recently?

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy 

Saturday Share...Enameling Pens Trial and Error

Good morning, Art Jewelry Readers!  Since I post every other Saturday, I was trying to think of a snappy post title, and came up with Saturday Share. Today, I thought I would share with you my recent trial and error experiments with enameling pens.

Those of you familiar with my work know that I have a huge love of torch-fired enameling!  I learned from the master, Ms. Barbara Lewis!  Her immersion method really works for me when it comes to instant gratification in creating art jewelry components.  Recently, after reading some posts on Barbara's Ning site, and seeing lots of lovely inspiration, I decided to try some new enameling techniques.  After a little research, I decided to purchase a set of Enamel Pens.  These are made by Thompson Enamels and can be purchased individually, or in a set of 9.

They were a bit tricky to get the hang of at first...you have to squeeze the tube and apply a bit of pressure to the tip to get the liquid flowing.  You also have to make sure you shake the pen quite a bit, as the colors tend to separate.  I found some colors are runnier than others as well.

These were the 1st ones I did...I loved the designs, but my background colors got muddy, and they over torched.

The biggest learning curve was torching the pieces after I applied the liquid enamel.  You can't go directly into the flame or your dried designs will pop right off!   This is where I decided to use the tripod and trivet method, so I could direct the flame underneath of the piece. I didn't really get the hang of that method and reverted back to directly in the flame!

I decided to try some pumpkins and ghouls...here are before firing...

 and after firing!

As you can see, the 2nd firing can be tricky, especially if your base coat is a hard color, like white, to keep from getting muddy!  I still think these little guys are pretty scary cute!  Sorry for the shiny photos!

Next, I thought I would try on some bisque-fired lentils I had from Bisque Bead Supply...they are such cute shapes and the enamel finishes with a lovely crackle.  I enameled them, then used the pens to draw faces...Jenny, here is my attempt at an enameled sugar-skull! (Check out yesterday's post on Dia de los Muertes).  Here is before 2nd firing....

and after...

Unfortunately, not a success!  I think the crackle glaze made the drawing run more than when fired on a smoother finish.  See what I mean by trial and error!

The owl was a total last minute experiment, and he actually turned out better than the others...here he is again!  I will definitely be making a few more of his kind!

While not a total success, I have to say that there are real possibilities with the pens, and I will be playing with them lots more. Then onto water colors!!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share!  What new techniques are you playing with?

~Melissa Meman

Art Jewelry Elements Debut

Hello and Welcome to the grand opening of the Art Jewelry Elements blog! We are super excited to be offering this brand new collaborative blog to all jewelry designers who want to elevate their designs to the next level. While our team is very diverse in skill set and media used, every one of our team members creates handmade elements (or components) to be used in art jewelry and has had work published or about to be published. We also make jewelry with our components and know the quirks involved with working with handmade components.

Our goal is to build a community of people who love art jewelry, love making art jewelry, who aspire to make art jewelry, and to those who just like looking at pretty pictures. We will focus on building your art jewelry business, getting published, challenging you to stretch yourself and flex that creative muscle, lots of tutorials, tool and product reviews, studio organization, giveaways, news, trends, and so much more. 

Meet the Team: 

Today is just a quickie meet and greet. You will get to learn more about each of us through a fun interview.

Jennifer Cameron: That's me! Team leader. Primary media are glass (lampworking) and wire. 

Kristi Bowman: Creates her gorgeous elements using CopprClay and BronzClay. She was also my bead soup blog party partner for the 4th BSBP, which was awesome because I love Kristi's work. 

Linda Larsen: A mixed media artist who writes the BEST tutorials on her Objects and Elements blog and will have tutorials to share here too. 

Barbara Lewis: The queen (and author extraordinaire) of torch fired enamel components. She is also in the process of moving and opening a bricks and mortar studio in Florida. It might be a while before we hear much from her. 

Melinda Orr: Works magic with metal and patinas and is the founder of Creative Bead Chat on Facebook (it's an open group, so if you are on facebook, ask to join!)

Karen Totten: Last but not least is Karen, our resident ceramic guru who creates the most gorgeous components. I've used a few in my work.

This is just the beginning of what is to come. While we still have some work to do on the blog and our various social media site designs, please stop by, say hi, and stay a while.