Emily and Ashley turn up the HOTNESS

Well folks, September is back again and you know what that means... enameling season is here!!! What were you thinking? Back to school season? Not really a factor for us here at the shop. Now a-days our year is judged by what conditions we can bear for certain metalsmithing endeavors. Nothing more lovely that warming one's hands by the kiln on a crisp Autumn day, but try sitting next to the thing in mid July while it radiates 1450 degrees Fahrenheit and you'll see why we only do it certain times a year.
Real vitreous glass enameling is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, eye-straining, back-aching process which only true devotees continue to practice. Champleve, the technique we use the most, is a method of glass inlay. First we create a metal piece with recessed areas-this can be done by either etching, carving, or piercing (sawing out a design and overlaying it on a backer sheet). Next we choose our ground glass powder colors and mix them with Klyr-fire (a tree resin product) and distilled water. Using a very fine paint brush or tiny spatula we fill the recesses in the metal with the glass/klyrfire/water mixture and let it dry. Once dry, we put the piece on a trivet or sheet of mica and place on a steel mesh rack which we lift into the kiln with that fencing-stick looking thing (sticking your hands into a kiln is a BIG no-no). In a few minutes the steel rack will be glowing a orangey/red and we know it is time to take it out. The glass should be smooth and shiny - underfiring will result in grainy or "orange peel" look (sometimes used for stylistic effect) and overfiring can change the colors to brownish hues or burn out the edges (which can also look cool for certain applications). Repeat the filling and firing many times until the glass completely fills the recess. Now the real fun starts! Grinding the glass down until it's flush with the metal and your fingers bleed and you've lost the will to live. Proceed to sanding and polishing out grindstone marks and re-fire to glaze the glass. Then polish again! It's really a blast. I kid, but really, it looks beautiful and (we feel) is worth it in the end. We hope you think so too ;)