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Enamels and Life Long Learning
Working in enamels means being open to the experience. You never know what surprises lie in store, some good, some not so much. I know I will never fully understand this wonderfully rich and complex medium. Every day I wake up excited to see what it has to teach me next.
For my students, this can sometimes seem frustrating. There is a strong desire for concise, clear-cut answers; a formula guaranteed to work in every situation, every time. It just doesn't work that way. Enamel is as much art as science.
As a teacher, I do my best to guide my students past known pitfalls, towards high success avenues and to save them from the mistakes I made myself along the way. But at the end of the day, the best advice I can give is "Let go of expectations." Quite often what my students get, even though it may not be what they expected, is still incredibly beautiful. The ability to see it requires the student to forget the picture they had in their head and really *see* what is in front of them. It takes practice, but it's worth it. It opens up a world of experimentation and adventure.
I've learned a few things myself this past year that I want to share with you.
- Fire Thompson 2880 Woodrow Red no higher than 1300F (704C) degrees. This is 100 degrees lower than I say on my video, but I've found the color stays much more true at the lower temperature. It may take a bit longer to fuse, but the improved color is worth the extra 30 seconds or so. It will still need to be applied over gold foil when fired on silver.
- When working on Silver Clay, don't use Pam East CounterNamel(tm) in White, Semi-clear or Red. They are getting a lot of color reaction. Black, Green and Blue work fine. All colors still work great on copper!
- When you are doing a lot of enamel firing, allow your kiln to get back to the programmed temperature before putting the next piece in. If the kiln cools too much it will take much longer for the enamel to fuse. If this extra firing time gets to be too long, the counter enamel may begin to drip off. Waiting just a couple minutes for the kiln to reheat between firings can save you a lot of aggravation.
I will, of course, continue to take you with me on my ongoing journey. Expect more updates as the years go by! Sharing just makes it all that much more fun!
Pam | 
