Filed under: enamel, favorites, jewelry by ramune

After four weeks I am finally done with my first cloisonné piece! Sweet peas! This past week was a bit stressful and lead to some language that I will not repeat here. At the beginning of my class I finished up stoning and then put it in the kiln. As I was taking it out of the kiln (for what was supposed to the be the final time) something was caught and I mistakenly slammed my piece into the top of the kiln (insert numerous expletives here). I managed to get it out but part of the enamel was sticking to the trivet (it looked sort of like pulled taffy, but it was glass) and I had this white fiber all over the top part of the piece. Needless to say I was not happy but luckily I had another two hours in which I was able to fix it up and this is the result. I am pretty excited about it and look forward to wearing it. The pendant has a diameter of 2″.

I feel like it should have a title, any ideas???

Cloisonné pendant on my neck

Filed under: enamel, jewelry by ramune

I was hoping to have a finished product this week but the stoning process took longer than I anticipated. Stoning is the process of evening out the enamel and metal so it’s all at one level, a process I am convinced would give anyone arthritis. It will definitely be done next week, which puts it at 9.5-12 hours spent on one piece.

Detail photo of a cloisonné pendant after stoning

Filed under: enamel, jewelry by ramune

This is week two of my Cloisonné project. I added two new colors and am building up the blue. I was hesitant to put the red in but I am getting to like it. I think I should have it finished next week.

Detail photo of adding more colors to a cloisonné pendant

Filed under: enamel, jewelry by ramune

I am taking the enameling on metal class again this summer, however it’s only five weeks long. Since it is so short I am going to focus on one piece using a new technique (to me) called Cloisonné. At first I was not too thrilled with what I had seen done with this technique, but I am going to try and work it into my style and hopefully something interesting will come out of it.

This week I am posting a detailed photo of what I have so far, which is just a light base coat of enamel with the silver wire and shot (silver balls) in place. Next week I will begin laying down the colors. Eventually the silver wire will be (should be) flush with the enamel. I am a little nervous because one woman in my class had a beautiful piece with a lovely transparent amber color base coat and somehow after she put it in the kiln with the wire on it it turned a cloudy muddy yellow color.

Detail photo of first steps in creating a cloisonné pendant