A Comparison of Cloisonne Finishing Techniques

How did this start?  Tangentially, like everything else in my life.  A couple days ago, I was making test pieces of some of my new enamels.



Two of the pieces I made were particularly striking.  These are Pearly Karpel's Kelly Green #463 and Blue Lake #213



… so I decided I wanted to make something with them.  Then I remembered that I had been wanting do some testing to compare hand-finishing of cloisonné versus finishing using a JoolTool.  My M.O. to date has kind of been to use both, but I want to isolate the methods in order to determine any differences.  Also, I know a number of awesome enamellists who mention not liking to use the JoolTool in the finishing process.  I don’t know if it’s because they just prefer other methods or if there’s something specific it does that is not good for the process.

So I grabbed two thick copper pieces that I had in a bin, cleaned them, and gave them a counter-enamel.  Then I created the fronts: flux and fire, silver foil and fire, flux and fire, cloisonné wires and fire, first layer of wet pack and fire, second layer of wet pack and fire, third layer of wet pack and fire, fourth layer of wet pack and fire. 



I made both pieces similar (for comparison) but not identical. 

When the enamel was at or just a smidge below the top of the wires, I began the two different finishing methods.

The first piece was finished all by hand, using only four different grits of diamond filing sticks (and water, or course). 



After the 800 grit file, I washed the piece well before fire-polishing back in the kiln.  Here are the results…



The first time I filed a cloisonné piece by hand, I learned the hard way that I was also taking off a certain amount of skin, mostly from my left thumb.  Thanks to a friend, I learned about these awesome finger protectors at Otto Frei.

The piece looks good and feels smooth.  I think I need to work on my hand filing, because the very center of the piece has less saturated color than the outer parts, leading me to believe when I file, I go over the center twice as often as I go over any other parts.  Darn!  Aw well… next time.

So then I took the second piece and finished it using the JoolTool.  I only used the coarse, medium, and fine diamond sanding wheels (and water, of course).



As before, after sanding/polishing I cleaned the piece and put it back into the kiln for a fire polish.



If you follow me on Facebook, you have heard me say more than once that I am trying to learn cloisonné from books and online resources.  There are limitations to that kind of learning, but I can’t take any in-person classes until the pandemic has abated so for now… there are pieces of the puzzle that are missing.

One such piece is… when I fire polish, my enamel sinks just enough to make the surface not feel like one smooth piece of glass anymore.  Okay, so I can sand/polish it again… but then I have to fire polish it again and will run into the same problem.

Here are the three things I can think of to try to combat this problem.  Other people end up with cloisonné that is smooth as glass and I want that too.  It’s just an aesthetic difference, but I’d like to know I can do it.

I can try sanding/polishing with finer and finer grit (I have the option with both methods) and continue to fire polish hoping that as some point, things stay level. 

I can try sanding/polishing by hand and NOT fire polish in the kiln.

I can sift a thin layer of clear over the whole surface and fire that to smoothness.

Just more experimenting.  Also I may write a follow up blog post about the use of cerium oxide in the finishing process.

So what’s my conclusion?  Hand filing might take longer but you can have more control.  The JoolTool can be faster, but that goes hand in hand with accidentally removing something you didn’t intend to.  And seriously, the way I do it there wasn't a huge time difference.  Does that mean I know what I'm doing?  No.  But with my limited newbie knowledge, they took roughly the same amount of time. 

Granted, I made my big error using the hand files, but I learned from that (don’t pass over the center so much!).  Both pieces are very smooth on top (just the slight sinking of the enamel from the fire polishing as described above).  

Also, note that I only sanded up to 800 grit with the diamond sanding sticks (the by-hand filing) while the JoolTools wheels may have given a higher grit effect (no clue what "grit" their "fine" is).  I will be trying finer grit sanding on these pieces so stay tuned for that.

I’m sure I’m not skilled or knowledgeable enough to understand why some enamellists don’t like the JoolTool.  Moving forward, and until proven otherwise, I may continue my hybrid method of using both the hand files and the JoolTool because at this moment I don’t see a difference. 

I’m thinking that as I progress and refine my skills, maybe then I’ll have a more discerning opinion.

My Open Front Cuff Ring Tutorial

As promised, this blog post is just to show you my latest tutorial (click here to see the listing with all the detailed info).



The tutorial is called "Open Front Cuff Rings" and in the instructions I show you two different basic ways to make the rings... open and slightly adjustable... or with a stone (and not adjustable).  Within each of THOSE basic styles, there are still so many variations.  My template has several different shapes for the ring band itself... and then you can do other things to the metal to further design the ring in other directions (etching, rolling, hammer textures, stamping, saw-piercing, etc).

In the second part of the tutorial, I show you how to set stones on these ring shanks using pre-fabricated bezels.



Here's one without a stone, but I etched the metal first (you may want to check out my simple copper etching tutorial too).



So many variations to try!

The tutorial is a combination of thorough handout with lots of text and images (also links to supplies)... AND videos showing most of the processes.  You have access to the videos for life... there is no cut-off date.

You also get to join a private Facebook group for only customers of this tutorial where we share experiences, tips and tricks, inspiration, and more.

Check out these photos from some of my first customers of this tutorial.  These rings are amazing!

First up, beauties from Tina Faxas (click here to see her awesome website)...




Next we have Lin Karrels...




And Leslie Litt...




And Susan Sandeno...




And Maritza Heurtas...




And Dianne Culbertson-Jacques (you can see Dianne's beautiful creations if you click here)...



You guys are rocking it!!!

There are more but I'm waiting for their permission for me to share their images here.  Stay tuned...

A Few Cloisonné Pieces and A Mermaid

Okay, let's catch you up.  What have I made since the last time I showed you my jewelry?

I wanted to try setting some enamel cabochon (cloisonné, to be specific) into traditional bezel settings.  By "traditional", I mean flat wire, not gallery wire or scalloped or serrated.  Those other wires are very easy to "push over" which is a good thing when it comes to pushing metal up against glass... but I like the look of a traditional bezel setting at times (most times) so wanted to see if I could do it.

I made two pieces at the same time (because there's a lot of "waiting" time when doing enamel... waiting for the wetpack to dry, waiting for the kiln to reach temp, waiting for the firing, waiting for the piece to cool, etc.  So if you're working on two pieces at once, you always have something to do while the other piece is in "wait" mode.  So the first one I did was inspired by a friend's water color painting.  I went off the rails and totally ignored her awesome color scheme... I got more into trying out as many new colors as I could and ended up with this.



If you're not familiar with the technique of cloisonné, you start with a piece of metal (I usually cut it from a large sheet of silver or copper).  Then I anneal and dome the metal.  Next I add a counter-enamel (fire a couple of layers of enamel on the back or reverse side which alleviates some of the pressure of the enamel that will be going onto the front).  Then if I've used copper as my base I have to flux (fire clear enamel) onto the front, then I fire a thick sheet of pure silver foil to the piece, then I fire another layer of flux over the silver, then I cut and shape as many pure silver wires (the cloison) and set them onto the piece and then fire those into place.  After all that, it's a matter of building up layers of color by placing wetpack (moistened enamel that has been sifted and washed) into each cell (or cloison area).  The piece gets fired after each layer is added and I usually add about 8 layers.  After that, I sand the piece to make a level surface.  I start with 120 grit and work my way up gradually to about 2000 grit.  Then the piece gets washed and put back into the kiln for a final firing.  Yay!  After that, I start fabricating the bezel that will hold the new cloisonné piece.

Here's a photo of part of the process.  This is where I'm beginning the wetpacking of the enamel into the cells using a very tiny brush.



This is the second piece I did alongside that first piece.



The other piece of jewelry I made was this custom order mermaid with larimar.  I created the chain from sterling silver using the technique of Viking knit.

My New Studio Assistant, A Robot Vacuum

You may think this blog post is not metalsmith related, but you’d be wrong… in my world anyway.

Last June I was in some hot springs and got to talking with another traveler there.  Somehow we ended up talking about the fact that she got and loves her Roomba (robotic vacuum… you’ve seen the videos of cats riding around on them). 

I used to think I was the kind of person who would NEVER have something like that.  It just seemed so frivolous.  But I started thinking about it.  I started thinking about how every night when I’m done in the studio, I go to the hall closet and haul out the huge floor vacuum.  I unplug things to find room for it to be plugged in, then I move furniture as I vacuum, occasionally switching to the hose attachment so I can get into the corners and under furniture.  My vacuum has a bag system so if I think there’s a chance I sucked something precious up… I’m usually SOL (or disgusted by performing open bag surgery on a big spread out sheet).

So yeah, this robot vacuum thing was starting to look better.  After much research, I decided on the Ecovacs Deebot N79S.  It was in my price range ($179) and had good reviews.



The vacuum comes with an app you can download.  I ended up not downloading it for two reasons.  One, the app got bad reviews for requiring way too many seemingly unnecessary permissions.  They do explain somewhere why they need all those permissions, but I wasn’t interested.  I am getting along fine without the app.  The second reason is that I don’t NEED the app.  I don’t ever run the vacuum when I’m not there.  I like to be there in case he gets stuck; if he sucks up something too big or gets in a corner he can’t get out of, he stops and just calls out waiting for help.  Also, have you not heard the dreaded Roomba stories of people who come home to find their robot vacuum has gone over some dog poop and spread it throughout the house?!  Yeah, no.  

The robot has a remote control that works perfectly well for me. 

So here you can see a typical mess on the floor.  Not only are there a lot of little paper cuttings (from me cutting cloisonné foil), but over on the left (just under the table) you can see a ton of residue from sawing and sanding.



So it’s really nice to just reach for the remote at the end of my workday and turn the vacuum on for an hour or two (when his battery is low he automatically heads back to his charging station).

Here’s what the floor looks like afterward.



Oh, another thing that thrills me is he can get under furniture that my regular vacuum can’t.  Notice that station just behind him in the photo there.  He slides smoothly right under that shelf, which is great because that’s one of my sanding and polishing stations so the amount of ick under there is incredible.  And then if you look in the upper right of that photo you’ll see the bottom of my kiln stand.  That’s a corner and he goes right over that steel sheet, under the metal shelf, and gets into that back corner to clean.  Yay!

He has a little tray that gets cleaned out each session.  Since I like to just let him run himself until he runs out of battery and goes back to the charging station on his own, MY habit is to clean the tray out before each vacuuming session.  I think it’s a good idea for you to pick a time, before or after vacuuming, and stick with that until it’s habit because running him with a dirty tray isn’t a good idea.

Now, speaking of the dirt tray, look how easy it is for me to sift through quickly to see if he’s sucked up any important silver or stones.



Don't forget to wipe his eyeballs once in a while.  In order to know where furniture is and not run into it, he has laser sensors (or something like that).  His plan is NOT to crash into all the furniture, like pong, before redirecting.  Rather, he sees something ahead and stops an inch or two from it and changes direction.  If you see/hear him crashing into furniture before he turns, that’s a sure sign you need to wipe his eyeballs.

Now, I don’t know if this is just my house or what, but I woke up one night at 2am because I heard a weird noise only to find out my vacuum was off doing his thing.  I do know that if there’s a power outage, he starts vacuuming when the power comes back on but I have caught him taking charge more than once without me initiating anything.  So now I turn him off when he’s on the charger, just so he can’t run amuck without me.

I also don’t “program” him.  Instead I just use the “auto” feature which pretty much means he vacuums as much as he can get to, including doing the edges.  The edges is an awesome feature.  He goes along the edge of the room, hugging the wall, cleaning as he goes.

My floors are wood, but the reviews say he works on carpet too. 

So yeah… completely happy with my purchase.  So happy, in fact, I bought a second one for my living room.

Yes, I was away for awhile

But I'm back now and plan to add some awesome content.

Just a quick catch-up... I've been learning cloisonne...