Enamels

Yigal Sharaby

<div class="jnlc-container" id="jnlc-container"> <img src="http://static2.shopify.com/s/files/1/0014/5692/files/Enamels.jpg" width="360" height="200" class="floatLeft" /> enamels Enameling is the fusion of a special powdered glass to metals. The glass can be applied using different techniques, but all methods use heat to melt the powder and adhere to normally gold, bronze or copper. Enamels have many excellent properties: it is smooth, hard, chemically resistant, durable, can assume brilliant, long-lasting colors, and cannot burn. Its disadvantages are its tendency to crack or shatter when the substrate is stressed or bent. The bright, jewel-like colors have made enamel a favored choice for designers of jewelry, such as ancient beads, the fantastic eggs of Peter Carl Fabergé, enameled copper boxes of Battersea enamellers, and artists such as George Stubbs and other painters of portrait miniatures. Enameling was also a favorite technique of the Art Nouveau jewelers. Little is known about the origin of enameling. The earliest known enameled artifacts, found around the Mediterranean, date from the sixth century BC. These enameled jewelry pieces and small figurines with enamel fused to gold backing probably came from Greece. The Egyptians had cemented inlaid bits of colored glasses in metal filigree and clay long before this. The Mediterranean enamellists adapted this. They used metal wires or strips attached to the metal backing to create separate areas, packed powdered glass into the cells, and fuse it by heating. This was the primary enameling technique in that region for the next ten centuries. The Celtic tribes that spread across Europe had established themselves in the British Isles by about 400 BC. They decorate their weapons and other objects with enamels. Instead of attaching wire strips to the metal backing, the Celts gouged out cells or cast them in the metal backing to contain the enamel. Then they poured molten glass, melted separately, into them. They probably developed these techniques independently of the Mediterranean enamelists. Celtic enamelwork was the major influence on European enameling until the third century AD. Items from their workshops have been found all over northern Europe. Fine Celtic enameled pieces from the Middle Ages found in Ireland reveal an advanced state of this art there. The Angles and Saxons who invaded Britain were making enameled clasps, buttons, belts, and brooches by the sixth century AD. Modern excavation of the Sutton Hoo burial ship treasure in Southern England yielded a solid gold pursemount decorated with enameled falcons, ducks and armored warriors. It also had garnet gems set in it. Today, enamels are not as rare as gemstones, but the skill to create fine enamelwork is. Technical advances in materials and tools have made this art more attractive to today's jewelry artisans. They create beautiful pieces that typically reach a small local market. These enameled products intrigue the senses and add an extra touch of beauty to their underlying jewelry. <a href="/pages/other-techniques"><img src='http://static1.shopify.com/s/files/1/0014/5692/files/Back1.png' alt='' /></a> </div>

2008-10-10T22:23:03-04:00

enamels 498272

2008-10-10T22:23:03-04:00

145692

Enamels 2008-11-04T12:15:07-05:00 <notextile> <div class="jnlc-container" id="jnlc-container"> <img src="http://static2.shopify.com/s/files/1/0014/5692/files/Enamels.jpg" width="360" height="200" class="floatLeft" /> enamels Enameling is the fusion of a special powdered glass to metals. The glass can be applied using different techniques, but all methods use heat to melt the powder and adhere to normally gold, bronze or copper. Enamels have many excellent properties: it is smooth, hard, chemically resistant, durable, can assume brilliant, long-lasting colors, and cannot burn. Its disadvantages are its tendency to crack or shatter when the substrate is stressed or bent. The bright, jewel-like colors have made enamel a favored choice for designers of jewelry, such as ancient beads, the fantastic eggs of Peter Carl Fabergé, enameled copper boxes of Battersea enamellers, and artists such as George Stubbs and other painters of portrait miniatures. Enameling was also a favorite technique of the Art Nouveau jewelers. Little is known about the origin of enameling. The earliest known enameled artifacts, found around the Mediterranean, date from the sixth century BC. These enameled jewelry pieces and small figurines with enamel fused to gold backing probably came from Greece. The Egyptians had cemented inlaid bits of colored glasses in metal filigree and clay long before this. The Mediterranean enamellists adapted this. They used metal wires or strips attached to the metal backing to create separate areas, packed powdered glass into the cells, and fuse it by heating. This was the primary enameling technique in that region for the next ten centuries. The Celtic tribes that spread across Europe had established themselves in the British Isles by about 400 BC. They decorate their weapons and other objects with enamels. Instead of attaching wire strips to the metal backing, the Celts gouged out cells or cast them in the metal backing to contain the enamel. Then they poured molten glass, melted separately, into them. They probably developed these techniques independently of the Mediterranean enamelists. Celtic enamelwork was the major influence on European enameling until the third century AD. Items from their workshops have been found all over northern Europe. Fine Celtic enameled pieces from the Middle Ages found in Ireland reveal an advanced state of this art there. The Angles and Saxons who invaded Britain were making enameled clasps, buttons, belts, and brooches by the sixth century AD. Modern excavation of the Sutton Hoo burial ship treasure in Southern England yielded a solid gold pursemount decorated with enameled falcons, ducks and armored warriors. It also had garnet gems set in it. Today, enamels are not as rare as gemstones, but the skill to create fine enamelwork is. Technical advances in materials and tools have made this art more attractive to today's jewelry artisans. They create beautiful pieces that typically reach a small local market. These enameled products intrigue the senses and add an extra touch of beauty to their underlying jewelry. <a href="/pages/other-techniques"><img src='http://static1.shopify.com/s/files/1/0014/5692/files/Back1.png' alt='' /></a> </div> </notextile>