The Art of Living by Making Art

Jewellery inspired by nature and made by hand.
How I make it, why I make it, the challenges I face and the successes that come my way.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Art in Action

Enamel over embossed silver foil

This weekend I am spending all day saturday and sunday demonstrating enamelling on silver as part of our local cultural tour. These artists tours are ubiquitous these days but this is only the second year for ours. One of the problems here in rural Canada is that the artists are spread very thinly over a large area making it difficult for people to see many places without a lot of tedious driving.

Rather than open my studio which is only my basement and nothing special, I have partnered with the local store that sells my work and I am lugging all my stuff up there and setting up right in the window. It should be good for both of us. I think many people are intimidated by going to an artists' house especially if they are the only visitor at the time - it can feel awkward. By setting up in the store I think people will feel fine about popping in. Perhaps all the stores on the main street of our little town should sponsor an artist?
I'll write about how it went next week - hope my kiln will be okay and not blow all the breakers!

4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to bring your work to the public, despite all the packing and unpacking and hoping that equipment will behave. Anna what do you mean, 'embossed silver foil’? I like the effect.

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  2. Hi Sylvia, I made the foil by rolling fine silver sheet really thin on my rolling mill, you can also buy it ready made. Then I embossed it by rolling it with something that transfers a texture, in this case it was an etched plate with the design on it.
    To apply it to the metal you need to have a base layer of enamel already fired onto the metal. Then lay the foil on top, I stick it with klyrfire, and fire it again. Then you can sift another layer of enamel over top of foil to colour it and seal it in place. Hope this helps - it is a fun technique I use it a lot in my production work.

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  3. Thanks Anna for your detailed explanation. I love the effect. As yet I don’t have a rolling mill but it is on my wish list, a long way down the track.

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  4. Actually you could get a pretty good effect without a rolling mill because the foil is so thin. You would have to buy the foil obviously but then you could lay it over something that had a good deep texture. Then you can press it in with your fingers or with the back of a spoon (carefully). Then very carefully peel it off. It might be a good idea to start with copper foil until you get the hang of it.

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