Many get frustrated as they try to balance the cloison wires on the base coat of flux as you place the piece in the kiln. There are several products you can order to help secure them. Most common is Klyre Fire, but if you need something a bit stronger try Tragacanth Gum. Tragacanth Gum is commonly use in securing granules in the technique of Granulation. it is a food additive and can be found here; www.lorannoils.com.
I have found it works best if added to water to create a milky consistency and let it sit over night before using. When in need to secure a wire or two dip the cloison wire in the tragacanth solution and place on the fired flux enamel jewel and set on the kiln for a few second as the heat will harden the solution.
Thank you. Patsy. I buy wire from Rio Grande and I used rolling mill to shape them to cloisonne wire to the size I wanted. Could be wrong packaging. Next time I will test wire by heating in a kiln before using. I was lucky to save the piece, it was a lot of wirework. I used darker color enamel (mostly green/blue) on yellow spots, so it’s not noticiable. Didn’t even change the design.
Great recovery! And if you put the wire in the kiln to test it anneals the wires and makes them nice to work with, *)
hHi, Patsy
I used 24K gold wires for cloisonne design. They have been sitting fr a while in a plastic bag, so I cleaned the with purmice powder and glass brush. So I thought hey were clean enough. However, when I fired them on the top of the clear flux (special flux for silver on fine silver base, it looked perfectly nice and clean after firering) – the wires all came out very dark from the kiln. I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to deep the entire piece into warm Sparex solution. The wires became gold bright again and all looked good. I washed the piece – brushed it with baking soda. But after I attached more wires and fired them again – my silver flux became yellow in some spots and nothing could make it white again.
Did I miss a step or did something wrong? I used Lily Root to attach wires to the base.
Nina
Hi Nina,
Sorry to hear of this, know it can be frustrating. The 24k should have been fine to use. I never clean anything, my 24k or fine sliver. Right from the package to the design table, etc. As I have had things happen and not be sure what really caused the problem. And here you have added many things so it is hard to know which caused it. Anyway 24k would not turn dark!
If the wires turned dark after firing I wonder if it is really 24k. Take some of what you have not used and put it in the kiln and see if it turns dark. = not 24k. Now I only buy my metals from one source. Because if something is not right I know who to go to. And that has happened.
One time I made an involved cloisonne piece, and when I went to sink the wires 1/2 of them went dark. I had to start over and my supplier replaced the bad wire, but I still had to start over.There are few enamels that can handle sparex. The only way to know is to test enamels. But again then I would not add baking soda to the pot also. Chemicals can get caught in the tiny crevices and discolor the enamels.
Not what you want to hear but it is time to learn and start over. Patsy