When looking for cloisonne wire sizes I like to use Hauser Miller, but they are no longer in business. *( Since they have closed I use David Fell Refinery for all my metal purchases.
I use 24k gold wire in my gold jewelry. The readily available cloisonne wire size is .005 x.040 the taller cloisonné wire as in this jewel. I enjoy the depth in color that can be achieved with deeper enamels.
Sometimes when you are creating smaller jewels like earrings the .008. x .032 cloisonne wire sizes is shorter in height so I can keep the weight down by applying less layers of enamel.
The total thickness of these cloisonné enamel gold earrings is 1.5 mm. with a 24 ga fine silver disc in the center where is not much room for my cloisonné wires, yet I have them on both sides of the fine silver disc. The wires might be 1/8 of a mm here.
On the front of these earrings, the wires are thicker and a bit higher. It is nice to be able to customize these wires to your needs. To do this I keep on hand 26ga 24k gold round wire and draw it down to maybe 32 ga. round wire, then roll it out to create a very thin and short cloison wire as here on the back of these earrings.
When Andre 3000 from OutKast order the Mandrill Cloisonne Pendant, he wanted thicker cloisonne wire sizes in the jewel. Here I cut the wires from fine silver sheet to achieve the look he was after.
Happy enameling.
Should i put enamel on the back of all pieces? What high do you recomend for the Basel?
Hi Neda, yes if cloisonné. The thickness of counter enamel is the same thickness of the front enamel. Sometimes it is hard to tell if you have enough on the back. When in question you can put a scrap piece of cloisonné wire on the back to be sure it is same as front. Also the front cracks if there is not enough counter enamel.
If you mean bezel on your setting the enamel jewel, my average height is 2.5 mm. Just depends how deep you like your enamels. If you mean the height of cloison wire that also depends on how deep you want the enamels. An average height is 0.40
Hope this helps, Patsy
Is 18 gauge x 30 gauge wire a good measurement for cloisonne?
Hi Lorena, I usually use 18 x 28 ga.
So the first number is the thickness and the second is the height.
yes, Janet.
Thanks for the visit!
Hello, I have 2 questions:
Re cloisonne wire I don’t understand what these sizes represent: .005 x.040.
Is this per inch? Is one the thickness and the other the height?
Do you use liquid enamel and do you have any information on it?
Thank you
MR
IMAGE LINK
Hi MB,
Thanks for the visit. Yes it is the thickness and the height. It also comes in a thicker and shorter size. .008 x 0.32.
Do you mean faux enamel. No I do not. I use vitreous enamels.
Have a great day! Patsy