Hi Patsy,

I hope this finds you well and having fun! I have a technical problem with my 22K+fine silver fused element from the Arrowmont workshop and hope you don’t mind my picking your brain! I’m sure your opinion is the best!

My problem:
This fused piece of gold and silver is slightly overfired but still usable-from the kilns at the workshop. There are no holes in it and the silver slightly climbed the gold wires but not so much as to obliterate cells.

I enameled it once and the Japanese enamel I used turned blotchy and ugly, so I removed all of the enamel with Etchall.

I re-enamelled it. Got some blotches but covered them with dark colors.

Upon final firing (of course) got an open pit or two…like burst bubbles.

Recoated, refired. The initial pits filled, got new ones.PITS…..but why mostly near the wires??

Recoated, refired! Same thing, old ones filled, got new ones. Some of the tiny pits seem to go all the way to the metal, some not. They are only occurring on the side to be ground…deeper enamel; not the “Russian” style side. The Russian style side was fine.

I am now removing all the enamel once again!!

I cannot figure this out since I only used fine silver and 24K gold wires. The pits occur at random spots and a bit more near wires. I’m wondering if the overfiring created some funky alloy even though my metals were pure??( I did get discoloration in the enamels too…an uncommon blotchy muddy nuisance that I didn’t expect)..Or, do I need to boil in baking soda after Etchall…is it possible there was some invisible residue from that?

Thanks in advance for any input or advice you may have!

Jan

Dear Jan,

Sounds like you have a couple of problems.

One, when using the Etchall, an acid that etches out all the enamels, soak the piece for a day or so in water and use a stiff tooth brush to clean it well, or a steamer works great if you have one. This could help if it is the Etchall is trapped.

Two, but I have had the bubbles in bad enamels as well.

Usually you can tell they are bad after you have washed them. They will be floating on the surface, . This is not to be mistaken for the fine as you know, that you see when you initially wash the enamel.  fl This can cause bubbles in the enamels when firing or look like blotchy goo.

If the enamels are only slightly deteriorated you may see after a few hours they will be floating on the water surface. This degree of deterioration will look cloudy in transparent enamels and never go away!

THROW AWAY ENAMELS THAT FLOAT!

A third possibility is over firing. The muddy, blotchy look in the bottom of your transparent enamel could be from the fine silver interacting with the enamels caused from high temp. When we over heat the enamels they will climb the walls of the cloison wires. This leaves no flux in the bottom of the cell. In this fusion style of enameling I believe with the gold wrapped around the fine silver disc conducts the heat better.  Try lower firing temperature to 1400 degrees. I have over fired this last month as I have added more gold to the outside of the ring, also. This is the first time I have had the muddy, blotchy patches appear in the transparent enamels. And it takes place first in the warm colors that are more sensitive to over firing.

 

Hope I have helped and Happy Enameling