I could spend all day enamelling, I just love the way the colours emerge when I add small pieces of crushed enamel to a design and then swirl it while it's in the kiln. I made this pendant and liked it so much that I was going to keep it to go with an outfit I had.
I sifted transparent shades of copper brown and light brown onto the copper shape then added and swirled glass pieces while it was still in the kiln and added a small millefiori (means millions of flowers in Italian). The different tones of brown gave a warmth and depth to the pendant and I had no sooner finished it than someone bought it so I didn't get to keep it to go with my outfit after all. This pendant, was created using shades of blue and mauve with small chips of glass being swirled into the design.

These next 3 pieces were made after someone gave me the inspiration of taking a small window of Gustav Klimts artwork then transferring it to my designs. This one had square pieces of copper wire put onto the pendant and I then inlaid them with mauve and white enamel. The background was a dove grey and the rest of the design was painted with gold before firing.

This piece was sifted with orange enamel powder and then I painted a flower and leaf design before firing. I didn't like this one as much as I thought I would as I really enjoyed painting it but the design didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.

I loved this design with the ivory background and touches of blue, a sort of reddish brown and then gold highlights.

I loved the simple design of this next piece. I had used shades of blue opaque and transparent enamels and the colours had started to burst through giving a lovely depth to the background. A simple blue millefiori just finished it off.

Conference

Easter saw Linda and I going to the Guild of enamellers annual conference. This year held in Nottingham so not so far to travel. We were on the University Campus which was very nice but I have to say there was a lot of walking uphill and down and my feet were aching by the end of our stay but it was great fun and fabulous to see everyone's work.
The theme this year was 'Pearl'. My efforts were not brilliant but I did manage to make a type of book out of silver art clay which I then enamelled in an ivory colour and painted a verse on about the pearl of great price.

Linda and I both put some work on display. Mine was an enamel box that I hade made out of copper foil. I made a small flower to put on the side and was quite pleased with the result - I also displayed a brooch I had made from foil too.

Linda put some of the jewellery she had made on display. I especially like the one top right but can't for the life of me remember how she said she got the pattern on but it looked fab. We did a workshop with Dorothy Cockerill on cloisonne. It was a fabulous day. Dorothy had to work with people who ranged from beginners to the more experienced but no one felt left out or not able to achieve something. My attempt is pictured below and I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out so well. Dorothy does some amazing work and if I can get some more pictures uploaded I will show you the cloisonne work she had on display.

Linda and I were surprised to see our workshop pieces pictured in the Guild's magazine along with several others. My little flower box was also pictured which was a huge surprise.

Saturday

It's Saturday morning and I'm getting ready to go up to the studio so I can spend the day enamelling. I'm in the middle of doing a couple of items I may take to conference this year but I will wait and see how they turn out. I must get a better camera so that I can load pics straight to the computer. I'm sure I can do that off my phone but I've not worked out how yet. Maybe get Marc to help.
I've 7 children coming this afternoon to have an enamel party, friend of my daughter in law. One of them is my grandson Ben and he is so enthusiastic. I'm sure everyone else will be too. I'll try and get some pics posted later.

Daisy bowl

A little enamel bowl I made and then painted with small daisies.