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Enamels and Enamelling in the Modern Era

By Erika Speel - The Guild of Enamellers

The Materials and Techniques

Enamels are qualities of glass that can be fused, with heat, to bond with durability and excellent colours, both translucent and opaque, over metal forms and plaques. Within that basic definition, the works created with enamels on metal give a tremendous variety of inlaid, ornamental and painterly effects.  

‘Enamelling’ describes the techniques – and there are several, each giving distinctive results – of fusing glass to metal. The most developed of the enamelling techniques are complex and give unmatched and luxurious colour effects and art work with precise control with these materials. However, far more direct, individualised and quickly achieved results are also possible with modern equipment, that enables independent artist-craftspeople to produce very ornamental, eye-catching results and creative designs with these unfading, versatile and precious looking materials.  

The Origins and History

Enamelling has its roots in the ancient crafts, and developed into several art forms over the centuries. A great production of enamelwork was established in medieval times, so that in the twelfth century there was a considerable output of important liturgical objects and heraldic designs. These have great visual impact with coloured enamel inlays. There followed the extraordinary fantasy jewellery of the Renaissance period, with delicate, virtuoso goldsmiths’ pieces enhanced with brilliant enamel colours. The introduction of the enamel paintings methods came in the fifteenth century, and this developed into various branches of fine and ornamental art: at first there were the notable Limoges pictorial works, made in exclusive ateliers that flourished up to the seventeenth century. Far more delicate enamel painting methods were perfected later, enabling master miniaturists to create naturalistic, unfading portraits and narrative pictures, while ornamental painters created an enormous variety of designs. Such enamel plaques enhanced the finest gold boxes and the costly watch cases that were fashion icons of the eighteenth century, which have been keenly collected ever since.

From the eighteenth century, as well as the production of luxury objects and exotic goldsmiths’ work, there was the making of pieces of far lesser intrinsic cost. Copper was used for bases for items such as salt-cellars, small containers, candlesticks and other items with a practical function. In that category there was the rise of English enamels, made in a great variety of forms, such as miniature scent flasks, snuff boxes and containers for sweets or sewing or writing implements. These were ornamented with transfer printing, to give permanent images that ranged from lavish looking scenes to views of the countryside and sentimental or humorous motifs.

The nineteenth century was the period of greatest workshop diversity for objects made with enamels. Studios and workshops were active in such specialities as copies of earlier styles or in the making of items in contemporary fashion, including fine enamelled opera glasses, cigarette cases, dressing table sets and jewellery insets. Wall plaques were made as well as bowls and vases that were ornamented in the current art styles, including in the Art Nouveau taste. By the last decades of the nineteenth century great international interest was aroused for the enamellers’ arts, with the alluring pieces made to the designs of René Lalique, and especially the objects from Carl Fabergé, that were completed with such perfection of colour and gloss.

In great contrast to these art applications and styles, the nineteenth century was also the period of industrial enamel production. The bases for these were iron and steel, and brought very important changes to the manufacture of domestic utensils, as well as to the making of exceptionally durable advertising and transport signs, and later for architectural cladding.

Modern Art Enamelling

From the 1890s there was the important rise of studio enamelling, under the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. With that opening out of the previously restricted art and craft processes, it became possible to learn enamelling techniques outside the traditional craft circles. From that period there has been on-going and increasing interest from freelance artist-craftspeople taking up the materials for a wide span of applications, with a repertory of ornamentation from detailed portraits and landscapes to fantasy designs, with effects that are greatly enhanced by the brilliance of the unfading colours and attractive gloss of enamels.

Modern studio work can be fascinating and diverse. The individually made pieces include pictorial plaques, bowls and a range of insets for larger objects. Enamelled jewellery ranges from luxury items on precious metal to light-hearted and amusing day-wear items. There are few limits on the types of jewellery and other small articles that can be made in a freelance studio. Even with a small furnace, imaginative designs can be built up to create larger assemblies, by setting smaller sections together in a frame. The modern freelance enamellers can experiment to find the best technique to express design preferences: following traditional processes or developing an individual style with the wide range of materials now available. With these resources the designer-enameller can create innovative works or adapt motives from artwork in other mediums, from those that are wholly naturalistic to the play with colours by which enamels can be used for freeform or experimental presentations.

The processes of enamelling are wholly under the control of the artist-craftsperson, and this especially is one of the fascinating aspects of the art. While jewellers often make the entire objects as well as adding the enamelled decoration, other enamellers can choose to buy ready prepared plaques or dishes, to concentrate on the application of the designs only.

The materials are readily available from a few specialist suppliers, who also stock the firing and other equipment needed. There are books on enamelling art for collectors in current print, and also a number of recently published books and a Video/CD programme [this is available through the Guild of Enamellers], which offer essential information on beginning enamelling in various methods.

The firing for jewellery pieces and nearly all the art enamelling methods are under the direct control of the craftsperson. The firing process is related to working in a hot glass method, therefore of inserting the workpiece into the heated furnace. Each firing is usually only a matter of one or two minutes, so that some classes of enamelled artwork, while produced over several such stages, may take only two or three hours to complete. This gives an immediacy of working and personalisation of design unique to enamelling.

The Guild of Enamellers 

The Guild of Enamellers’ aims are to encourage and promote the art and craft of enamelling and the work of members. This is a society where members can spark enthusiasm and new ideas by sharing their skills and results of experiments. Application for membership is open to all interested people, with encouragement given also to people who want to begin this as a new craft, or to research the historic aspects of the art, and also those who introduce progressive ideas suitable for the enamellers’ materials within the modern art movements.   

The Guild of Enamellers publishes a quarterly Journal. While of modest size, the Journal is an important archive of enamelling. It includes regular articles with step-by-step details of making pieces, also historical and exhibition summaries, book reviews, information on new materials and equipment, and sources of supply of these. There are in addition articles written for the Journal on many on-going aspects of the art and craft of enamelling internationally, and updates on regional meetings, studio events and the important annual Conferences.

The members of the Guild of Enamellers have an important resource with access to the very extensive holdings of the Library with its many essential books, including out-of-print and recent reference literature, specialist journals and archival documents and theses.

There are seven Regional groups of the Guild of Enamellers, who welcome new members. The Regional Representatives arrange events that are set up locally, giving opportunities of meeting other artists, of attending practical sessions and occasional lectures.

Members of the Guild of Enamellers can submit groups of enamelled work at the annual Conferences, for assessment by a panel of experts. In this way it is possible to gain specific qualifications in enamelling. Technical and art researchers similarly can submit a thesis for assessment. Membership of the Guild of Enamellers includes full-time craftspeople, teachers of particular techniques and other experts, but many more members join as beginners  who are keen to explore the many opportunities of making original art work and ornamental objects.

The Guild of Enamellers website – www.guildofenamellers.org - is updated regularly, and includes images showing enamelled pieces made by current members.

Erika Speel

Erika Speel: erikaspeel@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.guildofenamellers.org