enamel: step 4 and 5

Step 4: scraping to get sharp contours or lines.

Step 5: into oven 820 degrees Celsius (approx 10 minutes).

Coming out steaming hot - and shiny.

Valentine Lunch

enamel: step 2 and 3

So - having prepared the enamel plates with a warm tone (see Monday) - I reach for the screening frames to continue with the next step

Step 2: I use a special enamel screenprinting colour (expensive and very toxic).

and there goes the blue colour

Voilà: the eagle on the enamel plate. You can see the guides lines I used to get it where I wanted it. I'm not printing very detailed or exact as...

Step 3: ... I continue painting (adding some water to the screenprinting colour) because I want a painterly look - like on old blue china. I have small printouts of my sketches on the side to guide me. Now I'll have to let it dry for at least 40 minutes. (This photo - as you might have noticed - is not of the eagle (I'm not changing it that much painting), but of a viking style dragon.)

... to be continued

enamel: step 1

This week I'm going to share the process behind my enamels (for the commission) .
Step 1: spray painted a thin layer of yellow to give the enamel a warmer tone. A lot of the yellow disappears in the oven. It's just by comparing with one without the tone that you'll notice.

Today the photo copy machine was refusing to help me to prepare the originals for screening. Luckily I prepared 6 frames last week - and have 4 copies for others. But I have to solve this - I need to make at least 8 extra copies on transparent paper to make the commission.

Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) - take the time to see the clip introducing her world of photo. She committed suicide. Most photos are self portraits. I especially like her as Alice in Wonderland - a reoccurring theme in my own art.