Tales From Enameling Class: Back To School!

The new semester of enameling began today! This time around, we have 11 people. That may not sound like a lot, but it's a large crowd for enameling. The group includes four newbies. On one hand, I'm pleased that so many people are interested in this art. But the spoiled only child in me is like, "Damn it, I don't want to have to wait in line for the kiln!"

It always takes a while to get going when a new semester kicks off, but I made a lot of progress on my cat-themed Christmas ornaments. I brought in four ornaments, one of each design, and managed to apply a white base coat to all. I then got about 75 percent done on my "cat wearing a Santa hat" piece:

The Santa cat will be getting an extra coat of enamel, plus black tabby stripes. As for the others, the angel cat will have a wreath painted onto the white robe, the gingerbread cat will have a colorful button design and I'll probably put some kind of holiday decor on the cat in the stocking. I was originally going to write, "Meowy Christmas" on the angel's robe, but I'm not sure if there's enough room. I don't want to have a lot of empty white space, though, so I think the wreath will look nice -- and will be appropriately festive.

It's difficult to tell in these photos, but I added some additional white enamel to the Santa hat brim and pompom. This way, they'll have that "fluffy" look that the furry white area has on real Santa hats. I'm probably going to leave the cat faces blank; I like the idea of the ornaments being a little abstract. Besides, there are already a lot of colors and textures and I don't want the ornaments to look too cluttered.

It felt so good to be back in the classroom! These ornaments are taking longer to do than I anticipated so I'll be staying late to get in some studio time. What's also exciting is that the Y is holding a craft fair at the end of November. It's going to be a three-day-long event and I'm planning to sign up. I definitely intend to sell these pieces there.

Meantime, check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

New Project: Handmade Enamel Christmas Ornaments!

I know, I know, it's been a really long time since I've posted. Well, we were on vacation for a few weeks and it's been a pretty quiet summer in terms of my jewelry businesses.

Happily, things are picking up! So far, I have two craft fairs scheduled for the fall and class stars again in a few weeks.

In retail, September typically means the start of the Christmas season. Yes, it's realllly early, but I've seen many stores put out the beginnings of their holiday items along with the back-to-school stuff and Halloween costumes. I guess some people like to get their holiday shopping done well in advance so they don't have to contend with crowds -- and can enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, etc. without having to worry about everything else.

For this year's holiday, I'm trying something new: I'm making cute enamel Christmas ornaments. It seems like a natural thing to do with enamel, but I haven't made pieces this big. Anyway, my ornaments are all cat-themed:

Obviously, they are still unfinished. I won't have access to the kiln until class resumes next month so for now, I'm cutting out the metal shapes from 24 gauge copper. I drew those shapes free-hand, by the way, and then used each of my initial cut-outs as my pattern. I made angel cats, cats in stockings, cats with Santa hats and gingerbread cats. I think these Christmas ornaments will be colorful and fun, and when they're finished, I plan to hang them from a tiny Christmas tree.

From a distance, it looks like I'm making cookies or paper dolls, but working with metal -- even metal that's pretty thin -- can be dangerous. I'm using extremely sharp sheers and any rough edges of the copper can slice through your skin. I've actually spent much more time filing the ornaments because I want the metal to be smooth for the enameling process. I have a bunch of cuts on my fingers from my work, but that's okay.

This past weekend, my childhood friend Lani came to visit and wanted to try her hand at cutting out a metal shape. She thought it would be like cutting through paper and was surprised at how tough it is. With some work, though, she managed to make a little fish, which she called her "Sharknado" (after the movie, of course):

At first, she didn't want to file down the points, but gave in and let me do it after she poked herself. Her plan is to paint her shark and put it on her living room shelf.

As of now, I'm almost finished with Phase One of my ornaments. My plan is to make 20 to start -- and then make more if they sell well. I'm very eager to get to enameling, but I'll have to wait. Meantime, enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

Check out my jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.