RERAMIC STUDIO 
THE ART OF ENAMELING ON METAL. 
Laurin H. Martin 
(continued) 
AFTER the enamel has been laid into the design engraved 
on the silver, great care having been taken to put it in 
every little point of the design, it is placed on an iron plate 
(see Fig. 5 in March issue) and very slowly dried, allowing the 
water that was used in applying the enamel to dry fully out 
before firing it in the muffle furnace. 
It is well to cover the iron plate with a composition of 
tripoH, sand and plaster of Paris. Enamel will not stick to 
this. The proportion of this composition is four of tripoh to 
one of plaster and one of sand. After the'enamel is dr^^ and 
placed on the iron plate it is placed in the muffle furnace. 
(The Buffalo Dental Mfg. Co. make a very good muffle gas 
furnace for enameling, see Fig. 6). 
FIG. 6-FUENACE FOR ENAMELING. 
The furnace must be quite hot before the enamel is put 
in. It takes about fifteen minutes from the time the furnace 
is lighted to get hot enough to fire the enamel. Never go by 
time in firing enamel for the reason that a large thing takes 
longer than a small one and some enamels take longer to fire 
than others. A small dish will take about four minutes. 
If you are firing a small silver pin and the furnace is quite hot 
it will fire in a minute. Constantly look at the enamel and 
see how it is getting on. It will at first look rough, bvit it wUl 
get smoother and smoother until it is done. If you are ever 
uncertain take the enamel out and look at it, if it is not quite 
smooth put it back again. I have seen so many failures from 
overfiring enamel. 
If you overfire enamel on silver the silver will melt. Do 
not hasten the cooling of the enamel after you have taken it 
out of the furnace, if you do it is apt to crack. 
Great care must be taken in every step of enameling. 
If metal is not well rolled there will be little air cells in it and 
if there are the enamel will fly. Do not put enamel on too 
thickly for if you do it is also apt to crack. We have now 
fired our enamel for the first time and if you desire to add other 
colors, as you most always do, place them on with water as 
before and dry and refire in the same way. Refire a third or 
fourth time if necessarv. 
BELT PIN IN CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL. 
If 3^ou get any enamel on the division lines of metal as one 
is veiy apt to do, in fact almost sure to do, you can grind it off 
by using an Indian stone and plenty of water. After that you 
can use a fine sandpaper and that will take out the scratches 
made by the stone. Do not be afraid of hurting the enamel 
in doing all this. It will scratch the enamel and disfigure it 
until it is fired again. 
After you have stoned and sandpapered you must wash 
the enamel very thoroughly and it is a good idea to paint it 
over with a little hydrofluoric acid. Take great care not to get 
any of this acid on your hands for it is very painful if you do. 
Now after the stoning and' cleaning you must refire so as to 
polish the enamel. If you get a color scheme that yoti do not 
like you can always etch it out with hydrofluoric acid. The 
best way to use it is to paint it on and let it stand ten minutes 
or so and then wash it oft' with water. By repeating this 
process you can soon eat all of the enamel away. This acid 
does not aft'ect the metal in any way. 
After firing the enamel for the last time, you still have to 
clean and put the final finish on the metal. This is done by 
boiling it in sulphuric acid one-twelfth strength until the 
silver is white. The silver is then polished. The best way to 
polish silver or copper or gold is to take a hand buff which is a 
narrow stick with a piece of felt or leather on it. Rub this 
leather on a brick of wax tripoli and then rub on the metal. 
This tripoli will take out scratches on the metal and at the 
same time does not hurt the enamel. Tripoli makes the metal 
perfectly smooth but if you desire more of a polish use rouge 
in just the same way. 
I have just described the champleve process of enamel and 
will next take the cloisorme process. 
BBOOCH, PERCH MOTIF-M. P. VEBNBUIL PROM "ART ET DECORATION " 
