Leveraging Chaos in the Afternoon

March 26th, 2009 at 02:20pm novacolette

The backdrop of Columbus Circle set the stage for our afternoon adventures with enamel.  It seemed the excitement of the city was echoed in the classroom with everyone jockeying for position in the queue.  I think everyone was a little surprised by the actual experience of enameling, especially when a little chaos is encouraged.

It’s difficult to understand how involved and time consuming (let alone addictive) the process of enameling can be until you try it.  The five hour enameling workshops last weekend (March 14+15) flew by with everyone from both classes wishing they could stay longer and keep working.  If enameling is something you enjoy you realize this very quickly.  Requiring multiple firings, this is even more true when utilizing the reactive nature of clear enamel on copper because the most stunning effects are achieved when fired for longer.   Both classes created beautiful tiles to take home as teasers for what else they could do.  Some created tiles that looked like a watercolor of foliage while others created bold graphic images. One of my favorites came out bright iridescent green with thick purplish-black lines running through it that strongly reminded me of on of Paul Klee’s pieces.  My hope is that curiosity was peaked…and 17 more people will now be driven to play with enamel!  It was a great weekend!

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