This is the sixth in a series of guest posts by the enamel artist Kat Cole. This post previously appeared on her blog.
Note: It is at this point I would like to say thank you to the people that were integral to making my trip possible, those that were so generous to open up their homes to me and share their knowledge. Judy, Brooke, Linda, Steve–you all were my cheerleaders through what was both an incredibly stressful and exciting experience and I cannot thank you enough.
Installation by Ellen Forney in Seattle bus station, made by KVO Industries
KVO Industries is located in picturesque northern California in the small town of Santa Rosa. This operation has been fabricating porcelain enamel signage for the last 16 years and grew out of a larger factory that re-located away from Santa Rosa in 2000. KVO is a small company running impressive facilities with incredible possibilities. They have made signage for the state and national park systems, large-scale outdoor images for cities and museums, and worked with artists to re-create images of their work in enamel for public projects. Read More →
The more sculpture I make, the more I realize one of the biggest hurdles is shipping. It is not as easy as picking up a flat rate USPS priority box and making sure to insure it, which is usually simple and inexpensive when shipping jewelry and small objects. The logistics of transporting these three- to four-foot panels to and from California has been one of the more stressful components of this project. 
As I prepared to build the pieces, I asked for assistance from the experts at 
Now that I had found a location and community that could provide tools and support, I needed to find a way of funding this project. Last year, the 
The final element to the proposal was to finalize plans with KVO Industries and Judy Stone to get the work to California to enamel and then back to Dallas to install. The grant that I received does not cover all expenses of this piece, but it does provide the bulk of the money for materials, shipping, travel, insurance, and studio rental costs. Below is the project description that I proposed for the grant:
These five steel and enamel panels will float above the work of these other urban artists. The shapes of the panels will come from the surrounding architecture and the fused-glass surfaces will use imagery of old hand-drawn maps of the city and street views from the late 1800’s, a high point of this neighborhood. The imagery, forms and colors are a blend of the past and present of Dallas. 
I have made large enameled work previously, but I have always felt handicapped by the size of the kiln available. Scale and proportion decisions had to be made based on the interior dimensions of the kiln. More than once, I thought a piece would fit in the kiln only to realize 
