This is the last in a series of posts by enamel artist Kat Cole about a public installation she created at KVO Industries and installed in the Cedars neighborhood in Dallas. This post previously appeared on her blog. Thank you, Kat, for sharing the journey with us!
There is no shortage of things to get done with a project of this size, I am realizing. Once the work was crated up and safely on its way back to Dallas, I spent a few extra days in California with my husband, a brief bit of down time. When I returned, Read More →
The process of enameling at KVO was a bit of a fast – slow – slow pace. I would have windows of time that I would have my spray gun ready to hop into the spray booth and get a coat on during the workers’ breaks. Their workday would usually begin at 6am and go until 3pm. I got into the habit of getting there around 7am, enjoying the time just being in the space and listening to the guys chat. 
Finally midday my crate arrived and work would really begin. The panels would need to be sanded in the areas where rust had begun to form and a few needed additional tabs added for hanging. The interior of the KVO kiln is eight feet long and seven feet high and three feet deep. There are hanging tracks on both sides so during high production they do not have to wait for a load to cool and be unloaded before doing the next firing. By the end of my second day the panels were washed and ready to begin work.
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 
