Register Now

Are you the magpie always collecting bits of rusty steel on the street? Are there bits of magnetic metal in your studio that you’ve tucked away, swearing that one day you’ll clean them up to make a masterpiece? Bring your rusty recycled bits and bobs to The Crucible in Oakland to learn the skills to turn these into beautiful and unique jewels.

This class will involve diagnosing scrap metals to find their suitability for enameling, proper enamel-on-steel surface preparation, liquid and sifted enamel application, trivet modifications (with titanium wire), and firing tips for steel. It will also include design tips for getting the most out of the enamel parts and to assist each participant in making their found pieces into wearable jewels and beautiful objects.

Attempts to Kill -vitreous enamel, recycled steel tortilla pan, titanium, stainless steel

There is great narrative potential with steel and enamel, owing to steel’s strength and durability over the other enamel metals. It can be used over much larger expanses, while remaining unexpectedly light. Steel is a chameleon, able to be used in luscious, precious looking works and the complete opposite, textured and dramatic displays, all able to be supplemented by the natural decay of steel. These inherent characteristics add richness to the colors and effects of enamel, and make it the ideal contemporary jewelry and object material.

Melissa Cameron was born in Perth, Australian in 1978. (BA interior architecture, Curtin University, Perth, 2002, MFA and metalsmithing, Monash University, Melbourne, 2009) She relocated to Seattle in 2012.

Melissa’s works have been exhibited worldwide and are in several prestigious collections. She has participated in enamel residencies in the UK and Germany and the Penland Winter Residency in the US and her pieces are featured in Jewel Book, Art Jewelry Today 3 and Lark Books’ 500 Silver Jewelry Designs, as well as the upcoming Tales from the Toolbox: Narrative Jewellery, edited by Mark Fenn. She is the recipient of multiple grants from the Australia Council for the Arts and a Fellowship grant from Artist Trust in Seattle. She has presented papers at many conferences and symposia. Her writing appears on Art Jewelry Forum. She currently serves on the Metalsmith Magazine Editorial Advisory Committee.

Melissa regularly teaches workshops in Seattle, and was one of two featured enamelists teaching and presenting at the Enamel Guild Northeast Conference in 2015.

She recently won a best of show award for her pieces in the 2017 Alchemy 4 exhibition sponsored by the Enamelist Society.

Workshop Hours:

Wednesday – Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM , with meal breaks

Cost: $425 plus $20 materials fee

Materials List: Provided upon registration or when ready

Registration: Limited to 12

Refund Policy: No refunds unless your workshop position can be filled by another person.

Lodging, Meals, Transportation:

Coming from out of town? Check AirBnB, Priceline, and other discounted online lodging sources, The Center will try help you make your stay comfortable and stress free while you are a workshop participant.

Register Now

In categories Tagged with enamel, enamel on steel, enameled steel, enamelist, industrial enameling, liquid enamel, Melissa Cameron, porcelain enamel, radical enameling, recycled steel, The Crucible with no comments

The Alchemy of Copper Oxides – a workshop with Kristina Glick

By Judy Stone

on July 5, 2017

with no comments

Register Now – Registration Deadline is June 30

This workshop will explore the dynamic interaction between glass, copper and heat. When layered and fired with understanding and skill it is possibleto harness the oxides inherent in copper to create a entire range of vibrant colors while using only clear and white enamel. This technique is experimental in the way that it relies on oxides present in the copper substrate to provide color rather than relying on pigmented enamel as is the norm in most enameling. It also requires the use of a wider range of firing temperatures and techniques than are used in traditional enameling, as well as strategic thinking about how glass and metal interact in the activating environment of the kiln. Another experimental aspect of the workshop is the use of liquid enamels. While liquid form enamels have become much more common among artist in the past 20 years, there are still many aspects of the medium that are not fully explored and many enamelists continue to exclusively use traditional jewelry enamels. One of liquid enamel’s unique qualities is how its fine grains allow for very fine line sgraffito which makes it ideally suited for layering. Another is its ability to absorb and interact with copper oxides as well as its suitability for creating striking visual effects when combined with exposed areas of heat patinaed copper. This workshop is appropriate for all skill levels.

Kristina Glick is a metalsmith, enamelist and educator currently living in Northern Indiana. She is an Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Hershberger Gallery at Goshen College (IN). She has taught enameling and jewelry making workshops across the country, most recently teaching the 2016 eight week fall concentration at Penland School of Crafts in NC. Kristina has exhibited extensively and her work has been published in several books including 500 Gemstone Jewels and 500 Enameled Objects. Kristina earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Goshen College in 1997 and an MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University in 2007. In addition to enameling, her work often combines found objects and traditional metalworking techniques into pieces that are rich with color, texture, and unexpected details.

Krisitina Glick: Lament for the Perpetual Loss of Permanance

Workshop Hours:

Wednesday – Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM , with meal breaks

Cost: $425 plus $20 materials fee

Materials List: Provided upon registration or when ready

Registration: Limited to 12

Refund Policy: No refunds unless your workshop position can be filled by another person.

Lodging, Meals, Transportation:

Register Now

In categories Tagged with copper, copper oxides, enamel, enameled copper, enamelist, Krisitna Glick, liquid enamel, porcelain enamel, radical enameling, The Crucible, Thompson Liquid Enamel, vitreous enamel with no comments

How Now Fred Ball?

By Judy Stone

on June 9, 2016

The Center for Enamel Art is excited to host a guided bus tour on Saturday, June 25, of the work of noted Sacramento enamel artist Fred Ball.

To learn more and to register, click here.

Fred Uhl Ball: The Legacy of a Pioneering Artist

Recently, I have been wondering about the legacy of one the most important American enamelists of the 20^th century, Fred Uhl Ball (1945-1985). I never met him, though he lived, worked and taught in Sacramento, CA, about an hour from my home, and frequented the supply store in San Francisco where I bought my enamels. But even in absentia, Ball was a mentor to me. His book, Experimental Techniques in Enameling (1972), came out the same year I began enameling professionally, and formed the basis of my journey into enameling. Ball book cover

It was easy to be affected by Ball back then — his influence and presence resonated throughout northern California. He was an icon, the son of well-known Sacramento artists, and thoroughly of the area in which he lived. His work was commissioned and collected by a variety of patrons, and he produced several large-scale wall commissions for both public and private spaces. The most recognizable of his pieces, The Way Home, was installed on the side of a large parking garage in downtown Sacramento, and for many years was the featured image on the front of the Thompson Enamel catalogue.