Island Fyre Designs

The Process

Torch or Kiln Fired Enamel is where you heat powdered glass and fuse it to metal. It all starts with an idea, the artist can then choose one of many mediums to proceed with. In my case the majority of the work is starts with Copper. It can be a blank piece of metal purchased in a specific shape or hand saw/cut from raw copper. The next step is to prepare the piece by cleaning it, this is the monotonous but important part of the process because if it’s not cleaned correctly or done well the end result could be beautiful but it might pop off or crack leaving the piece faulty. Once it’s cleaned then the decision is made to hand work/shape the piece into something 3 dimensional, texture it or leaving it flat. There are many methods for this process. Then the fun part comes, adding the colour. Layering of the same colour over and over or varying the colour with others or over clear (as in the situation where you might have a texture on the metal you want to see through the glass too). Each creates different effects. Both of these methods can be done using a Torch or a Kiln or sometimes both at different times of the process. The colours of the powered glass look different in the Tin’s then when they are fired as well as after they cool they look different as well so it’s like Christmas morning, your not 100% sure what your gonna get out of it! How long you fire or how close you get to the flame of the torch will also effect the outcome and or sometimes colour of the piece. The interesting thing and beautiful part about this process is that each piece is unique to the artist and process they use. Sometimes pieces can be very difficult, sometimes impossible to re-create! Those are sometimes called happy accidents! Then it gets made into the piece of jewellery and mixed with beads or leather etc.