Practice Project: Blue-eye

Here’s the third installment in my cloisonne practice project series. Though I couldn’t reproduce the particular blue of the blue-eye flower in the photo (I have a more limited palette than Mother Nature!) I was still very happy with the way this one turned out.

I sat down last week and took two days to cut out all four of the shapes, counter-enamel and flux them, bend the wires and fire them into place for all four pieces. After that it took me about a day to do the layers and firings on each one.

Cloisonne wires sunk very sligtly in a coat of clear flux (the back is already enamelled

First coat wet-packed

First coat sugar fired

Second coat wet-packed

Second coat sugar fired

Third coat sugar fired (I forgot to take the wet-pack photo)

Fourth coat wet-packed (forgot to take the picture of the fouth coat sugar fired)

Fifth coat wet-packed

Fifth coat sugar fired

6th coat wet-packed

6th coat sugar fired

After sanding

Final fire