The Golden Palace of the Sun
Golden Palace of the Sun
This is the second in a series of pieces inspired by Russian lacquer boxes which, in turn, are inspired by fairy tales. Often relegated to the status of children’s stories, these archetypal tales have always seemed rich and complex to me. It’s like being in a dream. It is part of a direction I have been taking with my grisaille pieces: adding metallic foils and colour (this was how grisaille developed historically also. It seemed to lend itself to the ethereal Faerie realm…
First I put three coats of opaque black on both front and back. The first thing I had to do was fuse the gold foil, as it needs a slightly higher temperature than the paint. I fused down the foil, and used under-glaze black to outline my design. I Covered that with a veil thin coat of clear flux, and then added some subtle colour shading with really finely ground (325 mesh) enamel. Only then did I apply the china paint: one layer of Blood Red, and two of Golden Yellow
imago corvi 
Catherine
An intriguing enamel and such a pleasant change from the brutal reality of day to day news. Makes one want to jump into that golden palace and enjoy the ride! Lot’s of technical questions about how you did various bits but for another day.
Ramsay
Thanks Ramsay – I have added some technical information. The hardest part was cutting out the foil! The firings are pretty precise, too.
Nice post thanks for shariing
Thanks! I have more planned in this series, but haven’t had time: the silver horseman of the moon, golden horseman of the sun, red horseman of day and the black horseman of night … Hope to get to them soon!