To burn the enamel in a kiln is ofcourse a sensational process.
It's always a surprise what you get out of the oven.
Is  your design succeeded?
A lot of practice makes the master, special with the enameling art.

I use a small kiln to burn the art piece
If a art piece consist out of several pieces then I burn every piece separate.
The art piece must be placed into the middle of the burning chamber.
It is cooler at the door side than at the backside of the burning chamber and you will noticed when a art piece it is not placed in the back of the kiln.
One side of the art piece will not be burned throughout when it is placed to close at the door side.
If this is the case, turn it around and burn it again, till properly melted.

• Fase 1, The enamel starts to melt and to flow (orange peel effect) .
• Fase 2, The enamel flows and connect to the surface of the metal
• Fase 3, The enamel flows all the way.

This process can be repeated every time.
On this way it is possible to make layers on top of each other.
Then you get the art piece bright and shiny

Orangepeel effect

Place the art piece into the kiln for 1 minute.
Let it cool down and study the surface of the art piece carefully.
You will see an uneven structured surface that will look like the surface of an orange
The enamel is melted half now en does not start to flow.
When handling the enamel, you have a great chance that pieces of glass will crack and let loose.

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Fase 1, Orangepeel effect 1.

The round with large hole on the left has a first layer with counter enamel.
You can see the orangepeel effect.
The enamel is not quite connected at the surface.
You can see that it starts to cracks off from the edges.

Fase 2, Orangepeel effect 2.

Place the art piece into the kiln again en let it burn this time for 2 minutes.
Now, when it comes out of the kiln, the enamel is flowed half all over and connected to the surface.
With this fase you will work the most.
Every time, when building up a new layer, you will try to get this result.
It is a good under layer to add another layer on top.

This enamel is applied with wet enamel.
It is burned till the orangepeel effect is made and the enamel is attached to the surface.
This is the ideal layer to build other ones on top.

Fase 3. The enamel flows all over.

This turtle has 1 layer sifted enamel and then burned.
The baking time was 2.5 minutes.
The enamel is not quite flat, however it looks good.
You can see that 1 layer of enamel gives a poor cover.
The surface of the copper shines through the enamel.
This turtle can use a second layer of enamel to give the enamel a richer look.

The red colors have their own charme caused by their side effects.
They tend to have a tendency to discolor to black.
At the sides they discolor easily to black
Sometimes you will see black spots in the middle.
Cover it with a second layer and they will disappear.
This round is sifted with a thick layer of Cherry red and burned in the kiln for approximately 2.5 minute. at 825° Celsius.
A second layer will hide all the black.
However, I like the black spots as a side effect in this case.
It has a tough appearance don't you think !?
I let it as it is.

Example, White tulip

This "White Tulip" is made with different times of firings and techniques.
The piece consists of the following components;

• The tulip is a separate piece of copper .
• The background is a copper plate.
• The copper wire is of a 1,5 mm thickness .

Description and technique:

• Sift the two pieces of the tulip with counter enamel and burn them for 2 minutes each.
• Clean the 2 parts and apply wet enamel of the front of the tulip. Burn till it has the orangepeel effect.
• Apply wet enamel on the tulip again, however wait with burning the piece.
• Sift the topside of the big piece and burn it till it has the orangepeel effect.
• Repeat this twice, now there are 3 layers of glass.
• Sift the topside of the big piece again.
• Sift transparent enamel like in the example.
• Place the tulip carefully on the big piece.
• Place the pieces with copper wire.
• Burn the art piece for 3 minutes. All the pieces will melt together.