Vitreous Enamel Project: Firing Details, Products, Process and Progress
This week I’m getting into the technical side of enameling. Mixing. Distilled water works best for mixing my ground coat and cover coat frits. The mixing is tedious and the science is a lot, but it shows in the final surface. The kiln. I fire on CAFAC’s Evenheat kiln with the Set-Pro controller. It has many settings, but once you know your targets it’s simple: ground coat at 1550°F, cover coat at 1375°F. The key is entering each program correctly. I’m also learning about ramp rate, which controls how fast the kiln heats and how the enamel matures. Spalling. I still get some spalling, where small flakes of glass pop off. Now I turn the kiln off once pieces reach temperature and let them cool inside to about 600°F before removing them. Slower, even cooling has reduced the spalling substantially. The chairs. Both chairs now have full cover-coat coverage. I sanded the edges smooth and removed stray marks and drips. As these images show, the coatings are fuller than after the last f...
