Using rubber stamps is a great and easy way to get a painterly quality on your enameled pendant without having to actually, er, paint! I love ferns and have used lots of combinations of greens, yellow, and ivory to create these woodsy pendants. They look great hanging on a simple chain or with coordinating beads. Pick a rubber stamp that has lots of detail and isn't too big to fit on your pendant. I have two but used only the big one for this project.
Now you will need your copper blank which has been enameled twice on the front and counter enameled once on the back. If it has been sitting around for a while clean it again. If you see any imperfections in the enamel, you can stone them down with the alundum stone under water and clean up the edges.
Next you will need several colors of green and yellow. If you don't have lots of colors, just two will work fine. You will also need a stamp pad and the stamp. For this project I used Willow Green, Lichen Green, Mistletoe Green, Hunter Green and Pine Yellow. Put your pendant down on the paper and fill two small sifters with Willow and Lichen. Ink up your stamp and press it on the pendant. If you don't like how it looks, clean it off and try again untill you're happy with it. Quickly sift the greens on until you can't see any design. Let it dry for a few minutes, then gently knock off the remainder of the enamel by tapping it on the table. If you're happy with how it looks, transfer it the a stilt and place in the kiln for about 2 1/2 min at 1450 degrees F.
Let it cool and then place in your pickle. Clean off the edges with a scrubbie and Penny Brite. Now you are ready to do the back. If you mixed two colors on your paper, this is a good place to use that. I like to make the back of my pendant look good, too. Ink your stamp again and sift the mixed enamels on it and repeat the process.
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I want to put another fern on the front because my first one came out so light. Get the Mistletoe, Hunter, and Pine enamels ready in three small sifters. Ink up and stamp the fern again going in another direction. Quickly sift the three colors on the ink, let dry and gently knock off the excess. Fire again until the top is shiny and glassy.
And there you have a gorgeous pendant! The first fern lightened up and created a soft background for the second fern. To see some of my other fern designs, check out my etsy shops. There are lots of great rubber stamps out there that can be used for this technique. Experiment and make sure you let me know how it turns out!
great information - thank you
ReplyDeleteI love anything with ferns!
I used to have two kilns one for china painting and one for enamelling, I am afraid paper crafting has taken over everything. Love seeing your work.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad to have found your blog today. I'm just starting to play with enamels, and the possibilities with rubber stamps are really exciting to me. My process needs a little tweaking though! I seem to get a very messy result- when I tap the excess off, there is a fine layer across the whole surface, with just slightly more in the stamped areas. Yours seem to come out with a lot of definition, not a bunch of stray grains. So, it seems that my pre-enameled surface is somewhat "sticky." have you had this problem? Do you think a glass brush would help this?