How to Make Enameled Copper Jewelry

Copper enameling is the process of fusing powdered glass to a piece of copper using high heat. The copper pieces may be in the form of a finger ring, or disks or other shapes that can be hung as earrings or linked together with copper jump rings to form bracelets or necklaces. Sometimes pins are attached to the backs of these enameled copper pieces to make pins or broaches. They may also be attached to long pins to form hat pins or stick pins. With practice, enameled pieces can be quite detailed and colorful.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pre-cut Copper Shape
• Copper Sheet
• Jeweler's Saw
• Fine Steel Wool
• Scouring Powder
• Enameling Powder
• Kiln
• Enameling Fork
• Enameling Tripods
• Fine-mesh Sieve
• Paper Towels
• Typing Paper
• Epoxy Cement
• Flat-sided Bead
• Pinback

How to Make Enameled Copper Jewelry

1. Choose a pre-cut shape of copper sheet for your enameled pendant or use a jeweler's saw and cut a shape out of a copper sheet. Clean the surface and edges of your chosen shape of copper sheet by rubbing it with a piece of fine, steel wool. If you do not have steel wool, you may use scouring powder, such as Ajax, and water. The object is to remove all traces of dirt and oil. After cleaning and drying, handle the copper with a clean paper towel so you do not transfer oil from your hand onto the copper. Place a coin on a half sheet of typing paper, and place the clean copper shape on top of the coin.

2. Fold, then unfold a second whole sheet of typing paper. While holding the fine-mesh sieve over this creased paper, gently tap some opaque enamel powder into the sieve. Note that this opaque or backing enamel is simply mixed enamel powders that have been left over from previous work. Carefully slide the half sheet of paper with your flat copper piece on top of the creased sheet. Holding the sieve over the copper piece, gently tap the side of the sieve while moving the sieve back and forth above the copper until the depth of the enamel is about the same as the thickness of the copper piece.

3. Carefully place the copper shape on a trivet so that the front of the piece is not touching the trivet. Lift the trivet with the Enameling Fork and place it into the hot kiln that is about 750-820 degrees C. After about one minute, when the enamel turns bright orange and appears grainy, use the Enameling Fork to remove the copper piece from the kiln and place it on a heat-resistant surface until it is cool--about 10 minutes.

4. Tap the unused enamel powder onto the creased sheet of paper and, using the crease as a slide, return the powder to the original bottle of backing enamel. Turn the piece over after it has cooled. If there is any "scale" or discoloration on the copper, clean the un-enameled side with steel wool again. Follow the same procedure to put transparent enamel on the front of the copper piece. Transparent powder takes a little longer to fire than the opaque powder. If you did not allow the enamel to fire long enough, it will appear opaque maroon instead of transparent.

5. Add more colors/layers to the front of the piece, firing after each addition. Usually, begin with the lightest and most transparent color and work toward the darker, opaque colors. The final firing will be a bit longer than the others to ensure all layers are fused together.

6. Use steel wool to polish off the scale on the edges of the copper piece. When done properly, the edges will be bright copper. You may use epoxy cement to attach the disk to a flat-sided bead so that you can wear it as a pendant, or if you wish, you may attach a pinback to the piece to wear it as a pin.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that light transparent colors won't show on darker colors.

• If you intend to put a jump ring through the disk, drill the hole before enameling, and make it a bit larger than you think you will need, as some enamel powder will undoubtedly accumulate in the opening.

• Copper pieces should never be balanced on the points of a trivet.