A while back, up to a couple of years, there was an article in one of the jewelry/bead mags about using enamel on filigree beads. Of course I saved it, but a it's a little to safe since I can't find it anymore.Does anyone remember this article? If not, would anyone know how to do this? I have a ton of old filigree beads that would be great to use this way.

Thanks,

 Hello Bette Lou,

Normal 0 21

Unfortunately I don’t knew the article. But there are different ways to enamel filigree balls.

1)      Use liquid enamel so as Thompson liquid Enamel: http://www.thompsonenamel.com/products/supplements/enamel1b.htm  You can dip the whole ball into a colour liquid enamel, let it dry and fire it. Before it is dry you can, if you want, sieve an other colour on.

2)      You can spray the cleaned filigree ball with an holding agent like Klyr fire (Thompson enamel) and sieve the enamel on.

3)      You can make a paste from enamel, distilled water and a bit holding agent and brush the paste to the balls. Dry and fire.

It is advisable to enamel also the inside of the balls. The enamel get more stable.

If you need a bit more infos, please let me knew

Friendly regards from Germany

Edmund

 Edmund again,

here you'll find an article re copper ball enameling. May be, that you can use some infos from this article. 

http://www.glass-on-metal.com/pastart/copperballs.htm

Edmund

www.emailkunst.de 

 And here a foto from a collier made from bended 0,5 mm copper wire and enameled with liquid, brushed up and dry enamel. The diameter of the balls are about 22 mm.

Edmund

http://www.emailkunst.de

Hi Edmund,

Thank you so much for your information. I will try your methods. My filigree beads are not fine silver or copper, so I do not know if they will hold up to the torch. I will give it a try though and hope for the best.

I did finally find the article. It is in the March/April 2004 issue of Step-by-Step Beads. The author is Pam East. She used fine silver filigree beads and 80 mesh transparent enamel. She put the bead on a mandrel and heated the bead until light pink in a propane torch flame, then rolled the bead in enamel powder and heated again, several times (4 or 5) then heated to the glossy stage. These are not the full instructions, so if you need more information, go to her website or email her. pam@pinzart.com or www.pinzart.com.

Bette Lou

Bette Lou, I'm new to enameling but there are only certain metals you can enamel. The most common is copper and fine silver. I know you can do depletion gilding on sterling silver but don't think you can do that on a sterling silver filigree bead. Do you mean that your's are a base metal? Billie

Hi Billie,

Since I inherited the filigree beads, I am not sure what they are. They sort of look like aluminum or some other metal, could be base metal, I just know they do not tarnish like silver would. I thought I would get some enamel and try it and see if it sticks or if the beads melt. It will be an experiment. Thanks for you information.

Bette Lou

 Hello,

Normal 0 21

If you bought the balls in the tinkering business, they are in all probability from aluminium or metalized plastic. One cannot enamel both.

But the most the goldsmith supplier have filigree balls from Sterling or 835/1000part silver in the stock. The 835 silver is not so good for enamelling, because the melting point is very low. But Sterling you can enamel. If you use opaque enamel, you must only clean the surface of the balls before enamelling. If you want to use transparent enamels, you must prepare the balls before enamelling in the following manner:

Anneal the balls for a few seconds to about 600-650 degree Celsius (1100-1200 F) = dark red colour. The surface of the balls get dark grey.

Pickle the balls until they get white.

Anneal and pickle again for about 3-4 times. At last polish it is in a tumbler.

You must do this procedure for silver alloys to get a thin fine silver coat on the surface of the silver. If you do not this procedure, the most transparent enamels get muddy and change there colour dramatic. And mostly it is recommendable to shift the silver at first with a silver-flux and after burning that the favoured transparent colour.