Pinning the Bird in Moss Beach

I made this cloisonné enamel pin on copper with thin, fine silver wire along with powered opaque and transparent enamel glass. Cloisonné means cell or compartment in French.

How did I make this? I washed the enamel glass many times (to remove the cloudy fine particles of glass), painted many thin layers of powered glass to the piece and fired it in a kiln at about 1400 degrees for a few minutes.  

The thin layers of glass are built up to the top of the wires and the surface is ground down even with the wires. The final steps are to clean the glass with water and a glass brush, then fire-polishe it in the kiln.

This is one in a series of birds I've made from enamel.

Linda Theroff is an artist who lives in Moss Beach.

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