Looking through the many classes and videos I've purchased, I saw one on Craftsy I wanted to try ... "Torch-Fired Enameling: Luscious Color & Design" by Barbara Lewis. I ordered the acrylic enamels in a set of 9 and the decals used in the video. I loved the flower Barbara made ... but I think she used an enlarged version of the decal for the video. I'll ask her if I can order a larger set.
The first thing I did was copy the sheet of decals and then cut and glued the flowers onto my copper sheet. In the video she used double-sided tape and adhered the decal directly to the copper to saw out the form. Here's a photo of part of the sheet of decals and my cut copper pieces.
Then I torch fired several coats of white enamel to each copper flower. The next step was to add each flower decal to water until it started to slide off the sheet and then try get it safely onto the copper flower. It got easier. I found if the decal folded, I could slip it back into the water and miraculously it opened up ... so I could try again. Each finished piece was then blotted with paper towels and left to dry.
Later that day I fired on the decals with my torch until I thought they were done. For some reason I didn't take a photo, but I liked the effect with the sepia tone on the white background. Then I painted each flower with the acrylic enamels, trying to follow her example. Ha. They were left to dry overnight.
This morning, I torch fired each piece and they aren't bad! They don't look like Barbara's, but I like them. The last step was to add a transparent enamel which gave the pieces a glossy coat. They did improve, but they don't show the lines of the decals. So my enamel was too heavy (not "painterly") or I overfired. Next time. I lost one copper piece back when I fired on the white enamel, so I have three pairs of earrings. What do you think?
