Category archives: Miniature Enamel Painting

All things to do with fine miniature painting in enamels

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Invitation to the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers

Invitation to the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers

Everyone is invited to the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. With or without an invitation. I'll be going down on the 16th October.

Collection of Enamel Box Miniatures for the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers Exhibition

Collection of Enamel Box Miniatures for the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers Exhibition

The collection of miniature enamel paintings that I'm entering for the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers exhibition

Painting an Enamel Box Lid with a picture of Louis Armstrong

Painting an Enamel Box Lid with a picture of Louis Armstrong

I use on-glaze enamel paints and mix them with oil and turps substitute to get the right consistency. The turps thins the paint down and the oil acts as a binder. I'm currently using lavendar oil, although I'm finding this a bit thin for some purposes, like stippling.

The important thing is to minimize the number of firings. To do this I aim to cover the whole piece with paint for each firing, resisting the tempation to focus on just one area. Each firing typically takes about a minute at 800oC. In this case the enamel lid was quite thin so it only needed 50 seconds.

I recently painted a portrait of Louis Armstrong onto an enamel box lid. I took photos after each firing stage.

Here's after the first firing

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Photographing Enamel Boxes

Photographing enamels has always been difficult. The shiny surface makes the light reflections awkward. However I came across some useful tips on Saachti online for photographing artwork in general, here's a summary adapted for photographing enamel paintings:

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New links to my website from The Sue Lee Collection & The Hilliard Society of Miniaturists

The Sue Lee Collection of Miniature Paintings and the Hilliard Society of Miniaturists have kindly put a link to my website from theirs. That was jolly nice of them!

See if you can find it :)

Guild of Enamellers and the British Society of Enamellers joint exhibition at the Birmingham School of Jewellery

Guild of Enamellers and the British Society of Enamellers joint exhibition at the Birmingham School of Jewellery

I have enterred three pieces into the Guild of Enamellers and the British Society of Enamellers joint exhibition at the Birmingham School of Jewellery. The exhibition is called the Heart of the Heat and it's purpose is to showcase enamelling from the two societies' members. Of the three pieces that I entered this one has got through to the final selection!

Entries for the Heart of the Heat Exhibition

Entries for the Heart of the Heat Exhibition

These are the three entries I made for the Guild of Enameller and British Society of Enamellers joint exhition at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham. They are, from left to right, a portrait of Kate Middleton the Dutchess of Cambridge, a Reproduction of the Countess Golovine, and the Space Shuttle Discovery. 

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