Metal foil colorants
All colors in glass are derived from metals dissolved into the glass when it’s hot. In the mid-80’s I began to experiment with metal foils on the surface of white glass to color it. My glass beads were derived from this work, and I’ve also wanted to try these same coloring techniques on the surface of enamels.
“Geoscape”, with various compositions of metal foils on gold bearing enamel, 8” x 5”
This process is all about chemical reactions. I can’t mix the colors like paint.
Metal that’s already dissolved in the glass will further affect the color of the metals on the surface. Some metals in the glass will actually inhibit coloration by other metals.
I’ve made hundreds of test tiles with copper, silver, gold, palladium and aluminum foils on various leaded and unleaded enamels. It’s an ongoing exploration, where I control firing times and temperatures as well as glass composition. Below are just a few experiments illustrating various types of metal foil colorants on the surface of enamel. Each tile is about 2” x 3”.
I especially love how the results of this technique are organic and can never be completely reproduced. The visual textures are often like the natural surfaces I’m attracted to, something that’s “of the earth” rather than industrially manufactured.
When I started exploring these techniques on enamels, I was hoping to replicate many of the colors and visual textures I had created on my glass beads, but the results are very different from those I achieved in the torch.