![[9fzylmbn.bmp]] In 2021, Baroness Sinn learned that I am an enameler. She had some baronial events on the horizon during which she intended to give out some baronial specific awards. She asked me to help out and make a bunch of medallions for the occasion. I agreed under the condition that she help out during the process. Time was short and enameling is a labor intensive process. This was the first of many times that she's helped out under my tutelage. As usual, this enameling adventure turned out to be a substantial learning experience. Specifically, in the past I've never used counter enamel because there didn't seem to be a need for it. Medieval enameling also wasn't counter enameled, so it seemed to be appropriate to refrain from using it. However, medieval enameling was done on metal that was substantially thicker than the 16 gauge metal I typically use. Thus, in many cases, counter enamel is necessary to prevent damage to the design. Another benefit from counter enamel is that it prevents fire scale from building up on the back side of the medallions, eliminating a lot of cleaning work. This was the first major project we did where counter enameling was necessary. It has become a very important part of our process now as a result of this endeavor. Another interesting note is that since there is a lot of read in these designs, it's very easy to see the quirks of red enamel (Flame Red in this case). If it's applied too thin or in the kiln for too long or too often, it turns black. If the etch is uneven (which it is in some cases on these medallions) it becomes really apparent with the red. The last issue we ran into with these is that the Titanium White developed this tendency to run. In some of the images below, the white can be seen clearly jumping over the edges of its designated area. It is a very frustrating issue that we have been unable to fully determine the root cause for. ## Design Fortunately, Baron Ludwig had vector images of Highland Foorde's awards, so getting designs ready for enameling was really easy. I imported the files to Illustrator and printed them onto the [[Resist Experiments#Press N Peel|Press N Peel]] paper. This was applied to the disks with heat, touched up, and etched. Enamels used: - 1880 Flame Red - 1660 Ultramarine Blue - 1240 Pine Yellow - 1020 Titanium White ![[uks4i04d.bmp]] ![[nbnr68cj.bmp]] ## Construction Enameling proceeded in the normal fashion, with the exception of our discovery that the enamel would crack without counter enamel. ![[4ogpf0zq.bmp]] ![[to0lbknb.bmp]] ![[cg8lvkze.bmp]] ![[xi048cis.bmp]] Notice the thing layering of the red causing it to turn quite black after being in the kiln. A thick enough layer prevents this. ![[rnyzlvje.bmp]] Mirror polish!