Epoxy Enamelling Versus Vitreous Enamelling

If you're interested in creating beautiful, colourful pieces of jewellery, and you haven't heard of enamelling, now's the time to get started!

Enamelling essentially means painting metal, using special paints (or, more specifically, resins), which bond to the surface of the metal.

With enamelling, the possibilities are endless. It's great for creating swirly, ethereal designs, as well as jewellery for kids, and even moody, darker pieces.

Before you get started, though, it's important to know there are two distinct times of enamel resins - epoxy enamel and vitreous enamel.

Which one's best for your jewellery making projects? That depends on your experience, and the effect you're looking to achieve.

Epoxy Enamel (Cold Enamelling)

When you use epoxy enamel resins, the technique is often referred to as 'cold' enamelling, because it doesn't require the use of a kiln.

Herein lies the main benefit of cold enamelling. Unlike vitreous resins, epoxy enamel doesn't need to be heated up in order to bond to a metal. This makes it a great choice for beginners.

What's more, epoxy enamel is available in a huge range of colours, and can produce 'special effects' like sparkly or iridescent finishes.

Though they are quite easy to use, beginners will still need to practice a little bit in order to achieve the effects they desire.

Cold enamelling isn't as simple as painting directly onto metals and waiting for it to harden. Usually, you'll have to mix at least a resin with a hardener (and sometimes, you'll have to mix the colour in with the hardener too).

Once it's mixed, there's a window of around 45 minutes before the mixture begins to harden - so each coat of enamel resin needs to be applied quickly.

The speed at which it sets is also a benefit of cold enamelling, however. In some cases, it only takes around 24 hours for the resin to dry completely.

Vitreous Enamel

Vitreous enamel needs to be heated in a hot kiln in order to set to the metal. But this isn't the only factor that makes it more difficult than cold enamelling.

The whole process is more complicated and more expensive, so it's much better suited to experienced jewellery makers.

However, the benefits of vitreous enamel is that it gives its user more control over the look of the finished product.

Which To Use

For beginners, the best bet is certainly epoxy enamel. This gives a great finish without the need for costly kilns, or a great deal of technical know-how. It's simply a case of mixing the solution and getting to work.

However, it's likely that a jewellery maker who gets heavily into the enamelling process will eventually want to make the switch to vitreous enamel. Although it is more complicated, the professional finish and degree of creative control means it's more suited for those who need control over every step in their jewellery making projects.

Those who are just getting into enamelling should check out products like Efcolor, which are tailor made to be easy to use.

There are many differences between epoxy and vitreous enamelling and this article looks at these in more detail. If you need more information about enamelling, Cooksongold 's forums are a good place to go.

Article Source: Epoxy Enamelling Versus Vitreous Enamelling