The Delicate Craft of Enamelling.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 17, 23 April 1913, Page 34

The Delicate Craft of Enamelling.

By!

G. M. D. LANE.

©N'LY in very recent years have the various talents that women possess ami employ been utilised ill those very erafts which would seem pre-eminently to require the deftness of hand, lightness of touch and fancy, and appreciation of tone and colour in which their sex excels. Now. however, slowly perhaps, but very surely, women are making their influence felt and prosing themselves dangerous rivals to their male competitors in the delicate crafts of metal-work, gem-setting, and enamelling, work which, more than any other, demands a taste and delicacy which we rarely find combined with the solidity and heaviness of the productions or' the English man-jeweller. It max further be claimed for women that, in the ease of enamels, they possess a clearer and truer sense of the colours and designs which will most fitly harmonise with the general tone of the " subject.” For the aim of the artistic jeweller is not to produce mere ornaments, but ornaments for the particular person who is to wear them. Such a task is easier, perhaps. for a French mind than for an English one; vet. strange to say, Rene Lalique, the great apostle, nay. almost the founder of. New Art in metal work, fails in this, and m this only. Ilis compositions are. in manv eases, perfect gems of Workmanship and triumphs of design replete with originality. yet far litter for the collector's table or a glass ease in the gallery of a museum than for the purpose thev were originally intended to serve. For but an Eastern woman could enrrv oil the groteesqueness. the barbarous whimsieality of some of the phantasies which this master designs for ornaments. Surely had the genius of Lalique been placed under the guidance of the innate laste of artistic womanhood, til's fault might have been avoided in work which has everything else to command our admiration. this being so. it is si range to liii.l I hat in such a book as the ■■ English womans Year Book" lor 11101. a perfect storehouse of information as to the trades an I professions open to women, there is no allusion whatever to enamelling, or. with the exception of a brief paragraph on silver repousse work, to any sort of

jeweller's work. We max acquiesce in the taet that no woman plays the from hone professionally; but here is a liel I ol work where feminine qn ilitjes are especially required, and y,el as a proles 'ion lor women the making of jewellery has hitherto had no recognition. Not that if is a craft in xHiieh any woman can succeed: far from it. The

deftness of hand required is no common gift : and it lias to he accompanied by unwearying perseverance and vigilance, while the enameller. to he a true artist, requires a trained discernment of design and colour, little, if at all. inferior to that demanded of a painter, and must add the power of working not by what she sees, but by what she foresees, since the colour of the enamels before application is widely different from the tint they assume after exposure to the flame of the furnace. When we add to this the physical strength require 1 to combat the uncomfortable conditions of which we shall speak later, it will be realised that the craft of an enameller is not one to he rashly adopted. Attention has been drawn lately to the work of Mrs Edith A. Dick, in metals, gem-setting, and enamels, and the accompanying illustrations show a few specimens executed by her and her assistants in her studio at 77. Ladbrok • Road, W.. some of which were on ex hibition during last season at the rooms

of the l ine Art Society. 'ldle studies of t hies artist under the leading French exponents of her craft an 1 the length of her residence in France, her native land, have borne fruit in her work, but sir* was originally pupil of Mr I). Samlheim. whose keen artistic sense and thoroughness ot workmanship made him an un rivalled teacher, and whose recent death is an irreparable loss to all who knew' and appreciated him. whether as artist or as man. There is nothing pretentious about her studio, which we visited. The apparatus of the craft consists of a furnace, a jeweller's bench, and a couple of deal tables crowded with tools an 1 unfinished work. Th<» operations, likewise, in the description. sound simplicity itself. d'h ■ enamel consists of “a pure crystal glass of frit, ground up with a fine calx of had and tin prepared for the purpose, with the addition usually of white salt of tartar.'* Thfae ingredients are th* ground work of all enamels, which an* ccdoiired by the addition of various sub '•lances. <>f which niaiig.inc.se an I zafl'er are no-t commonly employe I. At th* very least 2(1 dillcrent hues of enamc! an* required. and the-e are supplied in lumps about lour inches in diameter. I‘onnerly. these \\ere ehielly obtained from Venice or Holland, hut now the best enamels come from Switzerland. Franco, and Austrii. dhe enamel is reduced from the solid lump to the con«steiiry of flic finest s.unl by persevering use of flu* pestle an I mortar. This operation forms the prelude to each day’s work: for the enamel. when pulverised. loses its colour rapidly, and consequently no more is treated each morn ing than will be used during the day.

Some enamellers keep their powdered enamel in air-tight bottles, but the results of using old enamel are never quite satisfactory. It is then repeatedly washed with fresh water to remove any impurities, or the smallest trace of dust. This prepares it for application to the metal; for this purpose it is slightly moistened and is applied with a spatula; then it has to be dried with no less care, to prepare it for the process of fusing for which the furnace is brought to a red heat. The furnace itself consists ot an oven of fire brick. The invention ot gas has greatly simplified this part .of the process. For. at one time enamellers were dependent on the fire of a lamp supplied not with oil. but with horsigrease—cabailine oil. as it was termed in the trade, and in France coke is still used for heating. The success or failure of the work depends entirely upon the exercise of unlimited care and inexhaustible patience. The washing, the drying, and the fusing must all be conscientiously carried out to the minutest detail. while the delay of one secon I in removing the piece tired from the furnace would ruin it irremediably, for. as in fresco painting, a false step can never be retraced except by the lengthy process of removing the enamel with arid and touting the surface anew. Dust is perhaps the deadliest and most insidious enemy of the enameller. At every stage of the process it besets her. and the settling of a single mote, only observable through the lens, would be fatal, for the speck of dust, being inflammable, takes lire in the furnace, and an un-

sightly hole is thus produced. Not even the breath of the operator can be suffered to impinge on the surface, and care must also be taken lest anv injurious fumes should ascend from th' furnace to spoil the colour of tile work on hand. Besides this, the workpeople must wear special masks to protect their eyes and face from the intense heat an I dazzling glow of the furnace. This glare, so injurious to the sight, is on? of the physical discomforts of enamelling to which we have alluded. The other is the heat in which the work must be done: the worker can never be far from a furnace heated up to red heat, while the arrangement of any system of ventilation is diflieult, if not impossible—since air-currents bring dust, and dust is fatal to the work. \\ bile the operations were in progress, I was struck by observing on one of the tables a heavy gold brooch set with

stones of unmistakably early Victorian design, which seemed as out of place among the delicate productions of the

enameller’s art as a suet pudding in the menu of a dinner' party. However. 1 found that it had been sent for alteration, so 1 was curious to learn its ultimate fate. The design was displayed before me. and 1 was equally delighted and surprised to see the clumsy ornament transformed into the lightest and daintiest of pendants in gold cloisonne enamel with the stones and enamels and pearls subtly woven into a complete scheme of colour. Near it lav some finished original work—a pendant of rubies and diamonds in a setting as fragile as a cobweb, and a pair of long diamond and perillot earrings. Nothing pleased me more than a hand-glass, "•limo’s Mirror," —a peacock with spread tail and plumage of royal blue, in whose proudly raised crest sparkled tiny rubies. It was not surprising to hear that this bird bad gained the first prize at a recent exhibition judged by Mr Philip Cunningham, author of "The Art of Enamelling." the only really practical book which has been written on the subject. It is matter for profound regret that all the larger and more elaborate pieces of work had been undertaken for the sheer pleasure of production, as the English public makes little demand for the costlier kind of decorative work. A staunch and stubborn conservatism bars the wav, and innovations and originality can gain no admittance. Yet. I am told by one of the leading firms, the demand for enamelled jewellery of the finest description is greatly on the increase, and some comfort may be gained from that fact, since it would indeed be deploi/ole if so delicate and ancient a craft were to lack any encouragement which the connoisseurs of the twentieth century can supply.