Staithes, prep and planning & new stuff!

Hi, this week has been a curious one, with David working away and Harry (our Cocker Spaniel) and I, being home alone all week! But it has meant that I have been able to crack on with some new pieces for The Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage which begins on Friday 12th September 2025. As you may know, I work primarily in enamel, completely self-taught, apart from a brief encounter in the metalwork classroom back in the 70's, when girls were only allowed to enter into that fearsome, male dominated space, for a short time only. I hope my skills have improved somewhat since then! My work is largely influenced by colour and line, enamel is like alchemy, you have an idea of how you want it to look, and the colours are very true, vivid and rich, but as my pieces are all handmade and unique, until it's finished I don't know what the final piece will look like. Today I have been focsuing on some rectangle earrings. if you are interested in how I make them, read on. I use a guillotine to cut the pieces from a long strip of copper, pop holes through the top, add our BTB makers mark, sand the corners, polish the rough edge left by the exit hole, and clean the front ready for the first layer of enamel. I use WG Ball Enamels from our main supplier Cookson Gold, I have about 20 colours, so, I can capture a range of different designs. I work quite messily and in a relatively confined space. I use a piece of paper under each piece to catch the surplus enamel powder and decant the excess back into the pot. After applying each powder layer, I carefully transfer the piece to my tripod, I usually have 4 or 5 pieces ready to fire at any one time. I prefer hand-firing, as I can see the different stages and I know when to stop heating and allow the pieces to cool. For smaller pieces, I use my Sievert Propane torch, for chunkier bigger pieces, I revert to my Mapp Gas torch, which really packs a heated punch just where you need it. Once cooled, I clean the excess fire scale with a brass brush, then start the process again adding more colour, building layers, adding interest and firing between each stage. It's a lovely process, mindful and creative and it's quiet easy to lose yourself and suddenly find its time for your evening walk with Harry. Luckily, I can leave all my gubbins out on the bench, I sometimes do a little clear up, pop tools and pots away, so that the next day I can see what my tasks are and can start straight away. Tomorrow I will be cleaning the backs and sides with my dremel polishers, its always lovely to see the clean edges and shiny copper backs. For those in the know, I don't use Counter Enamel, why? Because, copper is beautiful, its my favourite metal, with its warm hues and soft tones and it's so tactile, why cover it up? I hope my little video works, so you can see the outcome of today's day in the Shed! If not I will post some photos tomorrow, once they are all clean, shiny and ready to be popped onto their handmade silver earwires! Thanks for reading! Carolyn