Hi Marianne, I know you addressed your inquiry to Linda, but I
thought Id chime in too. In addition to making small enameled
jewelry. I also make large wall enamels consisting of many pieces put
together jigsaw fashion. I often fire scalex on the final coat of
counter enamel, which gives the piece a tooth as it seems that the
silicon sealant which I use to adhere them to the mounting board
seems to grip better. I was taught this method by Florinda Leighton
from whom I learned large scale enameling.
In all the years I have been using the scalex over enamel, I have
never once had any flake off either in the kiln or out of it when
fired on a counter enamel. It fuses (for lack of a better word), into
the enamel, giving a rough surface. It does flake off of bare metal,
but not off metal that is coated with enamel.
Alma
I have tried titianium sheet as well - it is just about as messy as
mica, in that titanium leaves a firescale on the back of your piece.
Repeated firings of the titanium creates more and more scale that can
flake off and pop onto your piece. I still maintain that counter
enameling a layer or two, then firing on a thin wash of Scalex, which
adheres to the enamel, but leaves a slightly rough surface, is the
best method. I’ve fired pieces repeatedly, directly on a screen, and
it never sticks. Try it - you’ll like it! In answer to Marianne
Hunter’s question - if applied in a thin wash - it bonds with the
enamel. A thicker application may leave places that could flake off.
Just check the back after it cools - perhaps with a scotch brite pad
- to see if there are any loose places, and scour them off. The
traditional use for Scalex is to paint on bare copper to prevent
firescale. This is sort of a waste of time in my book. Easy enough
to pickle the bare side.
Linda Gebert
http://homepage.mac.com/lgebertsilverjewelry/PhotoAlbum1.html
The traditional use for Scalex is to paint on bare copper to
prevent firescale. This is sort of a waste of time in my book. Easy
enough to pickle the bare side.
Back in the days when we were all using lead based enamels (and I
still do) if you used copper and transparent blues and you put that
in Sparex to remove the firescale you would lose much of the
transparency of the blue enamel; it looked hazy. The lead free
enamels don’t react to Sparex.
Donna in VA