This is my first post here, my name is Ben and I am a graphic designer.
Recently, I have been drawn to the idea of getting produced a simple line of great quality gold plated bangles showcasing wrapped “illustrations” in vivid colours.
There are 2 main references I have been looking at:
Hermes and their “narrow printed enamel” collections
Frey Wille collections
I understand that Frey Wille produces hand painted enamel bangles.
I cannot figure out what technique is really being used to create the Hermes bangles.
“Narrow printed” indicates that there’s some print/transfer technique involved, but I do not understand how enamel can be printed. And I can’t see printed paper going into a kiln for firing haha
Some manufacturers have proposed using a coat cold enamel, which is basically resin, over a printed design. That’s not what I would like to settle for.
I am very curious about what you think about the process Hermes is using.
They may be using a ceramic water slide decal. Pigments are printed onto sheets of specially coated paper. The images are then cut from the sheet, placed into water, which releases the printed coating from the paper and then transferred onto a prepared vitreous enamel surface. Once dry, they are fired in a kiln. The decal medium burns off leaving the ceramic pigments in place to fuse into the surface of the enamel.
Try searching ceramic water slide decals for more info.
Hi Ben,
This is a product thats been around here in Europe for at least 50 yrs.
Saw them in Vienna in 1967.
Pams response is probably right. The process is basically what is used to put designs onto any ceramic surface, Cups plates kitchen enamelled steel containers like Tea Coffee bread etc. etc.
Nothing new here. The fact Hermes is taking an interest, sees money in it with their fashion marketing background.
I was interested in their “H” buckles. Also nothing new, just brass gilt with a poor leather holding fitting on the back. Hermes started out as luggage makers.
Ted.
.
FWIW, founded in 1837, Hermes started out as harness makers. They began making saddlery some years later. While they no longer produce harness, they still make very fine saddles. This is why equestrian motifs figure so largely in the decoration of their products. They did not begin to produce handbags and travelling cases until the 1920s.
Hermes is one of the last luxury brands still owned and run by the founding family.
First of, thank you so much Pam, Ted and Elliot for sharing your thoughts and experiences! This is truly awesome!
Pam, this is very encouraging, I actually knew of this technique but I never though it could be applied using enamel pigments. You just opened new horizons to me
Ted, thanks for confirming, I’m actually glad if this is a rather common technique to people in the field.
Elliot, thank you for the historical details of the brand.
Overall, not knowing really what the transfer technique could be(besides the fact that it is enamel), it seems like I have been talking to the wrong manufacturers.
I will be re-orienting my research towards Europe, in the hope to find Workshops that might know how to work with this.
If any of you have any sort of recommandation or pointer as to where or what to look at, I’ll be very grateful.
And again, thank you all, I was getting quite desperate in my quest
