Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches. Part 2 (Enamel)

This is Part 2 of my series of blog posts about my Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooch Project. In this part of the series I talk about my reasons for experimenting with Flameworking glass rods and turning them into a fine powder which can be used as Enamel.


Part 1 is a general history of the disk-brooches that my research and fabrication project centers around.

I purchased several end bits of Lampworking glass rods, which are used in bead making, in several of the colors used in Anglo-Saxon glass beads, in order to make my own vitreous enamel. Full, new rods aren't necessary since I will be crushing them. I also like the idea of recycling in this way, something I'm certain was done in period.

I only needed the end bits since I will using the technique discussed by Theophilus in, "On Divers Arts" to make my own vitreous enamel. Using thermal shock I will shatter them into smaller pieces, then crush them with a pestle with some distilled water, to reduce the dust in the air and as a bit of a lubrication, until they are finely ground. I will be wearing a good quality 3M respirator for fine particles and eye protection.

The bottom, horizontal rod is Marshmallow white which is the only full rod that I purchased that day. I have a couple dozen rods I purchased at previous EK Metalsmiths' Symposiums for making Viking Age beads, some of those rods might be the needed colors.

The dark looking rods between the white and turquoise, as well in the second picture, is actually a transparent, dark blue which is lovely.

I've been researching the sources for Anglo-Saxons enamel and so far it seems to be the same glass used for Anglo-Saxon beads. I will be writing a separate Blog entry about this section of my research.

I will also be using Thompson's lead-free enamels on several of the Anglo-Saxon brooches, though I will not mix these  on the same piece with the enamel I will make. The glass rods have a CoE* of 104 and the Thompson lead-free enamels have different CoEs depending on which series they are from.

* CoE = "Coeffecient of Expansion"

Many thanks to the discussion and helpful information from Mistress Elysabeth Underhill, O.L. during EK Metalsmiths' Symposium 17 (MSS) this month. She was generous with her time to help pull out these color rods from a large container of them to aid me in my project. I greatly appreciate it.


Links:
Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches, Part 1

My Facebook Photo Album of this project