Instructional Series. "How to hand-grind Soft Flameworking glass rods (COE 104) into Vitreous Enamel powder or Frit for Lampworking". Part 1

When I started my research and fabrication project last year on Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches, I began several different experiments based on my various theories. 

As I was doing my 1st millennium AD/CE glass and enamel research I did not come across sufficient published research showing a clear connection between the colored glass used to make Anglo-Saxon beads and the colored glass they broke down and used for enamelling. 

Just because something looks logical doesn't make it fact. To me it looks logical that the Anglo-Saxons used the same source of colored glass for both their glass beads and vitreous enamel work.


The following experiments were to see if colored Flameworking glass rods with a Coefficient of Expansion (COE) of 104, used to make glass beads with a torch, can be successfully used to make hand-ground Vitreous Enamel for kiln fired enamel.


*These techniques can also be used to make glass Frit of various sizes. Frit is used in Flameworking, Glass Fusing, etc.

I wrote 3 blog posts and filmed 4 short instructional videos on my process which anyone can follow in this order:

Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches. Part 3 (Enamel)

Then:
Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches. Part 4 (Enamel)

Then:
Late Anglo-Saxon Disk-Brooches. Part 6. (Enamelling Tools)

Part 6 of my series of blog posts related to my Late Anglo-Saxon Enamel Disk-Brooch project on the historical tools used in Goldsmithing and Enamelling from approximately the 2nd-century BCE until the middle of the 2nd-millennium CE. The Iron Hoods / Muffles and Trays used by Georgian Enamelers as well as those described by Theophilus in his Treates.


I recorded 4 related videos to show my techniques. The first and main instructional video:


This is the first video tutorial I've ever filmed and the main one to watch. (Length: 37m35s)

I am show my technique of dry hand grinding soft Lampworking glass rods (CoE 104) into 80 grit Vitreous Enamel powder.


Please click on the middle tab marked 'Description' to read any corrections on the temperature mentioned. Once it sounds like I say a different temperature and another I accidentally only said the second half of the temperature needed.


Then watch the following short videos that show the results from the end of the main tutorial.

The second video that compliments the main one. (Length: 0m57s)

This very short video shows what the washed, oven dried, and hand-ground enamel looks like right out of the kitchen oven. I've used soft Lampworking glass rods (CoE 104) as the glass source for my Vitreous Enamel experiment.


Then the next two short videos:

Third video to watch. (Length: 3m25s)

Fourth and final video tutorial. (Length: 2m15s)

Both show the kiln firings of the hand-ground enamel I've been making from soft Flameworking glass rods. You can see me extracting several small pieces from the Kiln to show the temperature color shift as the enamels cool. Photographs of them are in my blog posts.


Over time I will be adding blog posts in this series on my Blogger account and upload companion videos to my Vimeo page. 

I'd love to see what you do with your results of this dry grinding technique.