Classic cloisonne
Remember the classic antique cloisonne jewelry in grandma's box- those deep blue or purple beads with gold art work on them? I did not know their names then, now I do. It always fascinated me - those smooth enameled surfaces and the gold or silver texture on them. Do you know it takes more than four or five hours to create such beads? Tiny strips of copper are soldered to the surface of each bead creating "cloisonne" or cells. These cells are then filled with four layers of enamel and fired. After each firing they are polished, revealing the beautiful designs. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a cloisonne factory in Beijing and see the process. Our guide, Xiang (aka Jane) 
told that it was only done for the royal family in yester years. Blue was considered the royal color. Now everything is possible, it is sold to every one.True, the blue back ground really had a royal touch, especially with colorful designs of pheasants and peonies on them. 
There were huge vases (with huge price tags), smaller vessels, koi fish ornaments and of course beads.Usually these days copper is the base metal, even though gold plated and silver plated works are also not uncommon. The very first step in this process is where we see a young boy coloring the whole surface. 
The next is when copper strips are attached on the surface with designs. After that they are painted again depending on the designs. Finally they are fired, polished and made ready for the finishing. The very first person does only the first step, the second one only the second, thus not knowing how the finished product will look. Jane said there are very few artists who know it from the beginning to the end, who can visualize the end product. In that case I could not say that these workers were artists. It felt like they were into this monotonous task working like machines.This made me feel sad. Art should not be like that. I felt fortunate to be able to do a single piece from the very start to its end, even though many times the end result is very different from what I thought it would be, yet it gives me great joy- in the artistic process, I mean. I am happy to give my hundred percent into it. That's why I like one of a kind, hand made things more than mass produced, mass consumed ones. And I am happy to find that I am not alone. Here I'd like to introduce a talented enamel artist of our time, Karen.L.Cohen. She has written a book- Art of Fine Enameling which has 160 pages, 170 photos of 71 contemporary enamel artists and 21 project instructions. The book has excellent reviews by readers and users. After cloisonne please return to the Home Page for more options.
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