Getting Started: Enameled Pet Portraits

Overview

Immortalize your pet in glass and metal! Enamel is one of the oldest decorative techniques in jewelry — powdered glass fired onto metal — and in this mini-workshop you'll use it to make a pendant portrait of your animal. Bring a photo: we'll help you turn it into a fired decal applied to copper. You can work from a precut shape or learn to cut, form, and drill your own blank from sheet. Either way, you'll come away with an understanding of how enamel works — base coats, counter enameling, kiln firing, building up color; and foundational techniques in jewelry you can carry forward, then leave with a finished piece others will be smitten with.