Wholesale Jewelry-Making Supplies for Professional Craftspeople
1 (800) 366-2156
Cloisonné: A Classic Art Form
|
Cloisonné is a beautiful enameled art with a history as colorful as its beads. This more than 600-year-old process is one the most famous crafts of Beijing. Historians believe the technique reached China through Central Asian missionaries sometime in early to mid-14th century. The Chinese quickly made cloisonné enameling a distinctive Chinese art form, constantly improving and enhancing the technique. Cloisonné production was extremely prosperous during the reign of Ming Emperor Jingtai in the mid-15th century, when most pieces of the era were fused with a kind of special blue enamel as the base color, hence the Chinese term for cloisonné: jingtai-lan ("Jingtai Blue"). Cloisonné now ranks as one of China's major contributions to the world's fine arts.
The traditional method for making cloisonné involves first soldering brass wires to the surface of a copper object to form a pattern. The technique requires a high degree of care and creativity. The next step is the application of the enamel filling, or "falang." The basic elements in the falang are boric acid, saltpeter and alkaline, and then the amount of other minerals added produces the color: One with much iron will turn gray; with uranium, yellow; with chromium, green; with zinc, white; with bronze, blue; and with gold or iodine, red. After the melted enamel turns solid, it is ground into powder and filled into the compartments separated by the wire filigree. The bead is then placed in a kiln for firing. Once it has cooled, the exposed brass and copper are plated yellow. This is the last step in how our cloisonné beads are created, leaving the filigree design raised above the enamel for a 3D effect. In the more traditional (and most expensive) style, the compartments are repeatedly refilled with enamel and refired until the enamel is level with the filigree. The bead then will be polished and gilded in an electroplating process. |
| Home | Search |