Pink!

The holy grail of enameling, especially for those of us who enamel on silver, is the color family of pink through red. The metal reacts with the enamel, often resulting in delightful shades of......brown.

For two years I've been looking for an enamel that would fire true. I wanted pinks and roses and reds and time and again I'd get....brown.

Whew, discouraging, expensive, ugly chunks of brown coated enamel started to pile up. I tried several different bases (flux) but had no success. I talked to enamel experts and got the same line, try this, try that, this works, nope, it didn't. Sometimes the browns were quite lovely...

One recommendation turned out successfully, a raspberry that turned a strong, rich, gold toned red. I used that color over and over and actually got a pinkish shade with careful control and multiple flux coats.

Luckily I have a wonderful friend who toddles along with me in enamel land. She tried another color, it wasn't bad and in fact made even the raspberry quite beautiful. The pink continued to elude us. But having an inquisitive friend for encouragement is a fine thing. I tried another possibility and was completely astounded to get this!

Gorgeously soft and beautiful pink that was consistent in it's beauty, we did the happy dance. We're following this line of color adventure into even more gorgeous colors of purples.

I'm so lucky to have an inquiring friend to share these adventures. I'd certainly have given up before now, wandering alone in a complicated field.

Always...