Earrings Galore Blog Earrings Galore

Handmade beaded earrings made with fabulous cloisonne, elegant glass & crystal, hand painted ceramics, adorable charms and all your favorite gemstones. New Items are being added regularly and are offered with your choice of gold or silver hooks, posts, clip-ons, leverbacks or hypoallergenics.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Coupon Codes

Special July Savings through 7/31/10.

Use Coupon Code JULY20

For an Additional 20% Off Our Already Discounted Prices.

Labels: Coupon Codes

by: Earrings Galore

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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Custom Earrings

If you're looking for a special pair of earrings, perhaps I can help. Earrings Galore offers a wide variety of earrings and welcomes your request to have any of the earring components you find on this website assembled Your Way!

Bridal and Bridesmaid's Earrings are easily designed in your special colors using Swarovski's crystal color chart to find your very best color match. One of my favorites, are the Bridal Veil Earrings. Loaded with sparkling clear crystals and accented with a small splash of color to tie into any wedding scheme.

Great ideas for designing your Bridesmaid's Earrings can be found on the Swarovski Crystal Earrings page, Valentine's Day Earrings page or Rhinestone Earrings page.

Everyday Earrings can also be requested in your own design. Most of the beads and findings that I already have in stock can be rearranged in many different ways and I look forward to hearing what you'd like to do with them.
Just send me an email describing your vision in detail.

Labels: Custom Bridal Earrings, Custom Earrings

by: Earrings Galore

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Fascinated with Cloisonné

My own Cloisonné purchases are limited to tiny beads and charms that I use to make my earrings, but Cloisonné enameling is used to embellish an enormous variety of ornaments and household accent accessories.

If you’re as fascinated with the tedious process and beauty of Cloisonné as I am, you’ll enjoy reading this detailed description and watching a couple of telling videos I borrowed from YouTube.

Cloisonné
The Art of Decorative Enameling

Cloisonné, also known as cloisonné enamel, is the decorative art of applying enamel of all colors to the surface of a copper or bronze object which is then fired to become a bright and colorful work of art. This artistic technique was transmitted to China from the West and reached its peak of perfection as a result of the concerted efforts of Chinese artisans. Chinese cloisonné thereupon became the standard by which to measure the quality and appraise the beauty of cloisonné world-wide. This ranks as one of China's major contributions to the world's fine arts.

The technique for cloisonné enameling was passed onto China by missionaries from central Asia sometime in the early to mid-14th century. After mastering the skill of manufacturing enamel products, Chinese constantly improved and enhanced this special technique, making it a distinctly Chinese art. During the mid-15th century reign of Ming Emperor Ching T'ai, cloisonné production was extremely prosperous--many cloisonné works of the most delicate quality were produced. These works were mostly fused with a kind of special blue enamel as the base color, hence the term for cloisonné in Chinese: ching-t'ai-lan (``Ching-t'ai Blue'').

The main reason that such stunning achievements were possible in so short a time after cloisonné technique had been transmitted to China was that the Chinese nation of the time possessed excellent conditions for developing cloisonné enameling art--it already had metallurgical technology, such as bronze casting; glass and glaze production techniques were well-known; and how to accurately control the firing temperature was already understood. Another reason was that the enamel was as soft and smooth as jade, as glittering as jewelry, and as delicate as china--satisfying many sorts of Chinese likings.

The general method for making cloisonné involved first soldering brass wires to the surface of a copper object to form a pattern or illustration, then, according to the requirements of each pattern, colored enamels were filled in.

Enamel was made by melting different materials such as red lead, boric acid borate, and glass powder together to become an opaque or translucent glistening substance. A variety of oxidized metals are added, and the substance then changed into enamels of different colors, or enamel coloring. After the melted enamel cooled and became solid, it was then ground into powder and mixed with water prior to the filling in process.

After the spaces delineated by brass wires on the copper object were filled in with enamel paste, the object was then fired. After every firing, the enamel would contract, producing an uneven surface. It was then necessary to fill in the uneven places with enamel paste of the same color many times over. This procedure had to be repeated many times until every filled-in space became thoroughly smooth without any depressions. Only then was the firing process complete.

Enamelware that had been fired then needed to have its surface polished smooth so that the soldered brass wire pattern and the enamel substance were melded into one. Finally, the exposed brass wires between parts of the patterns as well as the rim and the bottom of an object, to which enamel had no been applied, were gold plated. Thus, a work of cloisonné art was finished.

An exquisite piece of cloisonné must have colors that are moist and glossy, fresh and bright, a body that is substantive and sturdy, a wire inlay that is neat and well-proportioned, and gold plating that glitters. Its delicate appearance and splendid patterns should emit a classical warmth that rivets the gaze, and leaves one too infatuated to part with it.

Labels: cloisonne, cloisonné