We've said that our attempts at enameling lead us to working with powder coat and to that end the first photos shows several pieces with Cloisonné wire. We even used the Cloisonné glue for the wires with no effect to the powder coat, just be sure to dry the glue or bubbles will appear when curing. We used a copper wire to create the designs and then clear coated the pieces for a nice shiny effect.
We brought out the disk cutter and dapping block for the second photo and all these pieces are made of 22 gauge aluminum. We used the dapping block to create the domes and then polished them up nicely, then applied powder coat to the background disk, flowed it and applied the top domes and cured them using the powder coat to glue the pieces together. The flatter pieces again are two pieces where we applied the powder coat to each, flowed them and put them to together and cured them. These pieces also have the clear coat applied to them as a second coat after curing the first coat.Here's a list of powder coat colors (with convenient links) we used in these pieces:
- Pale Green Powder Coat
- Pale Turquoise Powder Coat
- Black Cherry Powder Coat
- Salmon Pink Powder Coat
- Curry Powder Coat
- Green Malachite Hammertone Powder Coat
- Blue Lilac Powder Coat
- Jet Black Powder Coat
- Clear Coat Powder Coat
Keep your oven door closed, A&J
When applying a second piece, you say flow before cure, do you look for the orange peel, pull the piece out and then apply the second piece and then wait the ten minutes or do you wait until it is smooth and then pull it out and apply?
ReplyDeleteHi Beadle, thanks for the question. Before we applied the second piece we let the powder coat flow before applying the second piece. We had a few problems with pieces moving while they were in the oven so letting it flow out help ensure the second pieces stayed in place. Since we are applying the coat with sifters there can be areas with more powder and when the coat flows it evens out, sort of like water. A&J
ReplyDeleteThank you, I am having problems with powder leveling out. It puddles. When I used the clear, it puddles and did not go clear. I am sure I need to experiment. I clean the piece, do I need to rough the surface?
DeleteHi Beadle, yes experimenting is a lot of it. When it puddles does it look like there isn't enough coating? Are you using a sifter? I would try sifting about a 1 mm layer across the surface. I usually work around the edges and the enter takes care of itself on smaller pieces. As long as the surface isn't shiny smooth you should be ok.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John
Whoops, enter should should be center as in "coat the edges and the center will take care of itself".
DeleteThanks John! I will start experimenting. No more questions for a while. Debbie
ReplyDelete