Enamel Channel Membership

The "Spiral" Intro to Cloisonne" Project

One of Ricky's first teaching projects. Learn a basic cloisonne´process using both fine silver and copper as the base metals. Explore foils and gradations.

Member Resources

Handouts from over 20 years of teaching classes, and more

Ricky's 5 Day Craft School Workshop

This is as close to my 5-Day Craft School Intensive workshops as you can get online. An introduction to enamel science, basic sifting, preparing shapes, color samples, foils, cloisonne´ and more. A great place to begin and a reference too.

Permission to Make a Messy Enamel

When you are learning, the pressure to make something that you like just gets in the way. Ricky's "One-Wire" samples gives you permission to make a BAD enamel and simply play with foil and color so that you can have fun without feeling afraid.

The Profile Collage: Break the Rules.

Students often believe that there are rules that need to be followed. For instance, one "should" bend and fire the wires in place BEFORE adding in any color. In this demonstration, Ricky flips the steps and begins with color.

Make a Zentangle Cloisonne´

Zentangle designs offer a fun way to explore cloisonne´imagery and color. Ricky demonstrates both pink and green value gradations in this sample.

Combine My New Enamel Vocabulary

I combine the new enamel vocabulary that I have been teaching myself and use it to design a new cloisonne´ piece.

Creative Enamel Color: Enamel Edges

Create dynamic contrast and interest as you learn different ways to combine two colors next to each other. Learn the secrets to make crisp, feathered, and blended edges which will create excitement within your pieces..

Creative Enamel Color: Sculptural Layers

Enamel Layers do not need to be applied or fired evenly. Discover some of the many "what if" answers when you apply enamel as an even layer, a partial layer, a tapered layer, or an uneven layer.

Creative Enamel Color: Custom Colors

Create unique layers of color in this simple but expansive set of tutorials. Feel a sense of freedom as you play and experiment to create your own personal color palette.

Creative Enamel Color: Color and Value Gradations

Create transparent color that flows through your piece as you blend different colors together. Make Value (light to dark) and color gradations.Learn five different ways to explore this technique: copy, play, experiment, design, and translate.

Creative Enamel Color: Opalescent White

Create beautiful opalescent white enamel layers that allow just a hint of light to pass through. Learn five different ways to explore this technique: copy, play, experiment, design, and translate.

Learn with Baby Steps

Use a baby-step approach to stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Fold Formed Foil Sampler

Fold forming can create cells with short walls. This sampler explores four different transparent colors over the different embossed patterns in each cell.

Reversible Embossed Foil Imagery

Embossed foil creates a reverse pattern of high and low areas. The transparent colors looks different depending on which side of the foil is used.

Student Translations

Lessons from a Zoom class

Mixed Media Design for Enamels

Play with mixed-media to develop a personal artistic voice for enameling.

Night and Day Earrings Demo

How I do it, step by step

Purple Teal Jazz Earring Demo

How I do it, step by step

Pond Earrings Demo

How I do it, step by step

Mosaic Earrings Demo

How I do it, step by step

Purple Fantasy Landscape Demo

Watch Ricky as he applies foil and colors to a "Fantasy Landscape Enamel Pendant". (Silent Movie)

California Creativity Lectures

lecture on my creative process

"Start Here"

Ricky's tips for getting the most out of your Enamel Channel Membership.

Zoom Recordings

Here are the recordings from our monthly Zoom Meetings.

How I learned my colors

Students often ask me "What colors do you/should I use?" Teaching yourself about how the different enamel colors look, what you like/dislike, and how to combine colors is part of your learning curve.

Creativity and Layer Combinations

Do you want to create unique enamel layers that move beyond a simple gradation of transparent color? Ricky shows you how he has taught himself how to "think in enamel layers" to develop his personal enamel vocabulary

Visual Brainstorming for Cloisonne´

Creativity is often described as the ability to ask and imagine possible "What If?" questions. I've created an exercise, Name it and Change it, that helps students improve their ability to ask more and different "What If?" questions

Enamel Science 101

Ricky examines some of the basic enamel principles and variables that need to be considered with most enameling projects.

The Science of Copper & Heat: Opaque White and Flux

Explore some of the science, techniques, and myths about enameling on copper. This is a recording from a "live class" to help students see and understand some enamel basics.

copy Ricky's 5 Day Craft School Workshop

This is as close to my 5-Day Craft School Intensive workshops as you can get online. An introduction to enamel science, basic sifting, preparing shapes, color samples, foils, cloisonne´ and more. A great place to begin and a reference too.

Heat Variables in the Kiln

When you are using a kiln to fire your enamels, there are more things to consider than the temperature and the time. Explore the variable of "proximity" to the heart source to develop more control over your firings.

Experiential Learning with a Torch

Using a torch, Ricky demonstrates the variable of "heat and your torch" when firing an opaque orange enamel layer onto a copper disc.

Sifting and Mindfulness

Learn some basic sifting techniques and begin to Pay Attention to your process. Ricky explores some of the many types of questions you might ask yourself as you apply and move enamel around on your piece.

Introduction to Cloisonne´

A collection of lessons designed to provide a sound foundation for cloisonne´ beginning level students.

Enamel Color and the Color Wheel

Making your color samples is only the first step in developing a personal enamel vocabulary. Don't stop there; use your samples for more than just picking out the colors that you like.

Color Layers for Cloisonne´

Ricky shows a process for exploring new color layers, asking design questions, and then applying what he has learned to a new cloisonne´design.

Cloisonne´ for Intermediate Levels

Four Intermediate-level cloisonne´ classes in one exciting collection.

Cloisonne´ Earring Collection #1

A collection of FOUR different enamel earring lessons.

Introduction to Foil Layers of Light

Create "layers of reflected light" by combining silver and gold foil within your enamel color layers.

Introduction to Sifting and Firing

In this lesson, Ricky explores how enamel changes when it is heated. Do NOT try to make art or something "that you like"; instead, let your direct experience and observations to teach you about how copper, enamel, and heat interacts.

Prepare Enamel

Ricky demonstrates how he prepares his 80 mesh transparent enamel and his lump form transparent enamel (mortar and pestle).

Flash Your Fine Silver

Ricky shares techniques and tips for "flashing" his fine silver shapes and handmade foil. He uses either a firebrick and a hotplate kiln for this step. The purpose is to keep the silver highly reflective during the enameling process.

Prepare Copper & Fine Silver for Transparent Enamel

I like to enamel on copper and fine silver. Ricky demonstrates how different metals may require different approaches to PREPARING your metal before adding the first layer of enamel onto the front.

The Sgraffito Heart Exercise

An introductory level set of lessons that encourage you to play with the "sgraffito" technique of scratching through an unfired layer of enamel color.

Kiln Firing Basics

Fifteen lessons to help you develop confidence with your kiln. Ricky considers the many questions one might ask themselves while learning to use a kiln.

One Wire Cloisonne´ Explorations

Beginner level cloisonne´ lessons that focus on the color instead of the wires. You do not always need to use lots of wires in your pieces. I enjoy making "one-wire" pieces because I get to play but see my results within a "cloisonne´" format.

Creative Color Layers 1: Beginners

Create, design, and express yourself with enamel color. Ricky breaks down his process into SIX types of layers and creates lessons and shows you how he creates of the different types of layers.

Creative Color Layers 2: Intermediate

Create, design, and express yourself with enamel color. Ricky breaks down his process into SIX types of layers and creates lessons to explore different his questions. Includes Copy, Experiment, and Play.

Creative Color Layers 3

Create, design, and express yourself with enamel color. Ricky breaks down his process into SIX types of layers and creates lessons to explore different his questions. Includes Copy, Experiment, Play, Translate, and Design.

Drawing with Cloisonne´Wires

Ricky uses 82 lessons to show how he prepares, bends, applies, and fires his cloisonne´ wires. Explore many "what if" questions about design, planning, practicing, and planning.

Ricky's Design Vocabulary

Ricky uses some of his finished enamels to demonstrate some of the different types of design questions that he asks himself while making his cloisonne´ jewelry. A 10 part series

Play with Cloisonne´ Design Elements

Ricky uses his Pink and Green transparent enamel to consider different cloisome´ design questions.

Monochromatic Cloisonne´ Color

I often learn much more when I stick to one color; I don't get distracted by the different color combinations and can focus more on techniques and design. This set of lessons explores some different ways to play with GREEN.

Red Enamel Layer Lessons

Before beginning a new project, I wanted to learn more about the Red enamel that I have. I created some exercises to teach me a little bit about what was possible and what I like.

Five Foil Color Samples Part 1

Ricky makes 5 different color samples showing a variety of approaches to developing personal vocabulary using transparent color and foils.

Five Foil Color Samples Part 2

Ricky makes 5 different color samples showing a variety of approaches to developing personal vocabulary using transparent color and foils. Part 2

Foil Patterns, Transparent Green, and Negative Space

Ricky explores questions about transparent enamel, foil, and negative space.

Advanced Creative Foil Layers

Use silver and gold foil to create tiny mirrors of reflective light within your enamel layers. This is an in-depth set of lessons: from simple ways to create reflective lines, shapes and patterns to more advanced uses of handmade and embossed foil.

The Pink and Green Handmade Foil Collage

Ricky combines layers of foil, wires, and opaque/transparent/opal enamel to create new enamel vocabulary.

Ricky's Design Questions #1

Ricky explains how his questions lead to his enamel vision and voice. Part 1

Ricky's Design Questions #2

Ricky explains how his questions lead to his enamel vision and voice. Part 2

Your Cloisonne´ Vision and Voice

Ricky "Goes bananas" as he uses a simple icon to explore the idea of story. He challenges you to consider your "story" questions. What do you want to say with your enameling?

Cloisonne´ Silent Movie Collection

A collection of demonstrations with no audio explanations. Watch and learn.

Bezels for Enamels

In a series of Zoom classes, Ricky demonstrates some of his techniques for making bezel settings for his enamels.

Ricky's TES Talk: Learning to Enamel

Ricky's online presentation for the Enamelist Society, 6/4/2022. Ricky speaks about how one teaches themself skills, how enamel artists Ruth Ball and Anne Besse-Shepherd apply these ideas, and his own handmade embossed foil enamel jewelry.

Play and Experiment with Sgraffito

Ricky explores the technique of Sgraffito.

Problem-Solving: What does it depend on?

What do you do when you don't understand why you got the result that you did? This happens a lot when you are learning to enamel and even after decades of experience. Watch Ricky problem-solve an unexpected result.

Experimenting with Copper Preparation and Flux

Ricky explores different ways to prepare copper before firing a layer of flux onto the metal surface.

Experiment with Confidence

Learn to design experiments to answer your questions. If you understand the different principles that affect how your enamel and metal changes, and you can discover the variables, you can solve your problems!

Translate a Color Image into an Enamel Image

Ricky explains and demonstrates one approach to translating a photo image into an enamel image

Tools and Materials

Here are the tools that I use when making my enamels.

How I use my JoolTool

I use my JoolTool for grinding and polishing hundreds of enamels each year. It has changed this tedious part of my process into a fast, consistent, efficient, and even enjoyable step in my cloisonne´ process. I also use it in my bezel-making process!

How I Use My Micro-Motor

I use a micromotor as an alternative to a flexible shaft. Most of the time I'm using a diamond burr (to carve enamel) or a diamond pad (to grind enamel).

Create an "Enamel Canvas"

You can enamel with a torch instead of a kiln. Because the gas discolors the enamel, a few extra steps are often used. Watch as Ricky shows you how he does it.