Enamelling is the process of melting glass onto metal, in this case copper. The possibilities of this medium are limitless and exciting effects can be produced very quickly.

 

Monica produces mostly pictures and small bowls (up to about 4 inches [100 mm] high), but also sometimes smaller items such as buttons, pendants and some rather wacky earrings. Partly because the medium itself is inclined to be on the fickle side (but also because the artist prefers to work intuitively) no two pieces ever seem to come out the same, even when preferred, as with buttons and earrings. Every firing is to some extent an experiment, so serendipity and a willingness to embrace it can offer more exciting outcomes than a more restrained approach. The glass itself is usually ground, and applied by sifting. Sometimes lumps and threads are also used.  The colours can be opaque, but the transparent enamels offer a greater range of effects by laying one over another, and then another and so on with firings in between. Opaques and transparents are often but not always used on the same piece.  The designs can be produced in dozens of different ways, for example stencils cut-out or torn from newspaper, or by masking off with pieces of shaped card, or perhaps just by pushing the powder around with a brush or other tool, or just one's fingers.