Enamel, enamels, enamelling

In a discussion of art technology, enamel is the colorful result of fusion of powdered glass to a substrate through the process of firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. The powder melts and flows to harden as a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, glass or ceramic. It is often applied in a paste form and may be transparent or opaque when fired. Vitreous enamel can be applied to most metals.

Also an "enamel" is a decorative object, usually very small, having an enamel coating, such as a piece of champlevé or cloisonné.
Vitreous enamel has many excellent properties: it is smooth, hard, chemically resistant, durable, can take on long-lasting, brilliant colors, and cannot burn. Disadvantages of the enamelling are its tendency to crack or shatter when the substrate is stressed or bent.
The durability of enamel and enamels has given it many functional applications, including: early advertising signs, interior walls of ovens, speckleware, exterior walls of high quality kitchen appliances etc.

Enamelling is an old and widely-adopted technology. The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to pottery and stone objects. Other practitioners include the ancient Greeks, and the Chinese.

The bright, jewel-like colors have also made enamel a favored choice for designers of jewellery and bibelots, such as ancient beads, the fantastic eggs of Carl Faberge and artists such as George Stubbs and other painters. Enamelling was a favorite technique of the Art Nouveau jewellers.

According to some sources, the word enamel comes from the High German word smelzan (to smalt)) via the Old French esmail. Some techniques of enamelling:

The surface of the metal is decorated with a low relief design which can be seen through translucent and transparent enamels. Color in enamel is obtained by the addition of various minerals, often metal oxides. The last creates delicate shades ranging from pure violet through wine-red and warm gray. Enamel can be either transparent, opaque or opalescent (translucent), which is a variety that gains a milky opacity the longer it is fired. Different enamel colours cannot be mixed to make a new colour, in the manner of paint. This produces tiny specks of both colours; although the eye can be tricked by grinding colors together to an extremely fine, flour-like, powder.

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