Stephen Fowler

Canada

“ Luminous Tempest “

"The words I was assigned immediately had me imagining a fictional Cold War weapons test, code named, ""Operation Luminous Tempest."" I set about creating a large desk ornament depicting a thermonuclear blast within the silhouette of Tsar Bomba, featuring a schematic of the bomb's mechanism on the reverse.

I was humbled when I couldn't fuse the bezel of my ornament due to the large size of the piece. Unable to find a solution, I was forced to abandon the idea; I had bitten off more than I could chew. By this time, it was late May, but I resolved to submit something to the Enamel Art Jam, so I went back to the drawing board.

As someone keenly interested in Indo-European mythology, the words Luminous Tempest evoke in me thoughts of the storm god Perkʷūnos and his Norse equivalent Thor. The fructifying rains of the storm god, juxtaposed with his immense destructive power, seem to be aptly described by Luminous Tempest.

I decided to create a cloisonné Thor's hammer pendant with a triskelion thunderbolt and raindrop design. I created a model of the pendant in polymer clay, made a silicon mold of the model, and molded the pendant from FS999 precious metal clay. After firing, tumbing, and cleaning up the piece, it was ready for enamel.

I applied a base coat of Soyer #3 flux and a layer of 24k gold foil. Another layer of #3 flux, and then I adhered the wires. Then I filled the piece with Ninomiya enamels and, regrettably, Soyer 518 finishing flux. In retrospect, I should have stuck with Soyer #3 as the #518 was very reactive, leaving the gold duller than desired.

I then wrote my initials on the back in old futhark runes with P3 underglaze topped with a little #3 flux. To finish, I ground down the enamel and wires and polished the piece with cerium oxide, then ran it through the tumbler again.

My thanks to Sandra for motivating me to persevere despite setbacks. I encountered several challenges and learned a lot about precious metal clay and finishing flux. I will certainly incorporate these lessons learned in future projects.

:ᚹᛖᛋ ᚦᚢ ᚻᚪᛚ ᚪᚾᛞ ᚻᚣᚷᚢᛗ ᚷᚩᛞᚢᛗ:

""Hail to you and good thoughts"""