Dots emaljering

Dots Enamel Ring – the Arctic, painted in glass.

Dots har vært min signatur siden 2009. De første reiste fra verkstedet mitt til Designtorget i Sverige, og i 2012 tok jeg dem med hjem til Lofoten. De har vært enkle med vilje: en liten sølvskive, en sirkel av glassemalje, en farge hentet fra nordlys eller arktisk vann.

Et eldgammelt håndverk, for hånd

Vitreous enamelling is one of the oldest decorative techniques in jewellery – over two thousand years old and fundamentally unchanged. The enamel itself is finely ground glass with metal oxides for colour. I mix it with water and paint it onto the silver with a small brush, dot by dot, then fire it in the kiln until the glass fuses to the metal. Most studs pass through the kiln more than once, with a fresh layer of enamel each time.

Each colour has its own temperament in the fire – its own melting point, its own ideal time. The line between a finished ring and a melted lump of silver is hair-thin, and learning where it lives takes years and a lot of failed pieces.

Jeg arbeider nesten bare med transparente emaljer, som slipper lyset gjennom til sølvet under og gir fargen en dybde som dekkende pigmenter ikke kan oppnå. Jeg kjøper dem fra veletablerte produsenter i Tyskland og Japan.

This is real vitreous enamel – fused glass – not the cold-set epoxy or lacquer often sold under the same name. The difference, as I once put it to a journalist, is “like comparing the finest oil painting with one made with poster paint.”