I received "The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration" by Linda Darty last year and pulled it out last night in preparation for firing up my new kiln. My husband is also interested in working on a couple of projects, but has no experience with enameling, so we looked it over together. It seemed every time he asked a question, Darty had it answered in the next section.
The Art of Enameling is chock full of images: instructional, historical, and inspirational. The top of many pages include pictures of contemporary works that supplement the instructional text nicely and the "Historical Highlights" are welcome interruptions. Instructions for beginners are clear, concise and accompanied with helpful pictures that cover topics such as types of enamels, preparing a kiln, selecting metal, applying enamel, firing enamel and more.
In addition to the more well known enameling techniques such as sifting, Cloisonne and Champleve, Darty also includes several methods for experimentation including Raku, Sgraffito, foldforming, and Plique-a-jour. For those enamelists that might need a more structured layout or a review on fabrication/setting enamels, the book also includes several start to finish projects in the back.
I can't wait to get the kiln going today and the experimentation started!
