Enamel Guilloche

Enamel for Some Exotic Jewelry Boxes For Women

There are several kinds of jewelry boxes for women but the prettiest ones are made with enamel. You get enamel when powdered glass is fused into a substrate through a process of firing done at extremely high temperatures. The molten powder then flows into a vitreous coating over metal making it smooth and gorgeous.

The word enamel has a few vague references in two languages. It possibly could have come from the word 'smelzan' in the Old High German language which means to smelt. It is also quite possible that it came from the French word 'esmail'.

Enameling as we know it today has come down from civilizations like the Egyptian one where colored, cut glass was used to decoratively fill in gold cells known as cloisonné. From there, it is possible that the Greeks or the Celts took it a step further by melting the glass.

A number of civilizations like the Chinese, Indian and the Roman utilized this art form. In the 18th century, artisans of Battersea and Straffordshire in England improvised the use of enamel using it for beautiful boxes. They became quite popular among nobility who used them for a number of reasons.

Enamel boxes were often given away as gifts to nobility and royalty. People made use of these boxes to hold make up and jewelry as well as snuff at times. The royal class in fact still give these boxes away as gifts.

Russia's famed Peter Carl Faberg can be credited with taking enamel to new creative heights with the creation of the famous Fabergé eggs. Boxes in enamel can be complex to make depending on their design but here is an idea on how they are basically made.

Boxes are first made of pure metals such as copper, which is common and gold which is most expensive. They are shaped into desired patterns. Enamel is sprayed onto the box, then fired to get a really smooth finish. The surface of the box becomes unbreakable and quite hard after this process. Boxes like these can last for centuries.

The picture that has to be included will be drawn or photographed before it is converted to a template. This helps when the design has to be hand painted onto the surface of the box. After this point, the design is fired again to fuse it to the enameled surface of the box.

There are a number of techniques used in enameling. Every one of them is different and comes out with a unique design. Among the techniques are Cloisonné, Champlevé, Grisaille, Limoges enamel, specific to Limoges in France and Plique-à-jour besides others. Every one of these techniques is still referred to by its French name and is distinctive in their looks.

So don't wait to go to a museum to look at some enamel work. Give yourself or a loved one with a box of this kind.

This article was written by Ruth D’Souza Prabhu of MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes are original works of art, no two creations are the same. Each wood shown has its own unique wood grain pattern and color. MarqART comes from combining the words marquetry (wood inlay) + Art (a creation of beauty) an apt name for our products. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic jewelry boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!