Hard Enamel
What is Hard Enamel? Hard Enamel begins as finely crushed glass enamel powder. The glass Enamel Powder is processed in a 1400 Degree Fahrenheit oven, in a multi stage process. Sometimes 10-20 firings are required to bring about the desired results. Various color enamels are mixed to the desired color, then applied to a 14k Green Gold base. This process dates all the way back to ancient Egypt.
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Cleaning Enamel Jewelry
All our Hard Enamel Jewelry can be professionally steamed cleaned or polished, and even withstand above normal heat without any chipping. Please make sure that your local jeweler is familiar with the appropriate cleaning processes in advance, JewelBasket.com can not be responsible in any way for damages incurred by your local jeweler through any improper cleaning methods.
Casting the Green Gold
Creating the 14k Green Gold jewelry, involves first hand crafting a silver model. A Silver model is hand crafted using Gravier engraving tools. The design contains grooves for the next stage "enameling process". The grooves when cast in Green Gold, will hold the hard enamel layers. Once the silver model is created, it is used to make a rubber mold. The rubber mold is injected with wax, this wax model is then pulled from the mold. A powdery white mixture called “investment” is molded around the wax. After the Investment hardens, the investment containing the wax is then placed in a flask. Molten 14k Green Gold is then poured into the investment. When the molten gold is poured into the flask, the wax inside the investment evaporates and is replaced by the gold itself. After 30 minutes the green gold jewelry is pulled from the flask spray washed and tumble cleaned. Now the green gold piece is ready for the enameling "Fire On Process" process.
Fire On Process
Each piece of Jewelry first receives the “base coat” of enamel , the enamel mixture is fired on in a specialized oven. During the next stage, the color/design layer is applied. The jewelry piece is fired in the oven once again. There may be several additional intermediate stages, one for each color. The Final processing stage consists of an additional fire layer baked in the specialized oven. When the fire-on process is complete, the jewelry piece is polished by our craftsman, steamed cleaned and ready to be shipped. Each piece is individually hand enameled by our professional enameling team. Our one of a kind hard enamel jewelry takes time and care to produce, our customers demand the best!
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Yellow Gold vs. Green Gold?
24kt Pure Gold is mixed with alloy additions to create either 14k or 18k Yellow or Green Gold. The key here is alloy mix. Yellow Gold has many different alloy additions, such as Nickel, Copper etc. to reduce the gold purity to 14k. In Green Gold the alloy mix involves only 2-additional metals. This ensures a clean metal base for the hard enamel to properly adhere. Green Gold prevents chipping or flaking during the fire-on process. The color of 14k Green Gold is similar to 18k Yellow Gold. To find out more, an upcoming “About Gold” faq is currently being prepared. Please watch for future faqs at JewelBasket.com in the coming weeks.
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