Cloisonne´ Confidence

​​Build Skill. Trust Your Color. Make Your Own Decisions.

 Enamel with Ricky Frank

Enamel
 Confidence
​​Build Skill. Trust Your Color. Make Your Own Decisions.​

Learn enameling in a way that builds technical fluency and creative confidence --
​so you can stop copying and start exploring.

When you have Enamel Confidence, you ...

Know how to become "unstuck"
​

Learn to "Think in Enamel"
​

Train your "Enamel Color Eye"
​

Build your "Enamel Voice"

​Trust yourself to "Figure it out"

Make more meaningful artwork

What is Enamel Confidence?
When you enamel you use two sets of skills...

Enamel Technique Skills

• Prepare, Apply, Fire your materials
• Use tools to make enamel marks
• Build enamel forms of metal and enamel
• Learn the relationships between skills, steps, and results
• Repeat to achieve consistent results

Enamel Mind Skills

• Pay attention to what you can see
• Ask yourself questions about what you can do and what you want
• Decide what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and where to do it
• Do it
• ​Evaluate and reflect upon the results of what you did

see how these skills work together when making a piece

In-Person Workshops
in Ricky's Marietta, GA studio

Small class size: Maximum of 4 students insures that you will get as much attention as you need!

 Introduction to Cloisonne´
3-Days, Friday-Sunday
April 18-20 and May 2-4, 2025
10 am-5 pm
$389
Maximum class size: 4 students​

• Cloisonne´ Foundation Skills
• Enamel Science​ Principles 
• Day 3: practice, play, and explore

 Introduction to Cloisonne´
5-Days, Monday-Friday
August 25-29, 2025​
​10 am-5 pm
$789
Maximum class size: 4 students​

• Cloisonne´ Foundation Skills
• Enamel Science​ Principles 
• Day 3-5: practice, play, explore, create

What makes these classes special?
Here is what you get...

Introduction to Cloisonne´
​3-Day Workshop

• 10 am to 5 pm
• Cloisonne´ Foundation Skills
• Enamel Science Principles
• Third day to play & explore
• price: $389
• ($200 deposit)
• Available Dates: May 2-4

Introduction to Cloisonne´
​5-Day Workshop

• Monday through Friday
• 10 am to 5 pm
• Cloisonne´ Foundation Skills
• Enamel Science Principles
• 3 extra days to play, explore, and create your own projects
• price: $689
• ($400 deposit)
• Available Dates: August 25-29
• ​FULL
  

Fun & Excitement

• lots of play & experimentation
• freedom to "try it" without fear of failure
• encouragement to find your own way
• improvisational lessons for those "different" questions

Simple Exercises teach the basics

It's not just the skills, it's the questions you ask yourself and the decisions you make

The "One-Wire" Cloisonne´ Exercise

Learn Basic Cloisnne´ Skills

Same materials, same techniques. Different questions and different decisions

Start with a silver or copper blank canvas
Bend one wire; fire it onto the blank canvas
Prepare, apply, and fire enamel multiple color layers
Add clear layers to bring the enamel to the top of the wires
​Grind and Polish the surface

​Turn skills into your enamel voice

The Spiral Cloisonne´ Exercise

Start with a silver or copper blank canvas
Use different bends to form your wires:
Curves
Angles,
Spirals
Points
Combine the different wires
Same color layers, different color combinations

What are Cloisonne´ Foundation Skills?

Instead of learning how to make a "project", students learn skills at the most basic level so that they can practice them without being afraid of making mistakes and "ruining" their results.

Bend wires to build a design

Fire your piece to melt the enamel

Add foils to create "layers of light"

Apply and build "color layers"

When I am enameling, I am always using one of these skills...

Prepare: my metal, enamel, wires, foil

Apply: enamel to metal, enamel to enamel, wires to enamel, foil to enamel, enamel to foil

Fire: enamel to metal, enamel to enamel, wires to enamel, foil to enamel, enamel to foil

Finish: techniques to grind, polish, or fire the enamel surface to complete the enamel

Enameling Techniques 
Students become familiar with basic skills and techniques.
Break down the techniques into steps;
Break down the steps into skills.
​Learn the skills and practice them to build "muscle-memory".

Enamel Science
Learn how "Principles & Variables" affect your results.
A Principle describes a change that is based on a "Law of Nature". For instance, the principle of Thermal Expansion/Contraction describes how the metal and enamel expands when heated and contracts when it cools, how this affects whether your enamel "cracks", and what you can do solve "cracking" problems.
​

Curiosity & Exploration, not Copying a Project 
Instead of focusing solely on technique or a "project", students will explore the power of questions, experimentation, and discovery to unlock their unique artistic potential.
 Fear takes a back seat when you let go of "Right or Wrong".
Embrace the freedom that emerges when you learn how to "Figure It Out".

Confidence
Through guided inquiry and a hands-on approach to explore questions, students will leave feeling empowered, excited, and eager to dive into the world of enameling with confidence in their own studios.

​Our workshops help you understand
Enamel Science
Why Science? When you use heat to bond two materials, there is chemistry and physics involved.
Understanding the WHY helps you figure out the WHAT, WHEN,  and HOW questions.

Are there Principles involved? ​​​

• A PRINCPLE is like a "law of nature". It's what the materials want to do.
• When you know that a Principle is involved, you adapt your process to take it into account.
• You succeed when you work with the Principle, not against it. Knowing the Principles helps you solve your problems.
• Example: Transparent layer thickness: the thicker the layer, the less transparent it is

 Know the Principles and Control the Variables.
To understand and apply enamel science, we ask two questions ​...

What are the Variables involved?

• A VARIABLE is anything that you can change that will give you a different result.
• Applying enamel science is learning to ask and answer the question "What does it depend on"? Which variables are affecting your results?
• Time & Temperature are both "firing variables. When you change one, you need to change the other.
• Variables include types of metal, type of enamel, thickness, of enamel, etc.

A NEW WORKSHOP to begin YOUR journey...
​Discover, Explore, and Embrace
Your Enamel Language

Colors, Wires, & Foils

Beyond the technical "How-to" Questions.
What else is possible?
What do I love?
How can I change & combine...?
What inspires and influences me?
How can I "Make it Mine"?

New Workshop 
Build YOUR personal & unique Cloisonne´ Language
Your Cloisonne´ Enamel Voice

• Do you sometimes feel stuck because you don't know how to move beyond the techniques you learned in your classes?
• Do you want to feel more inspired and connected to what you are making?
• Would you like to create more meaningful enamel artwork?
• Do you want to make artwork that looks like everyone elses' or do you want to create unique and meaningful enamel images?

Would you like some guidance finding and developing your own unique style?
This workshop challenges you to step outside of your comfort zone, confront your fears, and explore questions about translation and design. Improve your old skills and add some new tricks too!

Your Enamel Voice: More Than Techniques

Enamel is more than color, more than skill.
​It is a language—your language. Every artist has a voice, a way of speaking through their marks, their choices, their way of seeing the world.

When I want to explore, build, and change my enamel voice, this is what I consider...
Explore "marks": This is your design element language
Explore "enamel marks". This is your enamel design element language.
Practice translating between the two different languages

It's how you consider all of the many ways to use your techniques and skills.

​Techniques are the way that you can make and change a Mark. You Voice is the language of "Your Marks". 

• The types of enamel marks that you love: lines, shapes, patterns, color, and value.
• How you combine your enamel colors, wires, and foil elements.
• How you utilize depth and light.
• How you move the viewers' eye through the piece.
• How you make the piece feel "Extraordinary"!

In this class for intermediate enamelists, we dive into how you can use your skills to create an enamel language that reflects your unique style, taste, and point of view. Translate your ideas and images into unique and personal cloisonne´enamel imagery.

---

Take your enameling to the next level

Look at this image; Can you see the different lines, shapes, patterns, colors, and values? You may already have the skills to make a piece like this! 
My way of putting these all together is MY language. And the way that I use my materials: my enamel colors and color layers, my use of wires, and the nuance with which I use both the background metal and foil layers to reflect light is But being able to imagine, design, and create a piece that "speaks from your heart" is a different type of challenge.

Most classes teach you how to duplicate your "teacher's voice", not let "your voice" emerge. Discovering and embracing your voice requires practice, not a class that gives you the "right answers". Because when it comes to your enamel voice, there are no right answers!

Most classes focus on learning new techniques. This is important but uses utilizes a Performer Mindset: do it the right way, know the right answer, and get the right result.

Because you voice is UNIQUE to you, a different type of mindset is usually required. This is an Explorer Mindset. Instead of looking for the "right", the explorer is searching for the "possible". Our questions change and these new questions lead us to different actions, different results, and different ways to evaluate our results. This is a different type of practice from perfecting skills; it is using skills to discover what is possible and what you like!

Three parts to your Enamel Voice
Explore "marks": This is your design element language
Explore "enamel marks". This is your enamel design element language.
Practice translating between the two different languages

It's how you consider all of the many ways to use your techniques and skills.

Many teachers show you the "How-to" techniques
(This is important, but it may not be enough)

 I've learned, practiced, and improved my Technical Skills.
I explain and demonstrate the Science and how I apply it in my work.

I ask myself questions about
Design,
Creativity,
and Self-Expression
as I learn to create my artwork

I've learned to Let Go of
Rules,
Self-doubt,
and Fear
so that I can feel FREE
with my technique

Creative Enamel classes help you build the skills to use the Techniques, understand the Science, Design exciting images, Create innovative artwork , Express Yourself, and perhaps most importantly, Let Go so that you can rediscover your childlike curiosity and feel a sense of Freedom with enamel.

"your teaching method was transformative for me as both an enamel technician and an artist"
-Candie P
If you are new to my style of teaching, please take the time to read "Candie's Story".

Candie's Story

Enamel Science
​helps you ask and answer questions like these...

How hot and how long do I heat this piece?
Do I need enamel on the back of the piece? Why or why not?
How thick or thin do I apply the enamel?
Can I mix these two colors together?
Why did the pink enamel turn orange?
How can I keep from over-firing my pieces?
Why did "that" happen?