Build Enamel Confidence
with Ricky Frank

Do you want to explore the magical world of enamel color and light --
learn how to control it --
and trust yourself to figure out what to do when the instructions stop?​

From foundational skills,
to finding your own enamel voice,
this is where the journey begins.

What Is Enamel Confidence?

Enamel Confidence is an online learning space where you build reliable foundational enamel skills — preparing, applying, firing, and finishing — while learning how to think and make decisions as you use those skills.

Through small, focused studies — rather than step-by-step projects — you practice controlling enamel color and light. As you do, you begin developing the creative micro-skills to notice, adjust, make decisions, and figure out what to do when there are no instructions.

​ This is where enamel competency becomes enamel confidence — and where your enamel voice begins to take shape.

The Three Stages of Enamel Confidence

1. Build Enamel Competency

You learn and refine foundational enamel techniques:
• Preparing surfaces
• Applying enamel
• Firing with intention
• Finishing with control

​You practice small studies that build muscle memory and predictability.
Confidence begins with competence.

2. Train the Invisible Skills

As you build technique, you also train:
• Noticing without judging
• Asking better questions
• Running small experiments
• Evaluating results calmly
• Choosing your next step

​This is where enamel confidence begins to grow.
​You stop waiting for directions.
You begin figuring things out.

3. Design Your Own Path

When you walk into your studio, you know:
• What you love
• What you’re curious about
• What small study to make next
• How to turn confusion into exploration
​
​You begin using enamel not just to practice technique —but to explore color, light, meaning, and your own perspective.
​This is where enamel voice begins to emerge.
Not discovered.
Trained.

Enamel Is Alive. Things Happen.
And that’s not a problem — it’s the medium

Enamel is heat, chemistry, and layers that shift with every firing.
Color changes. Surfaces move. Previous layers react.
Even when you follow a plan, something unexpected can occur.
That unpredictability is part of what makes enameling beautiful — and part of what can make it frustrating.

Does this sound familiar?

​• You feel confident in class — but unsure in your studio.
• You hesitate to change a color because one firing can alter everything.
• You avoid experimenting because you don’t want to ruin a piece.
• You wait for instructions instead of designing your own study.

Train Your Enamel Color Eye / Let Your “Enamel Voice  Emerge
​
Training your Enamel Color Eye 
Noticing what you see and what your preferences are, 
not whether the color is "good or bad"

A teacher cannot give you the recipe for this. You must figure it out.

How do you figure it out? 

Change your goal...
​More is better than good!

• Visualize layers
• Sketch ideas in enamel
• Make small studies
• Test variations
• Rehearse combinations
• Prototype before committing

Each time you see color, visualize color, change a color, combine colors, or translate an image into enamel colors, you are training your enamel color eye.

​The more you practice "thinking in enamel color", the more you train your eye.

Enameling Is More Than Technique

Techniques Matter

Yes, there are foundational skills:
Sifting.
Firing.
Bending wire.
Layering.
Using foils.
Surface finishing
​
These are essential skills.
They give you control.
But technique alone doesn’t create confidence.

​But Color Is the Goal

Techniques are the vehicle.
Color is the expression.
​
When your question shifts from
“How do I do this right?”
to
“What can I do with this color?”
Everything changes.

You stop trying to complete a project.
You start exploring possibilities.
Now your learning becomes personal.

You begin building your own color language.
And that’s where real confidence grows.

How Enamel Confidence Works

In Enamel Confidence, we practice the way athletes rehearse — isolating skills, repeating intentionally, and building fluency before performance.

We:

• Build essential enamel skills with clarity
• Isolate and repeat techniques intentionally
• Explore how enamel color behaves
• Combine skills with creative decision-making
• Reflect, adjust, and try again

You are not here to make one perfect piece.

You are here to build:

• Technical fluency
• Creative confidence
• Personal color language
• Trust in your next step

Technique is the vehicle.
Color is the fuel.
Confidence grows when you learn to drive it yourself.

Learn more about the Enamel Confidence approach

Is Enamel Confidence Right for You?

My Teaching Approach
Inside/Out Enameling

I emphasizes Process over Product.
Learning to think and solve problems is more important than copying a project.

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.
​
 A Variable is anything that I can control that will produce a different result. In the above example, the variables would be the type of metal, thickness of the metal, the enamel layer thickness, and the type of enamel. Change one of these and your result may change.

When you apply the principles and control different variables, you are more likely toachieve "what you want" instead of hoping for "happy accidents".

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.

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.
​ I like to think of these skills as my PAFF Skills: Prepare, Apply, Fire, and Finish

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

​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?