Enamel. Enamel painting is a decorative art technique that involves applying colored glass powder to a metal surface, typically copper, gold, or silver. The glass powder, known as enamel, is mixed with a medium such as water or oil to create a paint-like consistency, which is then applied to the metal surface using brushes. Once the enamel has been applied, the metal surface is fired in a kiln at high temperatures, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. The heat causes the enamel to melt and fuse to the metal, creating a smooth, hard, and durable surface. This process can be repeated multiple times to build up layers of color or to correct mistakes. Enamel painting is known for its brilliant and long-lasting colors, which are resistant to fading and deterioration. The technique allows for a high level of detail and precision, making it suitable for creating intricate designs and patterns. Enamel painting can be used to create a variety of art forms, including jewelry, decorative objects, and wall panels. Enamel painting was used extensively in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, particularly in the production of religious art and decorative objects. In the 18th and 19th centuries, enamel painting became popular in Europe as a decorative art form, with centers of production in countries such as France, Germany, and Russia. Enamel painting is practiced by artists around the world, who use both traditional and contemporary techniques to create unique and beautiful works of art. The technique requires a high level of skill and expertise, as well as a deep understanding of the properties of enamel and metal. Despite the challenges, many artists are drawn to enamel painting for its vibrant colors, durability, and versatility as an art form. Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word vitreous comes from the Latin vitreus, meaning glassy. Enamel can be used on metal, glass, ceramics, stone, or any material that will withstand the fusing temperature. In technical terms fired enamelware is an integrated layered composite of glass and another material. The term enamel is most often restricted to work on metal, which is the subject of this article. Essentially the same technique used with other bases is known by different terms: on glass as enamelled glass, or painted glass, and on pottery it is called overglaze decoration, overglaze enamels or enamelling. The craft is called enamelling, the artists enamellers and the objects produced can be called enamels. Chinese dish with scalloped rim, from the Ming dynasty; early 15th century; cloisonné enamel; height: 2.5 cm, diameter: 15.2 cm Enamelling is an old and widely adopted technology, for most of its history mainly used in jewellery and decorative art. Since the 18th century, enamels have also been applied to many metal consumer objects, such as some cooking vessels, steel sinks, and cast-iron bathtubs. It has also been used on some appliances, such as dishwashers, laundry machines, and refrigerators, and on marker boards and signage. The term enamel has also sometimes been applied to industrial materials other than vitreous enamel, such as enamel paint and the polymers coating enameled wire; these actually are very different in materials science terms. The word enamel comes from the Old High German word via the Old French, or from a Latin word, first found in a 9th-century Life of Leo IV. Used as a noun, an enamel is usually a small decorative object coated with enamel. Enamelled and enamelling are the preferred spellings in British English, while enameled and enameling are preferred in American English. Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, 2nd-century Roman Britain The earliest enamel all used the cloisonné technique, placing the enamel within small cells with gold walls. This had been used as a technique to hold pieces of stone and gems tightly in place since the 3rd millennium BC, for example in Mesopotamia, and then Egypt. Enamel seems likely to have developed as a cheaper method of achieving similar results.