Cool Tools | FS999™ Plique a Jour Stained Glass Earrings by Karen Trexler

If you are interested in the products used in this video, please click this link: cooltools.us/c...
Meet Karen Trexler, our Cool Tools resident artist. Karen discovered her interest in jewelry and metalsmithing in 2009 when she took a jewelry class in high school. Thoroughly hooked on making and interested in expanding upon the basics of metalsmithing that she acquired from this class, she continued to study metalsmithing and jewelry design in college and received a BFA from Ball State University. Karen then continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and received her MFA in the spring of 2018 before joining the Cool Tools team.
In this video, Karen demonstrates Plique-à-jour (French for "letting in daylight"). This is a technique where enamel is applied in cells, similar to cloisonné, but with no backing in the final product, so light can shine through the transparent or translucent enamel. The effect is similar to the look of stained-glass and is considered very challenging technically. The technique is similar to that of cloisonné, but using a temporary backing, such as mica, that after firing is filed away. She includes two different versions, both using FS999 Fine Silver Metal Clay

[@Mscelliart]

This is a wonderful video and Karen, you're a very good teacher! Somehow I missed when you actually fired the silver piece??? Did you fire the fine silver AFTER all enamels were fired??? If so, at what temp & for how long??? Many thanks for all the great videos🙂

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello, the silver metal clay was fired before the enamels. Karen uses FS999, which fires at 1650°F for 2 hours. You can find FS999 here: cooltools.us/products/fs999-tm-fine-silver-clay I hope this helps, thanks for watching!

[@AbsentWithoutLeaving]

Love plique-a-jour, and you do an excellent job of explaining it and the process. One note, I would have loved to see the finished pieces with a light behind them, to show the stained glass effect off!

[@lass-inangeles7564]

Great job Karen! I like the craftsmanship and the closeup videos. You focus on the work in the video with closeups and these maintain interest in the process. Lovely earrings!

[@MiauxCatterie]

really appreciated seeing these techniques. one thing to note, it's not recommended to drain any glass or metal down a drain! you will cut up your pipes over time and it's hazardous waste. do this over a bucket and dispose of it properly please.

[@VickiEsDesigns]

Loved this. Can't wait to try it!

[@mary-annkieckhaben5026]

Wonderful this look so beautiful thank you for shering.

[@JP-ve7or]

Thank you for the cleanup instructions! I wasn't sure how yo go about removing the excess enamel.

[@lindatyler4794]

This was a great video. I had never seen this kind of enamel! I always felt leery of working with enamel due to the cleaning of it beforehand. I like that you're a little more relaxed!

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Thanks Linda! I only wash my transparent enamel if I'm putting it over gold or silver and wanting a really luminous look. In most of my projects I like the way it looks straight from the jar just fine!

[@lucillekenney8311]

Beautiful technique! I wondered if this could be done. I didn't realize it had a name, Plique a Jour is. Now I know! Thank you.

[@corystreat8037]

You go Karen !!! AWSOME video !!! Thank you,Cory

[@Raven-Creations]

Nice effect. You'd have better control when stoning, if you mounted your piece to a flat board or piece of metal using chaser's pitch. You could probably get away with using hot glue instead. This allows you to move the smallest, and lightest object, rather than the large and clumsy stones. As long as the piece is mounted parallel to the board, it's easy to keep it parallel to the stone.

[@Tdsbbb-s9h]

If I were to use copper and a torch would the enamel stick to the mica? Would the mica pucker and/or allow movement of the piece from the heat of the torch?

[@IIIAM369]

Loved this, could you please please please put the tools and equipment used in this?🙏

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi there, if you follow this link and then scroll down the page there is a list of all the products used: kzbin.info?redir_token=qy31qK-RHfayKEj2vQAdLaogq5p8MTUzNDUyNzMxOEAxNTM0NDQwOTE4&v=O5fi4x0NDzw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cooltools.us%2FFS999-Plique-a-Jour-Stained-Glass-Earrings-by-Karen-Trexle-s%2F2634.htm&event=video_description

[@delsur17]

Muchas gracias por compartir, tengo una pregunta sobre que pone su pieza es una hoja transparente que también entra al horno esta hoja de que es como se llama. Gracias

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello, this is mica sheet, which you can find here: cooltools.us/products/sheet-mica-4-x-4 Thanks for watching!

[@delsur17]

@@cooltoolsvideos muchas gracias y no se quema verdad?

[@Soul-Nate]

Hello Karen! Hello from New Zealand. Two friends from the US and I have a weekly talk to our KZbin group about various topics. My next talk is on enamel techniques. I was wondering if I could show this video to our group. It is such a clear and concise step by step of this technique. I will of course give full credit. Thanks for your consideration.

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello! Of course, please do share! Our videos are meant to be shared :) Thanks so much for asking!

[@Soul-Nate]

@@cooltoolsvideos Thank you so much Karen! I'm sure my group will absolutely love this video!

[@racket136]

Can you use sterling silver for this? Instead of fine enamel?

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello, it is recommended to enamel on fine silver; however you can enamel on sterling silver if it's been depletion gilded. EZ960, our sterling silver clay actually be enameled on without depletion gilding. Check out Karen's blog on enameling on EZ960: blog.cooltools.us/2021/10/05/enameling-on-ez960-sterling-silver-metal-clay/

[@Peggysue661]

GREAT JOB! dying to do this.

[@marwagaberk_ksh]

The best one 😍

[@ROCKA-HOLIC]

I don't see a link for the precision hole puncher. Can you point me in the right direction? Google finds all sorts of products that look nothing alike.

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Here you go! :) www.cooltools.us/searchresults.asp?Search=precision+hole+punch&Submit=Search

[@celiabesore3298]

Can you use the kiln for both PMC and enamel. I am worried about contamination.

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi Celia, yes, you can use the kiln for both. We do in our studio all the time without any problem!

[@celiabesore3298]

@@cooltoolsvideos excellent!!! Thanks.

[@altar7885]

Great. What brand is the kiln with the window?

[@cooltoolsvideos]

This is the Paragon SC2. You can find it here: www.cooltools.us/Paragon-SC2-Kiln-p/kln-101-p.htm

[@GlassicGamer]

Looks great I wonder if you could use glass frit and just melt glass in the holes. Then it would be a true "Stained Glass" jewelry item :)

[@mysticdavestarotmachinesho5093]

Gamer I doubt you cold do the with silver because the melting point of silver is less then that of glass. But stainless steel or even nickle metal would work.

[@GlassicGamer]

@@mysticdavestarotmachinesho5093 Glass gets soft at around 1250 to 1350 F. You can take it much higher for more flow though.

[@PatriciaSamHouston]

Cool project very well done video! Thanks

[@pbjsilverstudio4882]

Why wouldn’t you use all the same temperature enamels yo fire this at? You’re doing a Plique-a-jour enameling demo which is a technique that you can clearly see through the beautiful transparent colors. Yet your demo is mixing enamels of varying firing temps and times so you can only go to orange peel and in the end kind lose then whole point of plique. I just don’t understand.

[@tipsygypsy3613]

Just fire the clay, (with a torch), then put packing tape on the back, and drop some uv resin in the spaces. If you add alcohol inks, glitter or mica powder (or any combination), to the resin and hit it with a uv light or put it in the sun for an hour. Boom-Shazam-Done! So many more possibilities! A lot less hassle!

[@benchaddict1704]

But that would not be vitreous enamel. Different skill level and very different results. :-)

[@christinecravens5035]

And you could try to cook a gourmet meal in a microwave with a box kit

[@mandywow4998]

K

[@angela14962002]

❣❣❣

[@DianneCulbertsonJacques]

Seems like a waste of clay drying the clay prior to cutting. Is there a reason you don't do your cuts while the clay is wet? I'm fairly new to metal clay, so please excuse my ignorance. :)

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi Dianne, That's actually a great question- Thanks for asking! I choose to work with the clay dried for a couple of reasons. First, I find that it is easier to get clean, sharp cuts when the clay is in the greenware stage. When I tried to cut the clay while it was still wet my edges dragged some and left me with an uneven edge. It was easy to allow the clay to dry and clean up those outside edges, but it proved difficult to clean up those inside edges I made to fill with enamel. For the sake of saving myself clean up time and to get really nice clean cuts, I choose to work in greenware. Also, If you were planning on using pencil to gently lay out your design wet clay does not accept pencil lines as easily, and you are more likely to accidentally leave scratches from your pencil on the surface of the clay. I reconstituted the dry clay (we have videos on how to do that as well!) that was removed for my next project so it wasn't wasted either. Thanks for the question Dianne!

[@mathias3592]

I cant find a dealer for Tyrolit Stone...:-(

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello, we carry this stone in both 120 and 240 grit. You can find them here: www.cooltools.us/searchresults.asp?Search=alundum+stone&Submit=Search For a full list of the products used in this video you can find it below the video here: www.cooltools.us/FS999-Plique-a-Jour-Stained-Glass-Earrings-by-Karen-Trexle-s/2634.htm Hope this helps!

[@wanchos3562]

Great! But could you please please!! Use just less water!? 😨

[@rogermartin8154]

Very nice work but way too much labor time. You would be paying yourself $0.10/hr.

[@lenastiward8657]

Sometimes it’s nice to just do some work for the sheer joy of the experience.