How was it made? Champlevé enamelling | V&A

Between the years 1100 - 1250, specialist metalworkers flourished in the areas around Cologne (Germany), Liège (Belgium) and Limoges (France). They supplied monasteries and churches with vessels essential for the rituals of the church, objects such as chalices, crosses, candlesticks, altarpieces and shrines.
The technique of enamelling used intense heat to fuse glass onto a prepared metal surface, allowing the metalworker to create brightly coloured images. Medieval enamellers used several different techniques but champlevé enamelling was one of the most common. The word champlevé means literally 'raised fields', referring to the way that beds were dug out of a copper plate to receive the powdered enamel.
Watch as a small plaque based on a detail from a reliquary chest made around 1180 in Limoges is recreated. Whilst the basic process remains the same, medieval enamellers used kilns fuelled with charcoal and relied on their judgement when firing the enamel plaques.
Process for champlevé enamelling
Medieval casket: 00:00
Cutting and marking the copper: 00:43
Medieval bow drill: 01:16
Embedding into wax: 01:28
Carving troughs: 01:43
Making enamel: 01:56
Applying enamel with a goose quill: 02:22
Firing process: 02:38
Polishing with carborundum and cleaning the surface: 03:14
Wrigglework and adding decoration: 03:32
Final enamelled plaque: 03:45
Find out more about our medieval collection: www.vam.ac.uk/collections/med...
Discover more about enamels: www.vam.ac.uk/collections/ena...

[@mistyroller3470]

The amount of work that goes into some of these old pieces is just astounding. They're so very beautiful.

[@rasmis]

The enameller, Phil Barnes, is worth looking into. Inspirational Artisans has an in-depth article on him and his legacy.

[@CalMariner]

These videos are amazing. Thank you for investing the time to make them, and the money to retain such skilled craftspersons.

[@lauragregory9436]

Amazing! Thankyou V & A and Phil Barnes.

[@EM2theBee]

Absolutely incredible! This channel is one of my favorites on KZbin.

[@charlotteillustration5778]

Extraordinary skill and beauty. It was really good also to see a practical demonstration by a modern enameller to show how it was done.

[@luisaparodi8571]

So beautiful and gorgeous! I love to see the process involved in the creation of antique arts and crafts ❤

[@TheMCCraftingTable]

3:27 that's absolutely beautiful!

[@tradminus]

Thank you so much for this wonderful video!

[@jett8193]

Absolute eye candy! Thanks V&A 😍

[@vamuseum]

Our pleasure Jett!

[@JulyRuliia]

What a beautiful piece ! Thank you for making this videos ❤️

[@andrewooddotcom]

Magnificent, thanks for the video!

[@SimonSozzi7258]

So beautiful

[@JR-nw4to]

Great!

[@Enshadowed]

gorgeous

[@Xanderviceory]

I cannot wait to try this, I've got a kiln, multiple types of colored glass, just need a little copper :-) Very excited.

[@Emily-mv4cx]

Good luck!

[@TheMCCraftingTable]

Good luck! Firing maybe the toughest part, the video says 1000°C which is only 100°C less than copper's melting point.

[@mrgreene3290]

there are individual enamelists and schools in the US and other countries that teach enameling techniques, worth taking a class or few if possible.

[@Lightness108]

Amazing 😊👍🏼💕

[@royalbloodedledgend]

Wow, I wish I had one of those

[@mirygalas6508]

Wow!

[@user-cx8zs5cz8u]

Thank you for sharing your precious video material. I am a student studying art and it seems like a great learning material for me :D

[@Zx-4888]

I looove this piece, thank you for the video here too.

[@elizabethabbott9177]

So beautiful!

[@joaohenriquebrandao6499]

Love it

[@FreedomLovingLoyalistOfficial]

That is so incredable, I wish I could try it myself.

[@stinew358]

The guess that the medieval source of colored glass being Roman mosaic answers a question I had about medieval enamel color choices. They always seemed bordering on Roman to my eyes (especially the lapis lazuli blue). I have seen a lot of blue glass pieces in medieval art and wondered about them.

[@jojoberry6320]

I believe it's because artisans were quite needed especially to those who can afford their services. That's why a lot of impressive stuff like this here in the video are seen more that has been done in the past

[@mrgreene3290]

I've seen this video showing the fine work by enameller Phil Barnes before some years past, but appears that the V&A has added some descriptive text to the video, well done and thanks.

[@kaeruinformation]

How wonderful it is to make such a beautiful thing!(日本語追記:このような美しい物を造るとはなんと素晴らしいことでしょうか。)

[@Gun5hip]

That's some fancy shiznit.

[@rlorendean]

Hi V&A This was a fantastic video. Would you consider doing a video explaining how artisans managed to do the complex cutting and carving used on ladies hand fans? How did the bone and mother of pearl get cut and formed considering no machines? Thanks for the consideration.

[@rsmith6366]

It's the same process, but by hand. I suggest looking up videos on Korean mother of pearl inlay. They still do a lot by hand.

[@jmay6064]

Curious if we know why not gild it before adding enamel? That would keep the enamel clean from the copper oxides, right?

[@TheMCCraftingTable]

The gilding will be rubbed off during the polishing process. Furthermore the gold will still oxidize, jewellers use borax when melting gold for this reason.

[@stinew358]

The gold would melt before the glass ever did

[@rsmith6366]

That's what maids are for. Hours and hours of polishing.

[@Monnis3]

Wish I could have heard the actual sound while they were working. That background music was distracting!

[@Beez317]

Music?

[@catherinehughes2022]

this is obviously very beautiful either way but tbh i liked it better before they texturized it

[@zy8542]

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