The very talented Matt Benton, guest tutor at Touchmark Studios, is running this 2 day course which will give you a great hands-on introduction to working with enamel.  With over 20 years of experience and knowledge Matt is passionate about his subject.  He is currently a tutor at Bristol School of Art, part of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.  His teaching practice is led by example and demonstration of techniques and he actively encourages experimentation with positive guidance to get the best from his students.

 Day 1  Working with copper, Day 1 will be spent learning the basics of using vitreous enamel to enhance your work. The course covers preparation of metals, sifting processes, grinding and cleaning enamels for wet-laying, firing, stoning and finishing. Pieces will be torch fired, so students can observe the various stages of the firing processes as the enamel is heated and control the surface quality accordingly.  This also gives students an opportunity to continue working with enamel without the need for a kiln to fire their pieces.

Day 2 will give scope for further exploration of working with enamel and will include basic techniques for cutting and shaping metal, using stencils and experimentation with low firing to create textured surfaces.