Cloisonné, Champlevé, and Enamel Jewelry Options

Cloisonne or Enamel? Painted Bangles and Cuff Bracelets

Do you love brightly colored jewelry?  Are you happy to see the enameled bracelets showing up in the department stores?  Bright colors wer abundant for Spring/Summer.  Now the darker Authumn-type colors of nature are showing up for Fall/Winter.  Ever wonder what the different techniques are called? Or how those items were made or where they originated from?   

Cloisonné is jewelry made with a metal base that has fine wires applied to the base so that risen cloisons/enclosures are made in a design to hold the enamel paint that is adhered to the base via firing.  Champlevé is similarly decorative; except that wires are not used to hold the design instead the design is engraved or scraped into the metal and then filled and fired.  Cloisonné is historically a Chinese technique and typically is fired more times than Champlevé, which was a French-European technique.  Both methods are used to make decorative home items and colored jewelry.

For more information: on what Cloisonné is, or read a detailed description of how Cloisonné is made, or watch a video from Beijing China on how cloisonné is made.

To find out more on what Champlevé is or watch a video by Victoria and Albert Museum on history and how it is made.