Sapphire Blue and Hi No Maru

First coat of color; Sapphire Blue (1425). I used this opportunity to make a sky-like backdrop for my representation for the  hi no maru (Japanese Flag)

Cooling on the heat sink

I'm setting up the sapphire face to  be coated with flame orange (1860) as the rays of sun. I use the magazine page as a work surface, which also catches the excess enamel after I powder it on the piece.

As I initially cut the stencil, the process would have forced me to place sapphire over flame orange in order to achieve the color scheme that I desired. I wanted to stick with the guidance of firing cool colors first, thus I had to use the material removed from the stencil in lieu of the designed stencil. Moreover, I wanted the sapphire to come through the orange as opposed to vice versa. So I had to deviate from the plan (See Deviant Patterns and Stencils).

(The humor of this photo occurred to me after I took it; an enameled piece seemingly flying out of the oven along with the roast turkey.)

Flame Orange (1860) applied and removed from the kiln. I was tired and frustrated at this point. However, I am happy with the colors, line, and rhythm of this face of the piece. The Undercoat White (1010) showing through the Sapphire (1425) invokes an analog sky. Whereas, the Flame Orange simulates the sun with stylized rays, which are primarily linear with some deviant flares and reflections throughout the Sapphire. This piece definitely has the hand of human intervention