File spoon-archives/phillitcrit.archive/phillitcrit_1998/phillitcrit.9802, message 61


From: Patsloane-AT-aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 18:50:54 EST
Subject: Re: PLC: Enameled In Fire


> Rereading Alcibiades rather casually and hopelessly, I found the topic of
>  love being discussed. I might give an extract of the 2 1/2 paragraphs that
>  run before the citation containing fire and iron and see if I am recklessly
>  optimistic in thinking that the circle round Emerson's enamel is closing.
>  The topic is the love between Socrates and Alcibiades.
>  
>  I hope I haven't missed the point!
>  NK
>  
Nora,

Looking at it from the point of view of metaphor, it's very common and almost
a cliche to talk about love being strengthened (tempered) in the same manner
as steel. The fires of adversity, so to speak, make true love stronger instead
of destroying it.

And here's another aspect of enamelware. Most people don't know the word, or
don't understand the process.  So this doesn't make for very good metaphor. 

You've seen enamel ware, I'm sure. It's used for those ash trays sold in
tourist shops where the inside of the ash tray has many colors, but the
outside is copper. What's happened is that the ashtray, which is made out of
copper, has had  a thin layer of colored glass fused to its inner surface. 

A related process is used for making dinner dishes, but there the thin layer
of glass is fused to baked clay rather than metal. And industrial adaptation
of enamelware is used for refrigerators and kitchen appliances. Porcelain (a
glassy substance?) is fused to steel. In the middle ages, all kinds of very
beautiful reliquaries and dishes were made by enamelling, usually fusing the
glass to silver rather than copper.

Judging by my students, most people don't realize how the enamelling process
is done, and for that reason it seems an odd thing to mention (most people
wouldn't understand the reference).  When bought in an art supply store, the
material for making enamels looks rather like talcum powder, in white,
pinkish, or grayish tones. The powders are mixed with water and painted on a
metal surface. Then the item has to be "fired," which is done by placing it in
an oven-like box called a kiln. It's brought to a high temperature, which
causes the little granules to melt and fuse into a layer of colored glass.
Modern kilns are heated electrically (like an electric oven). Medieval ones
were heated by wood fires under the kiln. The item is never heated over an
open fire, partly because this would be either ineffectual or too dangerous.
The hottest temperature in your kitchen oven is 500 degrees. Enamels are
heated to about 3,000 degrees.  Also, the enamel has to be cooled down very
gradually inside the kiln. If cooled too fast, it warps and cracks.

The reason I'm explaining the process is to try to get at what "enameled in
fire" might mean. Enamel, unlike steel, doesn't get stronger from being
heated. I suppose one could say it became more beautiful, because the powders
look downright ugly until the heat melts and fuses them.  But again, who would
understand this unless they understood this fairly unfamiliar process? Maybe
you should check OED to see if there's some secondary or figurative use of
"enamel" that we're overlooking.

The "enamel" paints George mentions, that you buy in a hardware store, were
given their name to suggest they looked as hard and shiny (and beautiful?) as
enamel ware. But I don't think the word is used in that sense before the 20th
century.

pat sloane


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