Cloisonné

Cloisonné is one of those techniques that’s easier to understand once you know the order.

The word comes from the French cloison, meaning partition — which is exactly what’s happening. Thin strips of metal are shaped by hand and fixed to a metal base to create tiny compartments. That framework comes first.

Then each section is filled with powdered enamel, color by color. The piece is fired so the enamel melts and fuses to the metal. It’s usually filled and fired more than once, because the enamel settles as it melts.

Only after all of that is the surface ground down and polished smooth. The metal lines stay visible. They aren’t painted outlines — they’re the structure holding everything in place.

That sequence — metal, enamel, heat — is what defines cloisonné.