Powdered enamel

This enamel powder was formerly owned by Mayer & Kean Ltd, a jewellery-making company operating in Wellington from 1912. This is a narrow glass jar, with a white metal lid. The jar is half full of purple enamel powder. There is a paper label in jar with "Red" written on it in pencil.

Enamel is glass in a powdered form, and usually consists of a compound of flint or sand, red lead, and soda or potash. Enamel is clear until pigments are added to it – which are often metallic oxides. Mixtures of enamel and metal oxide can be moulded into ‘cakes’, dried, broken up, ground into a powder by a mortar and pestle, and stored in bottles or boxes until use. The powder is added to metal and fired in a furnace to produce colourful, glassy jewellery without needing precious stones.