Ripple
Fired at 800°C
Vitreous enamel is glass fused onto steel. The blank is pressed, cleaned, and dipped; then it goes into the kiln at around 800°C, which is hot enough for the powdered glass to melt and bond with the oxidised steel surface.
Come out too early and the glaze is dull; stay in too long and the colour shifts a shade you cannot sell. We fire twice — a ground coat, then the decorated coat —which is why an enamel piece rings when you tap it and a painted tin one does not.