Since the precise grinding of individual Almandine Plates For the production of replicas of medieval disc brooches is extremely complex and very time-consuming and is therefore always reflected in the price, we have long been interested in using alternative but nevertheless convincing materials in order to be able to offer our customers high-quality brooches in a cheaper price price segment to be able to offer. A nice example of this is this trailer.
From our point of view, hand-enamelled and polished surfaces as an almandine substitute look particularly elegant. We have either a variety opaque, i.e. red enamel that is not translucent or - as an even higher quality alternative - a transparent enamel, here even a particularly exclusive and rather rare enamel powder from Japan is available. There is currently the only remaining source of translucent and original almandine-red enamel, which does not turn black during the firing process - as is so often the case - due to the oxidation of the silver in the kiln.
For our pendant made of 925/- sterling silver in the form of a medieval disc fibula, the cells originally intended for the almandine plates were filled with opaque enamel powder several times in a row, fired or melted down in the enamelling furnace at over 800 degrees and finally ground and polished with special tools. After all, enamel is colored glass flux, which, due to the hardness of the glass, usually fails miserably with conventional tools for metal.
This ultimately creates particularly colorful and lively enamel objects as a high-quality alternative to almandine, like our pendant here with its crackle and the typical pores are very close to the original medieval enamels. We are completely satisfied with our "almandine substitute" on the pendant... 😉
By the way: The ornament in the center of our pendant is also true to the original on the shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral.