John Carmichael wrote << Now here's a thought- All over England I saw the clock faces on all the churches have only TWO colors (either black and gold or blue and gold). This leads me to believe that these clock faces might be made of low temp baked paint enamels and not porcelain. Does anybody know exactly what the English clock faces are made of? >>
Most (almost all) flat English church clock dials of the type John refers to are painted and gilded on a flat or convex ground. Others have a skeleton of cast iron which can be glazed though sometimes it is open or placed in front of the wall. The ground is sometimes wood in older clocks (when it hasn't been replaced by something else - though a surprising number survive from 17th and 18th centuries) or copper, and copper or cast iron (19th-20th centuries) in newer ones. Occasionally stone is used. The numerals when gold should be done with 23.5 or 24 carat gold leaf. Cast iron allows the minute spaces and hour numbers to be definitely as intended and little subject to the vagaries of the repainter and the contrast with white or opal glass makes a clear dial which can be illuminated (as in the Great Clock of Westminster, commonly called "Big Ben"). Modern dials (post 1960) are usually glass fibre and have sometimes (wrongly I think) been used to replace older church clock dials - and for new buildings (especially supermarket clock towers etc). I do recall seeing one enamel church clock dial in England but can't remember where - East Anglia perhaps? On the other hand clock dials on the Continent quite often have enamelled dials. Often these are made in sections, at least in France. I hope this is of interest. Are enamelled cast-iron baths relevant to this discussion (not that I know anything about them?) Andrew James 51 04' N 1 17' W PRI Limited, PRI House, Moorside Road Winchester, Hampshire SO23 7RX United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1962 840048 Fax: +44 (0) 1962 841046 www.pri.co.uk PRI Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 2199653 The Intelligent Metering Company This correspondence is confidential and is solely for the intended recipient(s).If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose, copy, distribute or retain this message or any part of it. If you are not the intended recipient please delete this correspondence from your system and notify the sender immediately. This message has been scanned for viruses by MailControl. --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial