Cloisonné Cross Necklace — Handmade Enamel on Silver

Description

A cloisonné cross made the Georgian way: hand-drawn silver wire, powdered glass, and a kiln. The technique is called minankari, and Georgia has been practising it since roughly the 8th century — long enough that surviving medieval minankari icons are national treasures rather than craft objects.

How a minankari cross is actually made

The maker flattens fine silver wire and bends it by hand into the outline of the design, soldering each closed cell — the cloison — onto a silver base. Every cell is then packed with wet, ground glass in a different colour and the whole piece goes into the kiln. The glass melts, sinks, and has to be refilled and refired, usually three or four times, until each cell is level with the wire. Then it is ground flat and polished. There is no step in that sequence a machine does, which is why every cross carries small differences in colour depth and why the wire lines are never perfectly identical.

Materials and size

Sterling silver with kiln-fired vitreous enamel — real glass, not resin or epoxy, which is the distinction worth knowing when you compare a hand-made cloisonné cross to a cast imitation. Enamel keeps its colour indefinitely because the colour is glass; printed or resin-filled crosses fade. The cross is a pendant scale meant to be seen without being ostentatious, and it hangs from a standard chain. Several colourways exist — tell us your preference at checkout and we will confirm what the maker has.

Care

Fired enamel is hard and will not scratch in normal wear, but it is glass: it can chip if struck against tile or stone. Take it off before sport. Clean the silver with a silver cloth and wipe the enamel with a dry cloth — no dips, no ultrasonics.

Who it’s for

It is a considered baptism, christening, confirmation or godparent gift, and it holds up as an everyday cross for an adult who wants something that is clearly not mass-produced. Arrives gift-boxed.

Questions

Is the enamel painted on?
No. Painted enamel sits on the surface; this is cloisonné, where ground glass is packed into wire cells and fired until it fuses. That is why the colour has depth when you tilt it.

Will mine match the photo exactly?
Close, but not identical. Hand-fired enamel varies slightly in tone between firings — that variation is the evidence it was made by a person.

Shipping and duties to the US?
Made or sourced from the artisan after you order; most orders arrive in about two weeks with emailed tracking. Duties-paid (DDP), so no customs charges on delivery.

The enamel cross and heart necklace is the softer, more romantic version of the same craft, and the guardian angel pendant is the usual choice for a new baby. See everything in Cross & Faith Jewelry.