There are numerous services and kits available for parents of new borns in order to catch that magic time of your new child, from their foot prints in a mould to presentation kits for photos of their first moments.   Flamecat is such a service but with a difference offering something I have not seen before using enamelling, and a home grown business built from a hobby and fitted in around the family.

Mum of three, Vicky Linnett created Flamecat.  Before children she did a degree in Technical Arts at Wimbledon School of Art and worked as a freelance prop and puppet maker in the film and TV industry for about 10 years.  The inflexible and horrendously long hours made it really difficult to do work and motherhood.  One of her hobbies for the past 25 years has been enamelling – she started with her mum about 25 years ago and has been a member of the Guild of Enamelers ever since.  



Vicky had the idea of enamelled baby prints during a sleepless night 2.5 years ago!  She spent the following year experimenting with and perfecting the idea.  Enamel is glass fused onto metal in a small kiln.  It's quite an unpredictable medium so ‘taming the beast’ to find a reliable and fairly predictable method to reproduce the prints took quite some time.  Then she needed to develop a range of styles and colours.  Her husband is a carpenter and produced a series of frames.



Last summer (2009) she launched enamelled prints and drawings at a series of local summer fairs in SE London which gained positive response.  People remarked on how unique, contemporary and bright they looked and were fascinated by the enamel. Reassured that she had a product worth pursuing,  she set up a stall at Greenwich market last September.  "It's such a vibrant and stylish market, it's the perfect place to showcase my range" says Vicky,  "I'm now at Greenwich every other Sunday".



Flamecat enamel baby hand and footprints in a range of colours.  Also very popular are the enamelled children's drawings and first handwriting.  One of the unique things about these products is that they can be ordered on-line or by post from anywhere.  "People are so relieved that they don't need to bring their children to me to have prints taken but can have an inkless kit to take the prints themselves" Vicky explains,  "This allows more flexibility for giving an enamel as a present or surprise".  



Recently, Flamecat has started doing children's enamelling parties where children can create their own enamelled masterpieces and turn them into necklaces or key rings.  Vicky is also close to launching a range of enamelled portraits created from people's photographs as well as expanding the range of colours.
Flamecat is a success story of a home grown business run by a busy parent who enjoys her art and has put love and commitment and lots of time to take things further, certainly very inspirational.  But, I must say I was unclear just what such an enamel print would look like....so we gave it try!

The first step is to get a good set of prints from your baby to send off to Flamecat to work on.  For this, you are sent a special dry wipe and some special paper, plus good instructions on how to proceed.   The instructions are in fact on two sheets of paper giving you not only a step by step guide but tips on the best way to proceed and what to do next.   The dry wipes are those used in the USA to identify new born babies in hospital and are totally safe, non smelly.   It is suggested two adults help take the print, one to wipe and the other to make the print.  We did the wipe and then using the supplied special sensitised paper made our first hand print.  We did a number of prints and as if by magic the prints showed up on the paper.     For safe measure we did a couple of foot prints too with limited success, our 'subject' seemed very wiggly that day.

Using the supplied prepaid envelope we sent back our samples.   While we were not sure if we had done the prints correct we are re-assured when Vicky suggested that she had yet to receive an unusable print but then she had not met us before.  Unfortunately our prints we had made were either not complete  and so we could not proceed.   Most small impefections and smuding can be fixed but our sample was a good example of how not to do a print!  However, this was no problem, Vicky emailed us straight away, informed us of the problem and offered with no problem to send a new kit to us for a second try.  

After a successful print Flamecat then send you the results which was something we were looking very forward too, still at this stage not too sure just what the final product was like.  We received a hand print which seemed to be embedded within a blue background fixed raised to a white ceramic tile.  The hand print was indeed the enamelled result which showed in great detail the print and is more than "just another hand print" but as described it becomes part of the background, etched into.  This is something that won't and simply cannot fade or rub off, it is part of the enamel.  We did not opt for anything extra but the baby's name and age can be included and a hand made wooden frame can be included which I can only imagine is up to the same very high standard as both the product and the service.

Throughout the process help was always just an email away and we also had a phone number listed in the instructions to call if need be.   The whole feel was professional and it was clear that these are not mass produced quickly turned over in order to make easy money but a process of skill and love.  The final result shows this.   I could see three or four of these enamels in frames in a group on the wall would make a great feature of a wall, be it prints or your child's drawing or first writing.  While there are numerous such services, this is something a bit different to the normal offering and well worth looking into.  This is a keepsake which really will last for ever.  
 

Flamecat
48 Buckthorne Road
Brockley
London
SE4 2DB

tel. 07738 931050
email. vicky@flamecat.org
web. http://www.flamecat.com