Whale Skin

It doesn’t look like whale skin. That was just the first thought.

When this piece came out of the kiln, the surface stopped me. Organic glass bubbles, dense and irregular, covering the copper in a pattern that felt simultaneously smooth and rough to the touch. The mind reaches for the nearest reference. Whale skin was the one that arrived.

The texture was not planned. It came from a collision of decisions: wet enamel fired with adhesive before it had fully dried, a high-temperature transparent enamel that refused to stay transparent, and a kiln pushed to its limit. None of these choices alone would have produced this. Together, they produced something that cannot be repeated — a surface the kiln decided on, with no official name and no reliable path back to it.

The piece is 50 × 51 mm. Small enough to hold in a palm. The bubble texture is tactile in a way photographs cannot fully capture — glossy in some light, almost geological in others.

• Medium: vitreous enamel on copper
• Technique: wet packing with adhesive, high-temperature over-firing; white contra enamel on reverse
• Dimensions: 50 × 51 mm
• Year: 2026
• Edition: unique - one of a kind
• Series: First Fires — Experimental Enamel
• Artist: A. Fraction, Vilnius

Each work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and ships worldwide in bespoke protective packaging.