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Firstly, I'd like to say hello, and big
thank you to Jennifer for having me here!
I'm Caroline from Blueberribeads, a ceramic
bead maker, but I love to try out anything creative, and I love mixed media.
I first discovered electroforming after
stumbling across some beautiful lampwork beads while surfing around on google.
I instantly fell in love with the effect, the colour, the texture, everything
about it, and decided this was what my ceramic beads needed!
After much research and hunting around for
parts, I worked out how to do it, so here's my version of electroforming in a
nutshell...
Electroformed Ceramic Acorns by Blueberribeads
Electroforming uses the same process as
electroplating, where items are covered with a thin coating of metal. The
difference with electroforming, is that the coating is much thicker and can
also be used over organic, non metal items such as seed pods and beads.
Electroformed seed head by Edooley
Now for the technical bit...
To 'grow' copper on to an item electricity
passes from the DC power supply to the Anodes. These are pieces of sacrificial
copper connected with wires around the tub suspended in a copper sulphate
solution. The metal dissolves from the anodes passes through the solution and
reforms on the cathode (the item to be electroformed). The cathodes, in this
case beads and leaves, are suspended with copper wire into the solution and the
bar is connected back to the power supply. The idea is to pass the electrical
charge around in a loop.
Beads and leaves aren't conductive, so to
complete the loop, they need to be painted with a conductive paint to make sure
the copper forms where you want it.
To make leaves and other items in to pendants and charms, you need to attach a bail, I do this with 2 part epoxy resin. The next step is to seal the item if it's porous. I use clear acrylic car spray. Then when everything's set and dry they are painted with the conductive paint.
To make leaves and other items in to pendants and charms, you need to attach a bail, I do this with 2 part epoxy resin. The next step is to seal the item if it's porous. I use clear acrylic car spray. Then when everything's set and dry they are painted with the conductive paint.
Once the paint is dry they are hung in the
solution and power is switched on. To form something like one of my acorns
takes about 10 hours. It's an extremely boring process and there's not much to
see, but the end result is worth the wait!
When the leaves come out, they are bright
copper, so to enhance the pattern of the leaves and the natural texture of the
copper, I treat them with Liver of Sulphur and give them a tumble to bring back
the shine.
To show you some of the effects you can get
with electroforming, here's a few pics of my work and some of my other
favourites.
Ceramic face pendant by Blueberribeads
Ceramic & leaf art nouveau pendant by
Blueberribeads
Skeleton key by KimV Glass
Ring by PIROK
Glass Big hole beads by BeadsofPassion
Glass Acorn by Julie Nordine
I hope you've enjoyed reading and that I've
maybe inspired you to have a go!
-Caroline
