I took an electroforming class this November just to see what it was all about. It was pretty fun and while I'm not sure I will set it up in my studio but it is always interesting to try to techniques out to see if they are going to work for you. This piece is made from thin copper foil that I crunched up and then put in the electroform bath. Only one side ended up with nodes, not sure why, but I liked how it strengthened the foil into a wearable piece.
These are just unfinished pieces, if you want real "eye candy" check out my instructor's work, Barbara Knuth. Her pieces are really cool and what attracted me to try my hand at this. I hope to get back to my components and make something from them.
I used some copper mesh that I had in my studio and shaped it then electroplated it too. If your foundation is copper you don't have to do anything to it before you put in the the bath. The plating makes it stronger so you can start with something very thin you can get a fiber look with the strength of metal.
Another fun thing you can do is use dry organic pieces. I wish I had photos of some of the pods done in the class they were beautiful!
We also used wax to mold things and then painted them with a copper paint. They were fun to do but removing the wax was laborious. In fact these aren't done yet. Some of the organic things had to be burned out and that was pretty nasty too. That's the fun of a class you get to see if it's your thing or not...I never like fumy messy things.
This last piece is one of the fun things. I took a vintage porcelain doll leg, painted it with the copper paint and plated it. It is cute and strong. This process is how they do those little copper baby shoes from the 60's.
What new thing did you learn this year? Leave your comment and I'll let the random number generator pick a winner for The Overflowing Stash and perhaps a copper treasure...Happy New Year, I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2013--Linda Larsen
