Electroforming

Electroforming is a process involving electrodeposition to create intricate works of art. To fabricate metal this way, you need to have a pretty unique setup, but nothing too fancy. You’ll need a power supply, copper supply, distilled water, conductive paint, liquid copper solution, thin copper wire (18-22 gauge), metal jump rings, scissors, a strong glue (I use e6000), rubber gloves, coffee filters, a mask, 1000mL beaker, dowel rod (wood or copper), clamps, and a sealant like polyurethane.

Okay, that’s a lot.

You’ll want to glue your jump ring to the item you want to electroform, and then allow 24 hours to cure and degas. Degassing allows all of the vapors to evaporate from the glue so you don’t run into consistency issues during the bath process.

Next you’ll seal your item to prevent contaminating your copper solution and damaging stones that are softer than a 7.5 on the Mohs scale. If you don’t know about that, the Mohs scale runs from 1-10, like most ratings do. You need 2-3 coats of sealant, and you need to give each coat an hour to dry and degas. Then it’s another 24 hours to cure and further degas.

After you glue and seal, you’ll want to get out the conductive paint. You want 2 to 3 thin coats of paint in any and every spot you want copper to build up, allowing 30 minutes between coats. I always start at the jump ring. Oh, you need a popsicle stick or something like that that you can dedicate to stirring your paint. It has metal in it, and the metal settles quickly. You’ll need to let the final coat of paint cure and, you guessed it, degas for 24 hours.

You may be wondering where the distilled water comes into play, and the answer is everywhere. You can only use distilled water to rinse your brushes because tap and spring water contains metals and minerals that will interfere with the conductivity of your artwork. The good news is that the copper solution (a little pricey) can be almost indefinitely replenished with distilled water. That’s all you need.

Just filter your solution after each use, this helps avoid contamination anyway, and make sure you have the same amount of fluid you did when you started the process. Some of the water in your solution will evaporate during the bath process, but that’s not a problem at all.

What’s this bath process I keep mentioning? This is where the beaker and copper really come into play. You’ll want to take a thicker copper (8 gauge is good) and make a spiral, like you’re a real life scientist, that fits just inside your beaker. There should be a piece sticking straight up out of the solution and over the top of the beaker; this is where you attach your positive lead from your power supply. I’ve seen solid, straight pieces of copper sold to be used as an anode, but I haven’t used them myself. The spiral is fun to me.

Next, you’ll take the thin copper wire, attach it to your jump ring, wrap it around your dowel rod (I do three wraps), lower your piece into the copper solution, and attach the clamps to either side of the rod to hold it into place. A friend of mine suggested drilling a hole in either side of my beaker to stick the rod through, but I haven’t gotten around to it. You’ll attach your negative lead to the thin copper on the dowel rod, and turn your power supply on.

Then, depending on how thick you want your copper to be, you wait 4-24 hours, and viola! You’ve got a copperplated thing.

The power supply needs to be set to low voltage and very low amperage. There’s a mathematical equation to figure out exactly what you need that you can find on google. You should also only rinse your piece off in distilled water unless you are absolutely certain you are finished it for the above mentioned water reasons.

I also finish my pieces by taking a Dremel to them, a wire brush works really well to shine the pieces. You can seal your copper to avoid oxidation, if you want. There are probably some things I’m leaving out, but in short …. It’s a long process.

In case you haven’t guessed, this isn’t Tom. It’s been Amanda, his daughter, the whole time. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, and have a great day!