Handmade Redwood Cone - Copper Electroformed Pendant

There is a huge redwood tree growing near my house. I found this little perfect cone on the ground and managed to cover it with thick copper shell. It wasn't easy due to the intricate shape of the cone, and it took quite a bit of time, but finally - here it is! A beautiful piece of nature, captured in copper forever.

Oxidized and polished to show its depth and beauty.

Peacock Tale Necklace with Turquoise in Copper

Deeply oxidized copper and blue-green turquoise are probably my favorite combo, I created many jewelry pieces using them over time! Peacock Tale Necklace is a very special design for me, it features intricate basket weaving with wire and hammered copper spirals, all suspended on solid copper chain with a handmade clasp. This beautiful handmade necklace has ethnic feel to it and is designed to turn heads.

I oxidized the necklace in Liver of Sulphur and polished it by hand to create beautiful warm highlights.

Zebra - Beaded Ring

I came up with this design a couple of years ago and Zebra was the first among numerous colorful designs of this kind and it is still my favorite. Striking monochrome stripes will sure get noticed.
I use tiny Japanese seed beads for this ring. It is flexible, but holds its shape really well comparing with regular peyote beaded rings. The ring is slightly domed in its wide part and looks and feels awesome on!

Biwa and Keishi Pearl Earrings in Sterling Silver

I love unique and natural look of organically shaped pearls! Rugged surface and nice lustre make them so attractive in handmade jewelry!

I chose golden colored stick pearls for this pair of earrings and complemented them with a cluster of peacock colored heishi pearls. All pearls are wire wrapped in sterling silver wire and suspended from my handmade ear wires along with two fancy chain dangles. I oxidized all the silver and selectively hand polished it back to shine.

Ice in Copper - Handmade Electroformed Beach Glass Pendant

I wanted to try copper electoforming for a long long time. I simply adore the warm look of copper, it's probably my favorite metal. And the idea of being able to cover almost anything with it seemed very attractive to me ever since I learned of electroforming process. (Well, actually I learned about it first from the school physics class ages ago, but that doesn't count.)

Copper electroforming is a process of depositing a layer of copper on an object with a help of low voltage electicity. It can take many hours or even days to build a substantial layer of metal to cover a piece, literally atom by atom. The result is a thick layer of pure solid copper, that will never wear off like plating can sometimes. It can be sanded, polished and otherwise treated like solid metal.

So, I was learning and reading about the whole process (thanks to the generous people from Russian speaking community at http://community.livejournal.com/electroforming btw). Finally I bought a couple of chemicals, conductive paint, borrowed a few pieces from my children's Snap Circuits game and unused power converter from my husband and started experimenting. After a few days of frustration I finally started having lots of fun with covering stuff with copper.

Here is one of the first pieces that turned out really well - a piece of white beach glass covered with a strip of copper all around. The copper grows unevenly and I really like its unique texture. To accentuate the beauty of this uneven surface I gave the pendant a nice hot LoS bath and than sanded it with very fine sand paper, following with polishing cloth.