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.