Shiny Gifts
December 11, 2013
Inspirational Art
Our piece today is by Janice Aranbel and features electroforming–a fascinating process you can read about in detail in the present Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine.
Adding metal rather than just a faux metal look to polymer pieces usually takes some rather particular and practiced skills as well as specialized equipment. Specialized equipment is also needed for electroforming but it is otherwise easy to accomplish. Janice has been playing with electroforming for a few years now and uses it to highlight and enliven her polymer forms as in these earrings.
An electroforming station is actually on my wish list this year. After working on the article in the present issue and really understanding just what was involved and how easy it would be to get started, I’ve been dreaming up all kinds of designs to try with it.
You can find other examples of how electroforming can be applied on Janice’s Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
The Electroformed Form
November 5, 2013
Inspirational Art
I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’ with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!
I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:
Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.
Our piece today is by Janice Aranbel and features electroforming–a fascinating process you can read about in detail in the present Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine.
Adding metal rather than just a faux metal look to polymer pieces usually takes some rather particular and practiced skills as well as specialized equipment. Specialized equipment is also needed for electroforming but it is otherwise easy to accomplish. Janice has been playing with electroforming for a few years now and uses it to highlight and enliven her polymer forms as in these earrings.
An electroforming station is actually on my wish list this year. After working on the article in the present issue and really understanding just what was involved and how easy it would be to get started, I’ve been dreaming up all kinds of designs to try with it.
You can find other examples of how electroforming can be applied on Janice’s Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’ with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!
I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:
Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.
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