My very first electroformed acorns!! (Actually, my very first electroformed anything.) I've been looking for them for a long time now... they were buried deep in the bottom of a box.
I made these in May 2007. My local ISGB chapter was getting together to make beads for the upcoming ISGB Gathering in Minneapolis.... the hosting chapter provides beads that are tied to each & every goodie bag that is handed out @ the Gathering. We were going to get together @ Julia Lund's studio & she was also going to show us how to electroform, so we were supposed to bring something that could be electroformed. I thought & thought about it & came up w/ these acorns. Not knowing how electroforming worked, I figured I could just make the "nut" & we could electroform the cap on. Julia explained to me how electroforming doesn't actually "stick" to the glass.... it needed to be done in such a way that it caged the nuts, so I needed to bring the electroforming all the way down the curve of the nut until it started to get smaller. Made sense to me. This is what we ended up w/.... baby nuts. :o)
We rigged up a piece of copper wire to just stick snuggly in the hole (didn't know about epoxy & such!) & Julia electroformed them for me. The stem was pretty thick, so Julia just cut them short. Aren't they cute? I was really excited about them... excited to see this fabulous texture & I knew I wanted to make more!
I bought my electroforming kit just after The Gathering that year.... it took me a while to get started, but once I figured it out, I was off! & the rest is history.
They've evolved quite a bit, don't you think? :o)
Here's a picture of a heart that I did that day, too...
Anyway... I'm thrilled to have finally found them. They're such an early part of my lampworking history. I've also found so many beads from my first few years, it's been a treat seeing the progression.
Later...
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3 MUCH APPRECIATED COMMENTS:
Hi Julie, My first thought when I saw the acorns was "Those are cute little acorns are those new?". It is always nice to go back to see the items you made early on, it gives you the perspective of just how far you have come.
Therese
So cute! I've just been reading up on electroforming after receiving my acorns - didn't have a clue and now I know - very clever stuff if you ask me! Do you put a lip/rim on your current acorns for the copper to hold? It's great to have examples of how your work changes - it's so subtle at the time we don't notice but then when you compare down the line - wow, what a difference.
How lovely to see your first ones! I'm going to have to have a read about electroplating as I've no idea how it's done!
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