Getting a little “Heisenberg” or maybe “Rauschenberg”

April 29, 2020

Copper sulfate looks remarkably like the crystal blue meth in Breaking Bad.

Taking some inspiration from Robert Rauschenberg, I have delved into the world of electroforming. Not that Rauschenberg did electroforming, but he was always looking to incorporate new processes and new materials, adding to the vocabulary in his body of work. 

After seeing some very unique work, I did some research and discovered that these pieces were the product of electroforming. Naturally I turned to Youtube to find out more. Aside from a few specific pieces of equipment, it’s a fairly straightforward set up. Essentially this is a copperplating process. Being able to copper plate conductive material as well as organic and non-conductive material is fascinating to me because it opens up a whole new dimension to experiment with textures and finishes. 

After some preliminary test pieces, I can tell that there is some very subtle intricacies to manipulate the outcome. As I follow the learning curve, I will be sharing some of the results.