Explanation
I bet you all have been wondering—this stuff is awesome, but what was the first piece made under the AlchemistJack's name? I'm kidding, as of writing this I have 18 followers on Instagram, all of which I know. but let's pretend for a second. Currently, I am focused on organic designs, but one of the ideas that spurred my work to begin with was the concept of creating gold-plated designs from concepts, to real and beautiful pieces of art. So what better way to kick it all off than scrambling last minute to create a personal Christmas gift for my mother, and what better time to post this than right before Mother's Day? It started with a simple design, made in Microsoft Paint of all things, then to an SVG, then to an STL for 3D printing. In the beginning it was bright pink:
Then came the struggle. I used copper-based paint which I read in a bunch of places was great for electroplating. Only it wasn't, at least not for me or the way I was doing it. Everyone recommends using a paint just like I got with an airbrush, and I tried, but of course things weren't that simple. I tried without an airbrush first and the paint came off in preparation, so I got an airbrush and it clogged. Good airbrushes are expensive so I bought some pre-made graphite paint and it seemed great! Or at least I thought it was going to be; I got past the preparation steps just fine, but the plating itself was another story entirely.
I'll skip past detailing every single piece I made, but every piece came out some combination of not-fully plated and matte orange, or partially covered in crystals. One of them even came out looking pretty cool:
Again and again I tried and eventually I resorted to polishing the best version of all of them that was at least entirely plated, although a bit orange. Luckily it shined up just fine and plated in nickel, then gold, even better.
From there it was boxing, writing out a personalized note with how it was made, and wrapping it all up in this custom box:
From there all it took was sending it home with my father when he came to visit next...just a few days after I finished it. All in all it took weeks, but I am glad it came out the way it did. I am even happier it isn't nearly as difficult today. I set out with the intention of creating a whole set, copper, nickel, silver, and gold. I am hoping to still come back and finish it all one of these days.
