I love electroforming, it is a unique blend of both science and art! Once you put your pieces in the bath, you let go, pray to the electroform goddess, and several days later you are surprised with how the final product comes out.
First I select the crystals I want to transform into wearable art. I then attach bails, rings, and other bits of wire, sculpting clay, or dried organic materials like wildflowers.
Electroforming is a magical balance of science and art.
Vanessa
I then paint whatever I want to be covered in pure copper with a conductive paint. Two to three layers is best, being careful not to transfer natural oils from my skin onto the pieces.
Then I plug in my rectifier, a machine that lets me control the amount of electricity that flows from the wall outlet to my copper anode.
The blue bath is the secret sauce, where the magic happens. The copper anode releases copper into the bath, then the copper deposits onto the crystal, molecule by molecule over three days and nights.
After you get the desired texture and copper thickness, the pieces have to be neutralized to prevent a further chemical reaction.
Last steps are finishing to get the desired shape. I use a rotary tool, a handmade file, or a tumbler. Finally I apply a copper patina or a professional clear sealant.
It truly is modern alchemy and as an artist, electroforming pushes me to new levels time after time.
Establishing ritual in your life helps create meaning, growth, and healing. Ritual was ceremony our native ancestors had rooted into their lives and culture. We must look to them to help us remember rituals that bring us closer to Mother Earth, Spirit, and each other. A lot like meditation, a ritual creates space for your heart and mind enter a flow state, allowing room to access your soul and the collective consciousness. Getting into the groove of drumming, song, dance, mantras, writing, art, working with crystals… or something else uniquely creative for you personally, will establish passages of time that do not rely on the traditional linear calendar.
If you feel called to connect more deeply with the divine feminine, or Nature, or Spirit, I invite you to observe the lunar calendar and perform a ritual during a particular moon phase, like the observance of the New Moon.
Notice where in your home you can see the moon. I located a chair in my loft, when the moon is full, moombeams glow down from the skylight onto the chair. It is a cozy spot to lay my crystals I am working with on ritual nights. I can assume this is a good spot for my crystals, beads, and moon water to be laid out and cleansed overnight on the nights of a New Moon.
New Moons are all about rest, restoration, and planting new seeds of intentions. Goals are something you want to do, while intentions are things you want to feel. Visualize a new seed, deep within the soil. It is dark and still, quiet and calm. You may be matching this energy. Like a baby, this seed needs time in its underground womb before it can sprout, bloom, or grow.
A nourishing New Moon ritual you can do is to create, sketch, draw, paint, collage, a mandala. Art will encourage your consciousness to flow. You may see a theme or a color or a symbol. It may jump start your inner knowing and your spirit to create a second New Moon ritual.
This ritual you may do every cycle is to write down four or five new intentions for this lunar cycle. Some intentions will be realized within only a couple of weeks. Whenever this occurs, you win should be observed and celebrated! But many intentions will take 10 cycles or 10 years to manifest and that is okay, you can honor the divine timing. Simple carry over intentions yet to come true to the next cycle.
I like to infuse one of my crystals with one of my intentions. I feel your crystal is here to support you, remind you of the oneness of the universe, and remind you that you are not alone. A crystal can be your physical reminder of the intention you are manifesting. While holding your crystal in your palm, speak you intention aloud. Hold it. Listen to it. Feel it, noticing any feelings or ideas that it might have stirred up within you. Place your crystal in the moonlight, maybe a chair, table, or windowsill, and leave it there overnight. Try to retrieve your crystal as soon as you’re awake the next day.
Moon Water, Smudging, Tarot Card Pull, Journaling, Meditation, there are many rituals you can take on and perform them on a cyclical basis. Noticing the moon, where it is in the sky, what phase it is in, has significantly improved my life and it may do the same for you!
The biggest facet of honoring the moon phases is the idea that our traditional calendar is ruled by the Sun and has a productive, masculine energy. Observing the moon and recognizing the New Moon cycle has prevented feelings of burn out. I, like the moon, honor and observe periods of rest, restoration, reflection, and planning. It helps me balance my crystal business. It is my passion and I could easily get swept away with all the tasks, content, creation, and connection. But I have scheduled periods of being cozy and unplugged, just like the moon. I guess I could say the dark moon is performing self-care, and so should you!
Garnet is a chakra stone of health that is said to enhance energy, passion, and pleasure.
Of course you can read all about Garnet, but I recommend you spend time with it and see what you experience personally when you wear it. You could feel a crystal’s vibration, you could have an interesting thought enter your mind, it may feel cool to you and that may stir an emotion in you that was waiting to come to the surface. You never know what you may hear from the crystals so I invite you to work with them.
I feel it is a perfect crystal for the wintertime as we tend to slow down and the days grow darker earlier. It has been written that Garnet helps to move the energy flow, or chi, within the body, provoking physical activity. Garnet is a stone that may assist with depression, bringing hope and joy to the wearer and helping to lessen anger towards oneself.
Consider cleansing your chakras and re-energizing them with a handmade Garnet crystal stack bracelet! They are gender fluid, look great stacked or create a minimalist look by wearing one on its own.
Unisex Garnet Chakra Stone Bracelet with Rutile Quartz Crystal
Boho Bahia 