"Used to do that alot when I owned a shop, Don. Mostly on ocos, the tiny Brazilian geodes, but works on any surface. Low current produces smooth surfaces, very high current can initiate crystal growth, for wild forms. I used copper based paint.

Bob"

"I've been advised against using the copper based paint, due to little lumps that tend to show up as it dries. I've never done this before, but have the equipment to do it. It should be interesting to see what happens. Too many hobbies, too little time.
Don"

"Have to get the paint that you plate over first. Trying to decide which would be best, Acid based plating solution, or cyanide ? I know that the cyanide solutions are dangerous to work with. I'd probably be in trouble if OSHA found out that I had them.
Don"

"Don't worry Madman. I know enough not to mix the acid based and cyanide based solutions together. And if I'm going to use the cyanide, I work outside and stay upwind of it. I've played with chemicals before. Sodium cyanide gas isn't something you want to mess with.
Don"

"Never had any trouble with the copper paint. We used cyanide solution for electroforming and for cleaning up castings. Had a good, powerful exhaust fan, hood, and never let the solution boil. Can't be too careful with that stuff. the chemicals we used came from Dixon.

This is a link to a photo of plated Oco jewelry, very similar to what we used to make/peddle. http://crystalrivergems.com/products/minerals/agate/agatependents/foiled/Pend_Plated_GPgeode.jpg

Bob"

"Nice thing about electroforming, anything you can paint becomes metallic. We just epoxied the bails on ours, then painted over the epoxy to have it look like solid gold. All that glitters ... lol. Had a whole line of electroformed jewelry: seeds, nuts, cones, fish fossils, trilobites, little amethyst points; but ocos were the big seller.

Bob"