I've searched around for info about this, but haven't been able to find anything definitive. I've heard the salmon color can happen one of three ways. 1. The amps are too low. 2. The solution has been contaminated. 3. The anode needs shining up.
I recently got my electroforming setup and before I started, I read up, bought two written tutorials and one video tute, watched other Youtube videos...thought I was prepared. My first attempt came out with the shiny penny look. My second attempt came out salmon colored and ever since, all attempts are salmony as well. Since the second piece was an acorn, I know it's possible that my varnishing job wasn't thorough enough. I filtered the crap out of it and added distilled water and brightener, as recommended. I scrubbed my anode coil until bright. I upped the amps to .30, then .50 (resulting in chippy copper). Tried it all. I cannot get the penny finish. My solution is also filled with what I consider to be a lot of copper dust after each run (approx. 3 hours at a time so far).
The salmony look is not so much of a concern on glass or if the copper covers the entire surface, but on things like polymer clay that has just a certain pattern with the clay exposed in areas, scrubbing the piece with steel wool or a brass brush isn't really an option. Does anyone have any clue what I'm doing wrong? Thanks
