A Short History of Electroforming: From Ancient Curiosity to Modern Craft

This article explores the history and evolution of electroforming, from early electrochemical curiosities such as the debated “Baghdad Battery” to the scientific breakthrough of Moritz Hermann Jacobi in 1838, who developed the first reliable electrotyping process. It highlights how electroforming enabled lightweight architectural sculptures like the copper angels on St. Isaac’s Cathedral and later became essential in industrial manufacturing for precision components, micro-parts, and molds. The article then traces electroforming’s transition into the jewellery world, where its ability to capture fine details made it ideal for artistic and organic designs. Finally, it connects this history to the modern work of Red Forrest Boutique, which uses electroforming to preserve natural forms in copper jewellery.

It looks like magic, but it’s really chemistry with patience. Whether it’s a feather-light copper leaf or a cathedral angel gleaming above the city, the same principle is at work: metal is grown, atom by atom, onto a surface.

This story stretches farther back than most people expect — from ancient artifacts to cutting-edge engineering — and it finishes in our studios today at Red Forrest Boutique, where we use electroforming to preserve nature in copper.

Let’s walk the timeline.

1. A Curious Beginning: The “Baghdad Battery” and Early Electrochemistry

In the 1930s, archaeologists uncovered a small clay pot near Baghdad containing a copper cylinder and an iron rod. Today it’s generally known as the “Baghdad Battery.”

By Ironie - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2091669

Was it actually a battery? Maybe. Maybe not.The truth is debated — strongly.

But the object serves as a potential starting point for the story of electroforming because it reminds us that humans have been fascinated by electricity and metal reactions for thousands of years. Even if the jar wasn’t a battery, the idea has inspired generations to wonder: How long have we been playing with the principles behind electrochemistry?

2. The 19th Century: Science Finally Gets the Recipe Right

The real birth of electroforming happened in the early 1800s, when electricity stopped being a mysterious curiosity and became a workable tool.

In 1838, Prussian-Russian physicist Moritz Hermann Jacobi perfected a method for depositing metal onto a form using controlled electrical current.

His technique — called electrotyping or galvanoplasty — allowed artisans and printers to create perfect metal copies of intricate woodcuts, medals, and sculptures. It was an engineering breakthrough that blended science and art with surprising elegance. If electroforming had a birthday, this would be it.

3. Copper Angels in the Sky: Electroforming Goes Architectural

Once Jacobi’s method spread, artists realized something wonderful: electroforming could create large, lightweight metal structures with incredible detail.

A famous example stands atop St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, where all the angel statues and decorative ornaments weren’t cast in bronze but grown through galvanoplastic techniques.

Why go this route?

• Copper electroformed shells were far lighter than cast metal

• Fine details were preserved without vast quantities of material

• Structures could be safely mounted high on stone facades

It was innovative, economical, and beautiful — a trio that’s always tough to beat.

4. The Industrial Era: Precision at the Microscopic Level

As the centuries turned, electroforming quietly transformed industrial manufacturing. While artists admired the technique for its delicate detail, engineers valued something else: unmatched precision.

Electroforming builds metal layer by layer, allowing tolerances measured in microns. Machine tools can only dream of that level of accuracy.

Because of this, electroforming is used to create:

• ultra-fine printing plates and embossing shims

• micro-nozzles, filters, and screens

• waveguides and other high-frequency components

• precision molds and dies

• aerospace and medical micro-components

  
  

Most people never see these parts — but they make modern manufacturing possible. Electroforming quietly became a backbone of industries where perfection is not optional.

5. From Factories to Fine Jewellery: The Craft Evolves

Eventually, artists and jewellers saw the creative potential in electroforming. The ability to grow metal in thin, complex shapes opened the door to new design languages — hollow yet strong forms, dramatic textures, and exact reproductions of organic patterns.

Electroforming is especially beloved in jewellery for its:

• lightness (big look without the weight)

• detail (every vein of a leaf, every ridge of a shell)

• versatility (polish it, patina it, plate it, texture it)

This was the moment when electroforming became not just a technical process, but a craft.

6. Electroforming Nature: Where the Story Meets Red Forrest Boutique

Today, makers around the world — including us at Red Forrest Boutique — use electroforming to preserve organic forms in metal. A leaf, a twig, a seed pod, a petal…These are things the forest gives us only briefly. Electroforming lets us honour them by capturing their texture, shape, and character in copper. After drying, sealing, and making the object conductive, it goes into an electroforming bath where copper slowly grows over it, preserving every tiny feature.

The result is a piece of jewellery that carries both chemistry and memory: nature’s own architecture, made durable and wearable. This is slow craft at its finest — a blend of natural artistry and scientific method.

A Shiny Timeline (Quick Summary)

• Ancient era — objects like the Baghdad Battery spark curiosity about early electrochemical knowledge.

• 1838 — Moritz Hermann Jacobi formalizes the principles of electroforming.

• 19th century — galvanoplastic sculptures push the technique into architecture.

• 20th century — electroforming becomes essential to micro-manufacturing and precision engineering.

• Today — jewellers use electroforming to transform leaves, shells, and organic shapes into wearable art.

  
  

Electroforming is unusual in that it bridges so many worlds: archaeology, history, physics, architecture, engineering, and craft.

And now, it lives in small studios and workshops where makers like us use it to honour the natural world — leaf by leaf, twig by twig. At Red Forrest Boutique, every copper leaf has a place in this long, shiny story. And every piece we create adds a new chapter

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Follow along — the story doesn’t end here. In our next post, we’ll take you inside the science of electroforming and show how this slow, steady chemistry becomes wearable art. Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER and never miss an update !