Jane Adam is a jeweller featured in 'The Earrings Book' by Yvonne Kulagowski. Jane is a U.K. based artist who over 20 years has accomplished vast studies into working with aluminium. Anodised aluminium offers a wide range of colour and texture and Jane has enjoyed the challenge of overcoming its structural limitations. Jane colours the anodised aluminium by passing an electrical current through the metal, which then creates a porous surface to which colour is absorbed.
I've been intrigued of late with the different metals that are used so beautifully in jewellery. For me and I'm sure many others, sterling silver is becoming unaffordable. Aluminium is such a soft metal and so much easier to saw, so I've done a little research in home anodizing. Very harmful chemicals are needed, so if you were planning to go down this path, be sure to have all the safety precautions covered. I found 'astro neutral' website to have a great deal of information on anodizing aluminium. At Creative Chemistry a step by step process is shown of an anodizing experiment in a classroom environment.
If you live near the Birmingham area in the United Kingdom they run a 'Certificate in Colouring and Forming Anodised Aluminium Jewellery' Course at the Birmingham School of Jewellery. Unfortunately we don't seem to have anything on offer here in Australia.
I also found a DVD 'Anodizing Aluminium For Fun and Profit' at Smartflix available for renting. It can be purchased for US$31.50 from Roderus Productions.
A book is also available - 'Artists Anodizing Aluminium : The Sulfuric Acid Process' by David Laplantz. Amazon sellers have second hand copies ranging from a big US$85.00. I would suggest you try your local library.
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