Plated doughnuts

G’day; Well, why not? But I would suggest that the first thing to
do is to spray the fresh doughnut carefully with several coatings of
good quality lacquer; the stuff one finds in DIY shop as sold for
auto retouching would be OK. This will take some time, as each coat
must be thoroughly dry and hard before the next is applied. At the
end of this the doughnut should feel quite hard.

Now the next sensible trick is to forget all those notions of
plating it yourself; the money you will spend on equipment, plating
solutions, and experiments will be better spent on sending the
prepared doughnut to a fully experienced plater. For the object will
have to have a coat of electrically conducting paint, an electro
deposit of copper, a deposit of nickel then the final metal,
whichever you choose. (silver, gold, chrome…) Most towns have a
plater; look in the yellow pages. And to an experienced palter it
needn’t be costly But apart from the preparation, don’t attempt to do
it all yourself; experience is necessary. To me, there seems to be
as much an art in plating as there is science.

I have done plating and therefore know some of the traps for the
young player; but when I did it, I was lucky enough to get paid
whilst I was messing about! – Cheers for now, John Burgess;
@John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ

Regarding the plating of a doughnut, it might be possible to
contact a restaurant supply company and get a fake doughnut. They
make imitation foods out of plastic or resin for displays - I should
think there would be pastry reproductions as well. These would
probably be sturdier than even a stale doughnut and wouldn’t be
likely to deteriorate or collapse later on. Just a rogue thought as I
take a break from the bench…

Jim Marotti
Lancaster, TN

 contact a restaurant supply company and get a fake doughnut 

Also available as a “gag” toy. Check out a toy store and see what
you can find in the form of a fake. Also might consider
electroforming a metal coating on it rather than casting. Could then
be plated with the desired metal.

‘Best,
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com
http://www.CarolinaArtisans.com