For straight casting it may be better to just use the epoxy and forget about all of the plaster and cement. I could cast the top layer first with clear epoxy, then paint in the back with the cement images in reverse order and don't use any cement or plaster. The reason that this won't work is that epoxy seems to need something to hold onto and it may change shape and become fluid in heat, therefore as a thin layer epoxy is good as a coating, but not so good structurally and something strong under it is best, whether it is wood, plaster or cement. Plus the epoxy would require painting in reverse order and that would just take away from the fun of making these pieces as I have been developing my techniques and in some cases I don't even have to paint my finished work, like with the cast brick wall patterns in the screen printing frames.
Painting can be considered a final coat, instead of an epoxy layer. In many cases I am spray painting color and added effects like brick lines by spray painting onto the cast materials like the Duracal gypsum plaster cement. The paint, if it is bonded well, is essentially a sealant, a top layer of protection from UV and rain, but I don't fully trust it. Mostly because paint scratches easily and will rapidly wear away with weathering, as can be seen on the many murals around Los Angeles. So except in mild conditions or for short periods of time, spray painting is not a satisfactory sealant by itself. I have used spray painted clear coats on top of epoxy, but the smell and blurriness that ensues is not worth it.
Double sealing by coating the back and the front is not to be done. If I have learned anything it is not to completely seal anything. If you do then the moisture that is built up inside with eventually destroy an item from the inside, so I have resisted the desire to paint the back of my pieces or to add an extra layer to the back, unless I leave the front unsealed. Ideally, my pieces are not completely sealed in that the wood on the edges can absorb moisture, but how would the water know to migrate to that part of the frame? Possibly the capillary action of the wood could draw the water from the plaster over time and work as a sponge, but I don't feel comfortable with this for now, although it is intriguing.
The wooden frames are serving as bumpers for the castings and in the past I have had trouble with the piece drying out and dropping from the frames. However, I have since worked in reinforcement and anchors regularly to keep this from happening. I broke apart one piece the other day and first off I was able to walk on it without it breaking and secondly with I tried to break the individual piece it literally broke the wire mesh inside instead of separating along any specific line. Therefore the reinforcement with plasters should make the pieces hold into the frames for years, or until the wood itself rots away. I am no longer putting decorative top frames on my pieces as they tend to get broken in transport and now that I am anchoring the pieces more successfully I don't think the top frames are needed to act as a bonding agent or washer against the wood.
I have been testing aluminum frames, but I have so many wooden frames in storage I still consider this testing and a future application. I have to keep going forward with using up the thousand or so wooden frames I have in storage to escape the trap I have created for myself by doing so much commercial work with screen printing over the years. In a way this is my punishment for being successful as a business person in that I have built up an archive of old frames with screen printing designs on them and most of my efforts with photo fresco prints has been to find an application that can use up these frames. Now I am buying aluminum frames for my screen printing, but I still need to recycle these frames instead of just taking them to the dump, cleaning them out and reusing them or continuing to pay rent for them in a storage unit in the desert. The wall is the best use I've come up with so far, although then I am going to have to store the wall, but hopefully I can build a house or fence out of the wall and then just watch it wear away over time.
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