Finally, one piece that worked

This has to be one of the hardest challenges I have had over the last 5-8 years, embedding images consistently into durable objects. Consistently is the linchpin here as I've gotten on piece to work here or there, but always find a way to confuse the products and process to where it doesn't repeat itself. The exposure to the chemicals like Epoxy and polyester resins don't necessarily help my efforts, but they keep me confused enough that I just keep trying. I don't consider it passion, so much as surprising that I haven't settled on a process after so much time. Admittedly I keep raising the bar on my standards and switching materials in order to get a maximum effect at a reasonable cost. As the learning curve for the materials I am using keeps me switching things it just takes more time than I have to get to a logical conclusion with a final product. Ifeel like I am my a Research and Development department for my company, but at the same time I have to run my business and keep my wife and 3 kids happy.

Today's point is that I got one piece to work on something that almost resembles a product. I used Epoxy resin, pigmented with Fillite and Iron Steel atomized powder, with digital print and a back coating of gold that almost looks like a true gold foil, but it was a mixed bronzing powder with a basic Acrylic medium. The bond to the epoxy was 100% and the image is as embeded as it could be, not a sticker or laminate, but a bonded flush 2-color image that bleeds into the black epoxy. I don't think this one is water proof, so I still have a ways to go, but as I previously noted, this ain't easy.

The funny thing is that the back of this small piece, an ipod shaped christmas ornament, looks better on the back than the front. Since I have so little faith in any of these samples being an actual product, I often play with the casting and do something stupid to make sure it won't look complete. This technique is the genius of my creativity as these incidental mistakes and modifications are always the way a new generation of the process is born. My latest silliness has me sticking left-over images on the back of the epoxy while it is setting up. The problems I used to have with air bubbles have vanished in my newest test, which is why I stopped applying images to the top of epoxy in the past, and these images actually look better in some ways than the images that I am doing all this work to make appear embedded.

The problem with the floating images is that the tops of the image have a thin plastic veneer, which is only negative because I know it is there. The average person would not care or give a shit about this, in fact, they may like the shiny coat that the plastic surface provides. The fact that I hate this so much is all the more reason why it is probably the right way to go. If I keep in mind that the idea is to have a reasonably priced item that is consistently easy to make then I have found it with this technique, I just don't want to admit it, but it is true. My last batch of castings all have a back image and it was hardly any more work at all. I've started embedding magnets with these castings so the a magent will be now be embedded into the iphone shape too, but I have to wait until tomorrow to see if it bonds adequetly or if it sinks into the epoxy and gets lost in the resin. Still it may be funny if there is a magnet embedded below the surface and it may even help a second magnet stay on to the piece too. Manyana.

Vicious Cycle

It seems I am testing the same products over and over, but somehow I know it is different this time. I have several more specific ideas in mind when I move forward, but each time I change a substrate or a pigment I tend to get different results. As I test more my control of the environment gets better and often the test that I did on a product earlier, do not seem to apply any longer, so I then need to start over with the same products again and again. Currently I am rediscovering epoxy as my main casting medium because it is durable, strong, waterproof and finished looking when mixed with the right fillers and pigments. I strength is the more important factor as a set epoxy can withstand physical shocks better than most cement and gypsum based plaster products. The smell of epoxy is not as strong as polyester resins and epoxy does not shrink like polyester resins do, so there are fewer problems with warping in the final pieces. The bonding of epoxy to images also seems to be more consistent than with the gypsum plaster products, polyester resins and cements, especially when I use acrylic paints.

This is where I am currently analyzing my products for the most affordable and superior way to embed images into epoxy. Earlier I was casting objects, painting them with a variety of pigments and methods and then coating the reinforced pieces with coats of clear epoxy to give them an exterior strength and finished looking surface. The extended production time wore me down pretty fast, not to mention the additional cost and problems that are associated with clear coating things and trying to make them smooth and clean. By acquiring some epoxy paint and attempting to print with it my systems were available to simply cast with pigmented epoxy to begin with and surprisingly the results appear to be promising.

Image a thin veneer of epoxy with the image cast in the pigment, either by screen printing or by impregnating the veneer with acrylic. Depending on the mold I have been able to get a variety of finishes from glossy to matt using epoxy and by directly putting the images into the epoxy I have made a seemingly durable surface that does not need a thick coat of clear epoxy to protect it as the protection is in the pigmented veneer to begin with. The jury is still out if acrylic mixed into epoxy has a more durable surface than simply acrylic on it's own, but in my mind the acrylic can wear away over time with extreme weathering and a relief would be created where an image otherwise would have been. I know this is a projection without any evidence, but I am basing this on the sense that somehow the epoxy is merging with the acrylic otherwise there would be no bond at all between the two materials.

Currently I have three different acrylic bases set in epoxy to see if there are any variations between the materials. I have already had good success with one of the acrylics so that is the control acrylic to compare the other less expensive acrylics to. One of the acrylics has a polyvinyl acetate in it's chemistry, so I am not sure if it will provide a decent bond with epoxy and I anticipate that acrylic to have the least success. Nonetheless I am moving forward with using this acrylic because it is thicker and it wouldn't be the first time I was surprised if it turns out to be a good paint.

All made up, but nothing to be

Sensibly speaking I've gotten to an almost finished state with super durable materials, mostly epoxy mixed with pigments, and I am not sure what to make of it. I've been mixing a flexible epoxy that pops out of my molds and has a nice top finish, but the brick wall things I make can only go so far in that they are heavy wall hangings and not too practical for modern living. What I am most happy about is that I do not feel I have to provide a finish coating on these castings and there isn't much that can damage the image since it is made from pigment and epoxy.

My latest experiments have been to make a thin print using acrylic and then by pouring the epoxy behind the print I get a decent bond between the expoxy and the arcrylic which allows the image to carry into the final piece. The top layer then appears to be resiliant and flat so that it could be used as a table without applying another clear coat of epoxy which increases my handling time. Also I have been reinforcing the back with gypsum cement and wire mesh to add some strength to the pieces. while also laying down a silicon mold to make the back uneven in case another layer of reinforcement is added later.

The point of all this is that I have a one big step, 24 hour cure time, solid yet flat piece that can withstand weathering and a good beat down. I put two identical pieces outside to allow them to weather, but I don't expect much to happen quickly, so now I am forced to think of more things I can make with this technique before I get bored at staring at them not eroding. I don't really have a product to make besides the tables and some sort of shrine, but the more I think about it the more I realize that there isn't really anything that people want that I can make.

I can reduce my cost now that I think I have a single step process and don't have to go through extensive finishing processes, but it doesn't help just to make things cheaper. If I am just going to make cheap things I can stick to t-shirts which is what I am trying to get away from. If nothing else I can now relax about the concepts I've been playing with and go back to my day job to make some money. I love the idea of making a house out of these bricks, now that they are resiliant, and fitting together a montage that is interchangable.

The other idea that keeps popping into my head is that these pieces could be used to build a fortress quickly, somewhere like at the Occupy protest, to keep the cops from tearing down the structure like they have been doing in Portland and Oakland. For example a group of 50 people could each carry a brick and then stand side by side stacking them and make a quick wall that could be used as a temporary structure. Or the individual pieces could be used as shields, yet still be justified as a free speech tool.