The product I would like to find is a clear concrete or transparent plaster. I've been working with epoxy and polyester resin again because of the transparent effect that is mysteriously entertaining. An earlier problem that I have consistently had is sealing the photo fresco pieces with water resistant layers. Epoxy has a good hard finish, but because of the thick nature of epoxy the texture that comes from the original casting of the plaster or concrete is lost to the flattened, but durable epoxy finish. To resolve this I have been using epoxy in my molds to begin with and trying to create a depth of layers in reverse order to imitate the photo fresco look and feel without losing the texture. If only there was a transparent plaster then my life would be simple and carefree.
The time it takes to pour epoxy runs counter to my natural instincts and demand for instant gratification. I am trying to turn the tables on my work and reverse engineer my process to see if it really takes more time to put the finishing touches on an easily made piece. Or if it is less time consuming to make the original casting in durable and water resistant materials, like epoxy and resin, to begin with. I've spent the that last couple of days setting up a couple of samples and I haven't gotten to the point where I can remove any of the pieces from a mold, but the concept of epoxy first is promising, more so than polyester resin.
My latest failure manifested itself with a table that I left out in the rain and it delaminated between two layers of plaster, but I think the top layer of epoxy curled in the sunshine and peeled back one layer of the plaster from a layer of the cement. I may have used Tufstone for the layer that peeled back, but it appears to have adhered to the epoxy quite well.
I also poured a few layers of clear polyester resin into some urethane rubber molds and the shrinkage of the resin was extreme. Either I kept the room to hot for the resin and it set too quickly or I put too much activator in the resin and it turned the resin whitish and made it withdraw from the mold. I still continued to paint and pour more resin and polyester fiber to reinforce the pieces and hope that it will create some unexpected result that will prove once again that I have no idea what to expect when I switch materials over and over again.
My final hope is that if I pour some plaster behind the resin it will hold the piece together long enough to get it out of the mold and I can see the effect of the rapidly cured resin. I doubt it will be a pleasing result, but it's all I got. After that mockery of an experiment I went back to using epoxy to get a clear surface to work from. It just takes so damn long to cure that I am very likely to ruin much of my work by playing with the pieces set up.
A new solution to the problem of my patience, just for the sake of getting a true experiment and get a durable transparent final product, would be to use my distant workshop, instead of my backyard, to cast these things. I need to schedule my work day around these long setting times that often cause me to mess up the experiment. My workshop is in Richmond CA and I live over a bridge with a $5 toll, so the cost is an issue. If I can only make myself get out in the morning, before the phone starts ringing and my work day begins, then I can go to the workshop for a morning run and cast a limited amount of work on a daily basis. I might be able to allow some items to even cure properly instead of over saturating resin with catalyst.
Today I cleared out an outside trailer, which is also good for allowing the fumes to dissipate while the polyester resin and/or the epoxy cure. Since it is spring the temperatures may even be favorable enough to let some stuff set up without spending a fortune on running a heater to keep the shop warm. I can only hope. The cycle of casting, painting, setting and finishing is long enough that if I keep two pieces a day in different stages then in a week I can have some finished product coming out of the shop. My priority has to be to keep the process consistent or else there will never be a cycle of production.
Here is a list of the steps required to get one of my plastic photo fresco pieces completed.
1) Clean a couple of screens and remove the ink residue and set in some anchors and anchor holes.
2) Mount the cleaned frames into a mold on a flat surface to insure the final piece top layer is flush and flat.
3) Mix and pour a layer of clear polyester casting resin or epoxy and cover with a screen to keep debris, dirt and bugs from sticking to the setting transparent materials. Allow to dry a minimum of 5-10 hours, depending on the materials used.
4) Spray paint or apply a stencil or graphic in layers using spray paint, print outs or stencils to put a design into the molded materials. Pour a back coating of colored epoxy that will bond to the epoxy or to the clear polyester resin. Applying a thin layer of fiberglass cloth or loose fibers can help strengthen the back layers. Allow dry time of 10-12 hours.
5) Pour a thickened back layer or attach a frame bumper to hold the piece together and allow it to be removed from the mold. There are many
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