Screen Printing with Epoxy - Achieved

I have recently up my skills on screen printing with 2-part epoxy, including cleaning out my screens for reuse. Now that the challenge is over I need to evaluate the practicality and usefulness of this skill and the use of epoxy as a medium. I like the potential durability of epoxy and my evaluation of where the strength comes from may be the ability of the material to shrink and expand, or stretch, without breaking. Also the long set times allow it to seep into tight spaces and form intricate bonds with the surfaces that it is applied to. As an exterior coating I keep questioning the practicality because it does seem to shrink and expand a lot, as well as, absorb the heat from exposure to the sun. This would make epoxy a hot material to step on or touch in bright sunshine and although it can be reinforced for strength, why should I expose epoxy to severe changes unless there is a definite advantage besides weight.

The advantage of epoxy may be it's ability to resist absorption of water, like polyester resins. Although wood can be coated with paints, depending on the paint it may absorb water. Cements may have this same issue, so the coating on porous materials is what will save them the problem of having water inside their composition and the coating of an object is where bonding issues with different materials are compounded. Other materials to consider are aluminum, steel, glass and acrylics. Still everything has some problem if there is any economy included in the process a piece of wood with a frame is probably the most accommodating type of materials to build something with. Cement is cheap, but the weight of the materials just multiply a new set of problems and shrinkage in cement is always an issue. Glass breaks, steel rust. Aluminum is a good material, lightweight, but by itself it needs to be connected and the connections are where I have a problem, especially on the surface with glues. Still aluminum at the top surface is a good material, but it is best used as the frame in my view. Wood can rot, but if it is sealed then it has the best bang for your buck.

In trying to compete with wood as a material for building, I have been drawn more and more to epoxy. I like that I can imitate a lot of the characteristics of wood, literally down to molding in the grain and coloring with epoxy. My most successful structure so far is a combination of aluminum frames with plywood covering that held the structure together. I used the wood on the exterior and now that I can screen print designs with epoxy I am trying to consider if I should make a structure out of printed screens, or simply print with epoxy onto the wood. The decorative elements of printing on the wood could be loss on the interior of a structure, unless you are inside, but the exposure of printing on the exterior with epoxy will wear down the design element for no real reason. A combination of these techniques may need to be explored.

Currently I am looking for a paste like epoxy that may be easier to print with. I've been mixing my own epoxy and the large amount of pigments that I have to add to my epoxy to make it thick enough to print with is a bit of a pain. However, I like the final texture and the graininess that the final product has, versus some specialized printing epoxies that I have tried that are too gel like and rubbery.