There may be an easier way to do the things I am trying to do. If I purchased the right products for the right job and then followed the instructions, then I may actually be able to finish something and call it complete. It's just not that easy to follow the rules when you aren't completely sure what you want to make. Every time I get close to having a clear idea of the final product, there is some fact about the materials or the texture that make me want to start over.
In this case I am working with printing and coating previously coated magnet sheets. I am pretty sure the coating is PVC or a type of vinyl coating. The coating itself may be printable with special inks and you can definitely put a sticker on it and cut it out, but that doesn't really mean it would be of exterior quality and be able to survive any significant weathering. I have even considered the idea of magnetic shingles, but the coatings on the magnets, or PVC, may deform at 120 degrees F. A roof, especially a metal roof may indeed hit that temperature in the middle of summer. A coating that reflects the heat, could reduce some of the effects of the heat, but a higher temperature resistant material would be required. I don't think standard coated magnet sheets are capable of that type of heat absorption without breaking down. This even brings up the issue of what are the magnet particles themselves being suspended in and most likely that is a vinyl too.
There are uv cured inks that go through an ink jet printer that are made for printing designs on magnet sheets and rolls, but that would be too easy. Full color images of any design I want, just printed on demand, c'mon already. Much too easy. First off, I don't trust it for long term exterior exposure. These types of printing techniques are only as good as the thickness of the material and by the very nature of the printing techniques the print layer cannot be very thick and it is on a special coating which can also breakdown and release from the substrate. Thicker and stronger bonds are necessary and of course I am a screen printer, so I don't want to be out of a job. Screen printing the right inks directly onto a magnet sheet should provide a thicker more durable type of coating that can survive outside. The big question is whether it should be compatible with the PVC coating or printed directly on the magnets themselves.
My conceptual magnet shingle project is based on the magnets attracting themselves to a metallic surface, or coated surface that will work like a piece of metal and provide enough pull to keep the magnet down in a good storm. To keep the magnets from lifting off each other I think printing one half of the top surface of the magnet with a coating and allowing the other half to work with the magnet placed on top of it to hold them together is a good design technique. This provides guidelines for assembling a matrix of shingles and allows the maximum pull to come one magnet to the other.
Currently I am testing a urethane coating appropriately called Snakeskin with the hopes that it will bond to the pvc coating on the magnet. My first attempts to print with this stuff were unsuccessful, but that could be for a number of reasons besides it just simply not going through a screen. I like this materials because it is supposed to be uv resistant, flexible and it is a one-part liquid that can handle pigments. It is supposed to be able to bond to itself, which means it can be layered or even used as a glue to connect items to a substrate. I coated the top of a magnet, some canvas, a piece of acetate and a vinyl sticker. We'll see if Snakeskin is as thick as I want it to be; thick like a snake.
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