As much as I want there to be one way to do things, I can't seem to make it a truth. As much as I want one set of materials to work with, I can't say that is so. I am very happy with some of the techniques I have been using, especially using epoxy in the screen printing process of making a photo fresco, but for making a final piece that will stand on it's own I can't stop with just the photo fresco itself. In order to bring a piece out of the frame I have to use a mold making techniques and then pour additional copies. I have done this with punk rock lettering for cars and managed to keep a two color process, but one of the colors is made with acrylic and therefore the unifying nature of using only epoxy and pigments is lost. The problem with casting in a mold is that it isn't reasonable to use two colors at the outset and I have to create a second color effect with some sort of abrasion, chemical reaction, paint or all of the above.
My problem has been curling edges and this is mostly a result of my photo fresco materials that I use that make this process unique. I backed the first truly successful photo fresco with two layers of carbon fiber and epoxy, but that was not enough to overcome the tendency of the epoxy to curl. The next piece I worked on was a line art design of the mayan calendar and I poured a silicon mold of it, then poured some epoxy mixed with bronze. My goal will be to build up the back and then possibly apply a layer of carbon fiber before pulling it from the mold and hoping that holds keeps it stiff. If the piece is thick enough it may not need the carbon fiber to keep it from warping in the sun, but now I am getting used to using uni-directional carbon fiber in small amounts and it seems like a nice finish on the back side, specifically when I am using clear. The look of the carbon fiber is undeniably hi-tech whether it is necessary or not.
As I get back to thinking about casting objects with silicon molds and using my photo fresco techniques just to make the original, I can't help but think that smaller objects are better. The cost of the materials increases with the thickness and the detail is best recognized with things that you can hold in your hand, versus standing back five feet and looking at. One thing is certain and that the higher the relief the less you have to rely on paint to get the effect of a design. Using the shadow and textures of depth are the best work around to actually painting and finishing a piece by hand. Polyester resins may have the best finish when it comes to polishing off a cold cast piece, but epoxy still resist breaking and cracking. The lightweight nature of plastic is a pro and a con in that if it is too light, then if feels cheap. To make a piece heavier requires more pigment, which can effect the detail and simply cost more.
The only other way to stay with photo fresco printing is to print with epoxy on silicon sheets or milar type materials and then remove the panel or gel. I have not been able to print with high density screens enough to get a design to hold together on its own. Also the design would have to touch at some point with itself everywhere in the print or it would not stay together as one piece. The thickness of a print reduces the effect of a relief, which I like and if a second color is added to the design, it can work, but there is a flatness that doesn't look much different than if I just printed on plastic or just printed on a sticker to begin with.
Which brings me back to printing on magnets as a good base material. I tried basic epoxy on coated magnets and it appears that there is no strong bond between the two. The coating on the magnets may be pvc and I have not researched it yet, but I think since there is no porosity or chemical affinity between the epoxy and the pvc, then there isn't going to be a real bond. I like the idea of magnets as a base since they can be used in a variety of ways to display designs, but I need to do more research on finding a way to bond to the magnet base so that the bond isn't simply a sticker on top of the pvc magnet surface. Some of my direct printing techniques on coated magnets failed because of the coating on the magnet sheets, but now I am thinking about printing my own coating or just printing directly on uncoated magnets and even printing with metal pigments so that they are pulled down to the magnet itself. I like the idea of printing with a clear epoxy and then shaking powder over the magnet to make the coloring in the design and let the magnet pull the pigments into the epoxy from the top down, sort of like how plaster pulls the pigments into the gypsum while drying.
My main limitations these days are money for materials and taking time from my real work to do these types of experiments. If there was a job doing these types of test and finding new uses for epoxies, I think I would be interested. You got my number.
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