Analog vs. Digital

The topic of this report is rust. Today I realized that I can spend my afternoons watching rust and if it happens quick enough I will be entertained. Rust can be used in the same way that silver can be used in photography, only the process that I have been experimenting with reverses that effect. I have been making reliefs with a combination of screen printing processes and casting, then when I make a cast from the mold I have been using metals like steel, brass, copper and aluminum as a pigment in the pieces that I make. I have chosen photographic images of celebrity mugshots, like Johnny Cash and have made the skin tones and white areas the raised part of the design. Once the image is cast I can sand down and coat the surface with acidic liquids and accelerate a rust effect which lightens the steel. Basically this is a steel version of the photographic process which we typically associate with a silver chemical procedure.

3-D versus 2-D, Whatever!

Why are 3-dimensional products more interesting than 2-dimensional images? Simply put they have more dimensions. I have worked with flat images for so long that I am drawn to the objects that I can make as 3-dimensional products in a way that infatuates me. The fact that the 3-dimensional products are made from 2-dimensional images only enhances the character of the products themselves because it is as if I am using the same underlying graphic technology to make the 3-d objects. This transition is what keeps pulling me back in and creates the inertia that keeps me moving forward on these projects. My brain has been twisted inside out as I keep making modifications to the process of developing a wide range of products and each product has some x-factor that relates to the earlier steps. Today I tried to reduce the concepts to a catalog sheet or drawing of the things that I can make using these photo-fresco techniques and they are legion. I don't even consider the final products photo-fresco in the original context of the phrase, but because the methods of the photo-fresco processes brought me to this point I am keeping with the original catch phrase, photo fresco.

The Product is the Mold

I have been trying different mold making techniques and a variety of mold making materials including plaster, silicone and urethane. The Silicone is usually my favorite because of it's ability to capture detail and resistance to sticking from other materials poured into it like polyester resin and epoxy. My urethane molds seem more sensitive to sticking, but I was surprised to find that my urethane mold may capture as much or more detail than the silicone that I recently used. I purchased a small amount of silicon rubber last week in an attempt to make a few small molds for the cold cast pendants that I have been making. I poured the 2 part mixture and everything looked fine, but each piece had a small air bubble in the set rubber and this carried over into the casting of the final pieces. This was a result of the thickness that the silicon rubber was and it was a fast setting batch of Silicone, Smooth-On, is the brand. There isn't really anything I can do about the bubbles and it is quite annoying since Silcone is expensive to begin with. As I pondered my new problem I did a second cast of the same items and although it was better, I still have a few problems. The viscosity of the silicon isn't perfect for everything, so I will need to find a new product for getting into cracks and crevices. When I poured the silicon I stared for 30 minutes watching each air bubble come up to the surface and helped pop them thinking that must be the last one. My next attempt was to use some urethane rubber that I happened to have as a backup and make a mold from a first generation print so that I would be getting the best casting possible from a new item. It appears that because the urethane was a thinner mixture that the bubbles release more easily and the 2 to 1 mixture flowed more evenly over the items and filled the cracks and crevices much quicker. The urethane rubber leaves a oily feeling when it pops out from the original, but that should only help with making a casting. I quickly sprayed down the new mold an poured a mixture of polyester resin gel coat with an epoxy back fill to make a relatively thin relief that I can cut and use as an applique. I have not pulled this item from the mold yet, but I am looking forward to getting it this morning. The composite between polyester resin and epoxy is also a solution that appears as a result of two problems. One, I ran out of polyester resin. Two, the polyester resin penetrates the crevices and fills the voids made in these small molds easier than the epoxy does. The epoxy suffers from the same problem that the silicon does, even though both of these casting products have strong benefits once they are used. I know that having a vacuum pump system to draw the air bubbles out of the setting materials would improve my final results, but I would like to avoid going that far in making the process more complex. I enjoy mixing and pouring the chemicals, but having to set up a vacuum system is just another bunch of things to deal with. I can use my originals as molds themselves, which isn't a bad idea as the best results in my final products that I have gotten have come from casting in the original. I have been mixing in some flexible polyester resin into my regular resin and the end result is a less fragile piece that has some of the characteristics of the epoxy castings. This helps with the removal of the casting from the original, but in the end the original gets destroyed and then I have to make a new original which involved additional work. My last batch of castings made it through 5 - 10 sets of castings before the detail started breaking away from the original and lodging into the cast pieces. This is something that can be expanded on because it had an interesting look, but from a simple casting perspective the 5-10 uses is not quite enough to justify the work in making the original mold. My problem with the mold may have come from switching from my polyester resin mixtures to epoxy after 4-5 castings. I usually have better results with materials releasing with the epoxy so I didn't fret about as much mold release as normal, but either the epoxy gripped the mold detail in a different way than the polyester resin does, or the use of polyester resin in the mold made the epoxy bond stronger to the original. Assuming the later is the case and that there must have been a latent residue of polyester resin in the mold from prior use, then I can assume that the bond between the epoxy and the polyester resin is superb. This takes me back to the use of polyester resin as the gel coat material for strength and detail with the epoxy backing for durability and some flexibility, as well as, superior versatility in bonding with other materials like wood or cement later on.

Success - Failure - Success - Failure

Thus the cycle of progress is a constant stream of success and failure. The successes are invigorating, but often a piece cannot be recognized as being a success right away. Often it takes finishing a piece and then looking at some item again at a later date and then you may realize that something worked. Typically this is how my successes occur. Here are a few scanned and buffed emblems of the Mayan Sun God sticking out his tongue.

New Mayan calendar, same as the old Mayan calendar

Here are some cold casted emblems that I need to finish.

It's not easy being green

I've moved on from the Chicken Head as a result of the pressure to make something that can be practically used and sold. The Chicken Head photo fresco is a good piece, but the fact is that it is heavy and although it is durable, it is somewhat fragile. The size is also larger than life in that it is hard to ship and display a 10 lb 16" X 20" frame. Just the fact that if it fell on your head you would most definitely suffer a concussion. Therefore I have scaled down my work, again. I reworked a batch of designs and made a new mold with 2" X 3" pieces with a more detailed relief that is photographic. I was unable to buy the expensive silicon that I needed so I worked with my old school techniques to turn high contrast photoshop files into rectangular reliefs. Then I poured polyester resin with atomized metals to create a few batches of cold casted pieces, 18 at a time.

The piece shown here, Available for Filming, is from a t-shirt design that I sell at my store in Los Angeles and is a good example of the detail that I can get using these photo casting techniques. I poured this item using copper and buffed it up to show off the metallic gel coat. In some cases I dipped the piece in acid to speed up the patina process and although it works pretty well, I can't control how and where the piece turns green so I think I am going to stay with this sort of shiny metallic effect and let nature do the work of weathering over time. Here are a few more image of these rectangular small pieces that can be used as refrigerator magnets.

Chicken Head Released into the Wild

Back in the day I used to work at Flea Markets and although I may consider myself an artist of sorts, I've never been successful enough to be in a gallery or get any respect, besides printing t-shirts. I've always looked on my flea market days as The Beginning of my business career, even though it isn't glamorous. Still that's the way it happened and today I just can't bring myself to sit in the sun and sell stuff, even if I wanted to. Lately I've been buying and selling stuff on Craigslist and although it is a pain in the ass I kinda consider this a modern version of the flea market without having to sit in the sun. Today I launched an item for sale on Craigslist to bring my photo fresco pieces out from cold and into the sun with a Chicken Head Photo Fresco listing linked here: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/art/3084344028.html I don't expect much, but I was very excited by the floor I made today using a bunch of my photo fresco pieces and just wanted to show how versatile these things are.