Have just discovered a potentially new way to illuminate my Blackroom with a substance that could become the art as well … Exciting stuff.
Can’t say anymore at the moment as not able to experiment with it until beginning of April.
Experimenting with the larger ‘droplet’ by trying resin pigments. Having been told that the colour bleeds into the clear cast resin during curing, but wanting the swirling effect of marbles, I tentatively used the the special resin pigments, but also tried using water based ink to see what would happen.
The inks didn’t work (kind of expected). To my surprise the resin pigment worked brilliantly and just as I’d wanted it to. I’d mixed the pigment with a small amount of resin prior to putting it in the casting and can only assume the advice previously given was as a result of the person stirring the neat pigment directly into the casting. If I’d known that I’d not have attempted to use water based inks.
Still, great fun experimenting.
Unfortunately I think I may have over done the catalyst as the cast has a crack in it. It did start to cure far too quickly in my opinion and did become rather hot. Much more so than the previous, but granted smaller, resin cast I had produced. It may have also been a reaction to the water based inks injected into the resin as well.
The inks provided me with an interesting chemical reaction and a slightly humourous one at that!
Nevertheless, a valuable learning curve.
Having had a seminar presented by two RCA students studying MA in Fine Art, I then had a fabulous tutorial with one of the students about my degree work.
Sounds strange, but I was struggling to really believe the connection of my concept for creating large scale water droplets to my perception of space theme. To merely try and recreate clear cast resin ‘droplets’ resting on actual water droplet paintings wasn’t sitting at all comfortably with me.
Talking about various theorists relating to our understanding about space including Henri Bergson and Immanuel Kant, this tutorial helped me re-evaluate what I was doing and refocus my ideas.
While researching artists working with resin I came across Chicago based artist Bruce Riley. He paints, or more specifically he pours, a psychedelic array of coloured resins to create his art. The way he works resonated with me. Like him, I allow the materials I use to interact and so they kind of create the art, but also his use of resins made me rethink how I’d present my resin ‘water droplets’. I noticed from shadows produced through the layering of the resin emphasized the creation of space within the depth of his paintings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iuMN_y23iQ
This re-evaluation gave me the idea to use the space I have in the resin ‘droplets’, rather than adding colours and forms to the base only.
Here is the first casting, and hooray, there appears to be no air bubbles inside.
The curved surface isn’t great, but was no more than expected considering it was moulded from a clay plug. It will need a bit work using very fine wet and dry sandpaper followed by polishing with a cutting compound to bring it up to the glass clear surface I need. If I’d been able to find an item as the plug that had a polished surface then that is how the cast would have come out because the silicone rubber mould matches the plug’s surface exactly.
However, I’m really pleased with the way it’s come out and very excited now.
The mould has turned out really well with no real signs of air bubbles on surface to be cast with resin.
Ready to make the first casting of my ‘large water droplet’ and again as with the silicone rubber, the polyester resin and catalyst has to mixed in precise quantities. The catalyst is added at 1% of the amount of resin used. In this case 2ooml of resin was used so there was just 2ml of catalyst. Any more catalyst and the resin may overheat and therefore discolour and/or crack.
Had to be careful mixing the 2 parts to avoid bubbles, but thankfully these materials both have low viscosity, so that should help.
I have on a couple of occasions began think have I bitten off more I can chew with what I’m doing, especially considering a lot of what I’m doing is new territory for me creatively. However, this is all very exciting and I’m really beginning to enjoy every part of the creative processes I’m undertaking. Plus, I have a lot of determination in every thing I do, so having set my concept into action, it’s full steam ahead to fulfill the ideas I have for my degree show.
Resin mixed and poured into the mould.
After about an hour the resin has already set, however left it a while longer before demoulding.
