Pour 18 Yin Yang 2
pour 18 starts with molds to pour into
I think this will be the last time I use this technique of caulk on acrylic type plastic. I do like the shape I get, but the irregular edges require a lot of post pour clean up with sanding and polishing and generating a lot of dust.. The caulk on the white stuff which is the inside of a IAMS cat food bag, works better, especially when it comes to demolding. The acrylic as a surface does give a decent shine, the shite stuff even better. I did try to shape the caultk using my fingers and soapy water. I didn't have big enough beads to work with and later, after the water dried out, still had cracks and irreularities where I'd thought I'd smoothed, looked smooth, felt smooth, dried with a crack or hole. Also had to spend a lot of time cleaning the plastic surface..and giving it a bit of polish. On the other hand, the smaller ffree forms on the smooth white plastic of the inside of IAMS cat food bags works great.
First 100 grams using green glow in the dark that went on basically clear layer, puddle down middle of long ones and in the YY mold. For the YY mold, I cut out the bottom and tried to tape down the resulting circle. Lots of leakage. The concept was to get a glow layer down, put in the cedar branch, put some more over that and then let cure till almost ready to gel and then put in the diving line. In the middle, also a close to gel small circle that will get a rock put in it.
add YY barrier at 2 and 3/4 hours
Gelled enough to hold stuff on top. Well, nor quite. The caulk sank through to leave less than 1/16th inch underneath. The rock sank, too.
One of the twirlers started to come out ok, but the very end broke off; the other twirler, shown here, broke in several places. I think they both could have used a few more ounces. Plus, more important, the table is not perfectly level. It's less than a 1/16th inch off, but that's enough to make one end thinner than the other. both too thin and too much cure time. The others were thicker
This time some pure white and some very dark blue for the YY. Also clear to repair damaged twiler. Another layer on the rock.
This is how I get an even twist in a twirler. Clamp the top end between some wood and cloth to avoid marking the plastic. Twist and hold in place by putting the other end between blocks of wood with some wax paper to prevent sticking. The small twirlers are shaped by wrapping in soft cloth and twisting and then holding the twist in place by laying some wood on it. As a general rule very little force is needed, but without any force the epoxy will attempt to untwist or flatten. Painter's tape also works, but I find this method easier for the long twirlers. For the standing shapes, tape is usually better.
I probably could have done less than 10 ounces, used maybe 3 or 4 on the white and blue for the YY circle. and another ounce at most repairing the twirler and adding layers to the layering experiments. But also decided to fill the shape I'd passed by before.
simply poured clear over the cracks. The sparklies were an accident.
Scooping up overflow or leaking epoxy and painting it on leaves. Unfortunately can very easily tear a leaf; also care must be taken to insure leaf actually covered.
And using them
hour 31, done with epoxy pouring
Still some cleanup, but all pieces got their extra layers and shaping . The taped pieces hold their shape, and resting the twirler on a stick to give it a little shpae. Later on, put it up in same arrangement as first one.
Not really, need some cleanup on this side and perhaps a layer of clear on the back. Need to find a different way to make that curvy barrier; the caulk doesn't come out cleanling when put directly on still curing epoxy
This was close to 25 ounces by the time I was done (there's another long twirler not shown). the YY will need additional work on the lines and the bigger leaf has exposed leaf surface to be covered.
Yin Yang Symbol in blue and white
The plant material on this side are Bald Cypress leaves and on the back is Eastern Red Cedar. The base layer underneath was still too soft when I laid the silicone ropes on it to form the yin yang shape. And because that rope is raggedy, the edges were sharp and raggedy. And I had to use tools to scrape out the silicone and often punched right through. So, next time need to let it set longer than 2 and half hours. Also need to prevent leakage so it won't thin out as much.
Back side of YY very different
Too much reflection in this image, but I'm not going to reshoot a mistake, :-). Not sure exactly how I will repair this; current thought is simply a clear pour to see if I can get back to the thicker clear back side that I was aiming for. But those are actual holes and it might be just as good to clean those up and leave them as long as there is enough structural integrity. Or, fill the lies, but use syringe this time and make it more exact.
The star and other experiments
The star is the bottom of a large soft drink plastic jug done over 3 or 4 different pours, adding a layer or two each time. Above is half of one of those double bulb soft drink containers, also adding layers on alternate sides over several other pours. Under the star to the right is a better view of the back of the YY. The tear throughs are upsetting, but the clarity is nice and the tear throughs may be good in the end. On the other side of the star is a very thick piece with a chunk of rock in the middle. Need to be more careful about clearness with thicker molds. Off to the left are some left overs put in the smaller molds. On the far left are a couple of leaves that I tried coating with the semi-cured epoxy at several hours and later. It was a bit too cured and thus too thick to spread nicely enough to avoid tearing the dried leaves.
pour 18-00028-DSC03626
pour 18-00029-DSC03627
