Weekly Progress
- S.Dickinson
- Feb 14, 2021
- 2 min read
Last week I left off trying to find a sealant that would work with my rubber components and candle wax. I've been wrecking my brain to figure this out. I started out with making some new rubber components.
After I waited a few days for them to cure, I started to cut them into different pieces. My aim was to create little clusters. Below are a few different patterns I tried.
The clusters aren' t cut or pieced together perfectly, I think this gives the piece a natural feel. It's very similar to what occurs in nature, very free forming.
SN: the second picture is made from wax - the others are rubber.
The top image shows my rubber components with candle wax. The second image is the same cluster after it had been dipped in clear varnish several times. This process was too long and unrealistic to wait for each thin layer of varnish to dry. It also didn't protect the candle wax. Varnish is something that I won't be moving forward with.
The second sealant that I tried was, flex seal. The problem with flex seal is that it only comes in two colours, black or white. However, I decided to try it anyways. I thought maybe i'd stumble across something. Below are the results. I didn't like the look of these at all - I think it took away from the story that I am trying to tell with my pieces.
The third experiment I conducted was melting plastic on top of the components. I tried to create a vacuum seal of some sort. I was sure that this was going to work- I was wrong :((
I went back to the drawing board and decided to do some more research. Through my research I came up with PVC Pipe Glue. I hurried to closest hardware store and made a purchase.
Below are the results of my rubber clusters + PVC Pipe Glue
So far this is the best result i've gotten. I think I will continue to use the PVC glue. It dries very fast and bonds everything together while sealing it in. It really made these rubber components look like I took them straight out of the ocean. I feel like that is the point of this jewellery line. The textures that it created looked like barnacles or appendages that you find underwater. I think with further development this could be successful.
I am curious about your choice of wax as a binder for the shapes- is wax a temporary binder that you use to combine forms, that you will them make a new mold from- or are you hoping to seal the wax/rubber forms- and this is the finished thing? I think wax will repel almost any sealer/paint/glue etc and would not stick to rubber long-term with its flexi-properties. If you are just looking for a binder that you can use quickly that is sort of organic in form, I might recommend a tube of caulking (like for the bathroom or Kitchen)- i believe they come in both rubber and silicon....