Enameling II

This semester in Enameling II, we are starting off with electroforming. I have decided to go with my slime mold forms, surprise surprise. For our first project we are supposed to build our models using alternative materials - preferably something other than metal or wax, and then electroform them. I haven't decided exactly what I want to make, but I know I want it to be a wearable piece of jewelry that is based on slime mold. Most likely I will be making earrings or a pendant.

For my creative caffeine assignment, it was suggested in class that I choose a bunch of different materials that could be squeezed out of a pastry bag to create my form that would ultimately harden so it could be copper plated. I asked all of my friends on facebook which substances they recommended by asking the question on my profile page. I got a lot of great responses - hot glue, cake icing, caulk, tempered chocolate, easy cheese, cornstarch mixed with salt and water that creates playdo, elmers glue, and clay based face masks. I tried them all and only the hot glue gave me the effect I was looking for.

The playdo came close to what I was looking for, but became a little too crumbly as it dried. The icing was too thick and the chocolate was too thin. The cheese cracked when dried and the face mask was extremely messy. The elmers glue and caulk spread out and turned into big blobs after a couple of minutes. So I went with the hot glue because I was able to get clean precise veins and the glue dried very quickly so it was fast and easy to work with.

At first I tried drawing out my design in hot glue on a plastic page protector, but it stuck and wouldn't come off. Next I tried wax paper and plastic coated freezer paper, but the glue stuck to that as well. Then I tried putting a thin layer of crisco down on the 2 different types of paper and then tried a thin layer of pam after that. The glue tended to spread out and look a little messy, and still stuck a little bit to the paper. My last resort was tin foil and that did the trick. The glue peels off of it nice and easy. This wasn't the best option because at least with the wax paper it is somewhat translucent and I could put it over my sketch and trace the design with the glue gun. When using the tin foil I had to draw my design on it freehand with a sharpie and then trace that with the glue.