samedi 5 mars 2011

Polymer clay specimen bottles 1

I have recently started playing again with polymer clay, and while experimenting with transfers, I started wondering what to do with the transfered picture.
My experimenting pictures were a tad gruesome, especially after I became aware of the Images of the History of Medicine and the Historical Anatomies from the National Library of Medicine (hat tip to Neurophilosophy), so placing them on specimen bottles was the logical next step.
The following tutorial does not present much really new, and I will quote the relevant sources but on the off chance it can be of use to someone, here it is.
I used baking parchment paper/laser printer for the transfer (V. Aharoni, via Glass Attic). I had singled out this method because I did not want to get frustrated with failed transfer, and I wanted to be able to get good transfers from very finely detailed pictures like the old anatomical drawings. It turned out to be a good choice. The printing step is actually the sensitive one, but the transfer itself only failed once (and I had it coming, the way I treated it).
Here is a tutorial/description of the transfer steps with a few tips, using a mix of white/champagne Fimo classic.
I made an antiquing trial using acrylic paint, but the result was disappointing, probably because the surface is flat and does not catch paint much. Oil paint antiquing, on the other hand, gives a great finish in this case. I didn't try on other brands of clays or with color laserjet prints, but I suppose it would work (see V. Aharoni's tests).
The bottles still need caps and ageing to look good...

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