Art Portfolio Two - Resin experiment 2

Online, I have looked at different coloured fish that can be at the centre of my sculpture. Basically exotic small fish that people tend to have in aquariums at home. I did not look at fish from an environmental point of view, namely if it was endangered species, but I was only concerned with the aesthetics and the applicability of their different colours with resin. The reason for that is that I want the subject at the centre of the sculpture to be more than noticed, I want it to be loudly attractive. And I think that the project is not about a specific sea life, it is about the whole environment and our relationship with it. So I have looked at videos and images of fish and I selected few that I can try to work with.

Betta fish, blue and red or just red. It comes in more coloured but I picked the most attractive ones.

Boeseman's Rainbowfish, a mix of red, orange and silver or yellow, silver and blue

Clown fish, very cartoon-ish, Dark violet, blue and white or most common orange, black and white. 

Discus fish, Yellow, red or orange.

Electric Blue ram, German Blue ram, Blue or blue and orange.

Endlers livebearer, Orange, blue and black or yellow and black.

FlowerHorn Cichlid, pink with white or brown, red and black.

Gourami, Orange, silver and gold or blue with silver and orange spots.

Delta-tail guppy, Tuxedo guppy, tones of blue, silver and yellow or white with black and blue middle.

 

 Killifish, they come in a large pallet of colours, But I picked brown and white or purple, blue with orange.

By examining those fish closely, I made a pallet of the colours that make those fish, with acrylics and a flat brush. (Yellow, Purple, Leaf green, Ultramarine Blue, Metallic silver, Brown sienna, Red, Metallic gold, White, Neon orange, Crimson, Black, Pink and Sap green).

After that, I added those colours onto wooden canvas stretchers that come with canvas.

After they dried, I glued those two pieces together with PVA glue and let it dry for a short while. After that I glued the whole piece to the bottom of a small transparent plastic container.

The plastic cylindrical container have a 5 cm Diameter and the stretchers are 1.5 cm high. Using a website for calculating volumes for different shapes, I calculated how much resin I needed to cover the stretchers. The result was 30 ml.

The resin and the hardener ratio is same as before 2 to 1. I used measuring pots to fill a disposable coffee cup with 20 ml water and marked it with pen, and then added 10 ml extra water and marked it again. After wiping the cup dry, I added 10 ml hardener on top of 20 ml resin wearing protective gloves.

From the last experiment I learned to be careful with adding food colours. So I kept adding as little as possible till I made the right tone of colour without loosing its transparency (Blue).

When I finally made the right mixture, I poured it in the plastic container and waited for it to dry up for the next 24 hours.

The results next day:

Observations:

I expected that only few colours would be visible in resin but to my surprise I found out that most of the colours that I used, were very visible however some colours were more vibrant than others.

Gold, silver, orange, yellow and pink became dimmed
Greens, purple, blue and red are more vibrant in resin
Black and Brown were the same as before resin,

Conclusions:

• I will use vibrant colours such as Green, Purple, Blue and red when I colour the fish sculpture. This will have a good effect on its visibility when placed inside two layers of resin.
• I will use this example and be more careful with adding food colouring and try to make it as transparent as possible.

References:

Images: 

Consultant, M.B.B. (n.d.). Do Betta Fish Need Light? [online] LoveToKnow. Available at: https://small-pets.lovetoknow.com/pet-fish-types-care/do-betta-fish-need-light [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

Anon, (n.d.). Yellow Marlboro Discus – Fish Place. [online] Available at: https://fishplace.eu/product/yellow-marlboro-discus/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

cichlidworld.net. (n.d.). FLOWER HORN CICHLID. [online] Available at: https://cichlidworld.net/flower_horn_cichlid.htm [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌tribasse (n.d.). Is Flowerhorn Fish Dangerous? [online] Flowerhorn. Available at: http://flowerhornfarming.com/is-flowerhorn-fish-dangerous/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Berrigan, P. (2019). Flowerhorn Fish – Is the Flowerhorn Cichlid Your New Fishy Friend? [online] Squeaks and Nibbles. Available at: https://squeaksandnibbles.com/flowerhorn-fish/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌The Spruce Pets. (n.d.). Learn Everything You Need to Know About the Killifish. [online] Available at: https://www.thesprucepets.com/killifishes-or-egg-laying-tooth-carps-4107831 [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Anon, (n.d.). Melanotaenia boesemani (Boeseman’s rainbowfish) — Seriously Fish. [online] Available at: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/melanotaenia-boesemani/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌details.endlers1.com. (n.d.). The Endler Shop - Details. [online] Available at: https://details.endlers1.com/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌aquariumfish.net. (n.d.). Endlers Livebearer for Sale - AquariumFish.net. [online] Available at: https://aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/livebearer_rare/endlers_for_sale.htm [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌GuppyExpert.com. (2019). 50+ Different Types of Guppies (With Pictures). [online] Available at: https://guppyexpert.com/guppy-fish-types/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌www.aqueon.com. (n.d.). Gouramis Care Sheet. [online] Available at: https://www.aqueon.com/information/care-sheets/gouramis [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Seahorse Aquariums. (2013). Common Clown Fish. [online] Available at: http://www.seahorseaquariums.com/Commom-Clown-Fish/404 [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

Absolutely Fish Naturals. (n.d.). 1.5" Black Ocellaris Clownfish. [online] Available at: https://absolutelyfishnaturals.com/products/1-5-black-ocellaris [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Seahorse Aquariums. (n.d.). Electric Blue Ram S. [online] Available at: http://www.seahorseaquariums.com/Electric-Blue-Ram-S/10992 [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Videos:

Aquaria Corner (2018). 10 Most Colorful Freshwater Fish For Your Aquarium. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9uxHz6MWCs [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Chang, A. (2012). Discus Fish Red Passion. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NoeQ9dQEns [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌Aquaria Corner (2018). German Blue rams The Small Colorful Freshwater Cichlid Fish. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrowLmnvcVw [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌AQUAPROS (2014). Dwarf Gourami Aquarium Fish Profile. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bw8Cz1zCww [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

‌4 Ever Green (2018). Most Beautiful Fishes From Around The World. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQlISC-N5Xw [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].

Volume Calculator:

Calculator.net. (2019). Volume Calculator. [online] Available at: https://www.calculator.net/volume-calculator.html [Accessed 24 Aug. 2020].