spaceship505

I have been quiet these last few months huh. I have been quite busy with all sorts of things, part of which are new artworks. I'm planning a photo shoot soon so expect lots of new things in the weeks to come
And in the mean time, I've created a Instragram account just to posts works in progress

One of the things I'm working on is aquarium decorations. So I have this aquarium for years already and for quite some time I thought it would be neat to make my own decorations for it, cause let's face it, what you see in the stores is kinda generic. The only thing stopping me was the fact that no one seems to have any experience in aquarium deco made out of polymer clay. There's quite some doubt whether this is a safe material to use so no one tests it.

In my experience it's not so much the water (and fish) that are in danger of the clay but rather the other way round. I have made floating polymer clay fish in the past, to decorate a fish free pond and after a while the colours have faded a bit and the texture of the surface has gotten kinda weird. I also have a Halloween decoration I put in a potted plant every year and the bottom of it, that is in constant contact with the soil, is showing the same traits as the clay fish. So while cure polymer can take a bit of water now and again, constant submerging isn't good for it.

The solution? Epoxy resin, the kind they use to waterproof boats and make DIY aquarium backgrounds with. It's safe to put in a fish tank and it can also be used on polymer clay, many artists use it to create jewellery with it for its glass like finish (though that shine disappears underneath water, which is a good thing imo).

So I've made myself 2 decorations and I made one for my sister's tank and one for my father's and then a 5th one for funsies (I'll be putting it in a pond to test under sunlight. The epoxy has an UV-blocker in it to stop the resin from yellowing). We're just gonna let them sit in those tanks to see it the colours stay nice and if they will be easy to clean and such (algae is a common occurrence in aquaria). If yes then I will be adding this line to my Etsy Store for sure, cuz they are so cool!