pvc color experiments with MEK solvent dye

For those of you who follow this blog you will recall the work done with re-purposed PVC taking different forms. The bone bangle series and some of the re-creations of neo-primitive forms all rendered in brilliant white (or off-white as the case may be) which happens to be the natural color of this type of plastic.

Here now some examples of color that are possible with PVC. These early experiments are performed using a MEK solvent and a handful of dye colors.

Left to right:
Bronze + Brown
Bronze + Orange
Red + Bronze + Brown
Red + Brown

The color is applied in two steps with the piece spending a few minutes immersed in the first dye bath, then another period in the second.

The piece is then set out to dry allowing all the solvents to evaporate leaving the color chemically bonded to the plastic.

This is the Red + Bronze + Brown piece that has been buffed post-immersion to remove some of the surface in which dye is embedded.

More effects: the hard surface of the PVC takes the color more sparingly than the abraded surfaces. Textures telegraph through the solvent process.  More later….



design and photographs copyright 2016

small stack of plastic faux bone bangle bracelets with dyed color 4057

 This stack of four smaller bracelets is made by cutting the tubing at different angles and finishing the surfaces.

Changing the angle of the cut increases the interior circumference creating this rather pleasing tapered stack of faux bone bracelets.

Each bracelet is finished with a fine sandpaper and final polished using a felt buff to smooth the surfaces. This process heats the plastic slightly causing it to fuse together creating highlighted polished surfaces.

The color is a special solvent based dye process that incorporates the color directly in the plastic. The bracelets are placed in a retort and allowed to pickle in the dye solution for a few minutes. The solvent softens the surface embedding the dye color.
The surface textures created by the buffing process creates a natural range of color variation.

The resulting bangles are just the right size for people with smaller hands. The smallest size is 6 3/8" (163 mm) the largest is 7 1/2" (191 mm)

other designs you may like:
super thin bangle bracelets 4029

white bone bangle bracelets 3309

two large bracelets 4030 4032

See these and other faux bone items at the ArtiFactSite your source for modern primitive design in the post industrial era.

design and photographs copyright 2016