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Artist Thomas Evans recently gave some advice on how to seal Electric Paint so it doesn’t smudge when touched. In this post he will guide you through another neat tip! Check it out:
In my last post, I talked about sealing your project so that you are able to take it into different environments. This time I want to show you different ways of using the Electric Paint 10ml Tube to create circuits inside objects, and ways to get around frames or structures and still connect to the Touch Board. I refer to it as tubing. This concepts basically allows you to run Electric Paint through certain objects.
Materials: To begin you will need:
1 x Electric Paint 10ml
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1 x Block of wood
1 x Clamp
1 x Drill
Technique One
I’ll begin by showing you the basic idea with a block of wood.
If I asked you to connect point A with point B, which are on opposite sides of the block, many of you will consider going around the block of wood. However, using Electric Paint 10ml Tube, you are able to go straight through the piece of wood to get to the other side.
Drill a small hole (1/16” inch) through the wood and then use the tube to push Electric Paint through the hole. The larger the hole drilled, the more paint you will need. You now have a direct line from point A to point B.
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Technique Two
Let’s imagine the at the distance you need to connect two points is significantly greater. You will have to run the circuit through the entire length on the block. When I need to do this when creating frames for my artwork, I use a table saw to split the block in half. Afterwards, I carve a channel through it.
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Using the tube of Electric Paint, draw a line in the channel running from one end to the other. Make sure there is a solid connecting of paint running between the points and the channel isn;t super deep. After the paint dries, use wood glue to seal the two blocks together. You can sand down the block to even out the sides so it is seamless. Once the wood glue is set, you now have a block of wood that can be used in your projects!
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This is a great creative solution for embedding sensors into materials, and especially good when you want to conceal the paint or create a robust or shorter path from the touch sensor to the Touch Board.
Check out Thomas’ work on instagram and his website.
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