Exploration of waste polymer in painting for special effects

EXPLORATION OF WASTE POLYMER IN PAINTING FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS

SULAIMAN, DAUDA ISHOLA, [e-mail], [phone], Department of General Art and Industrial Design, School of Art and Industrial Design, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi Edo State Nigeria, Prof. O.D. EGONWA and Dr. I.O.EMENI, Department of Fine applied arts, Faculty of Arts, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

Art is a concept of human reasoning which tends to be a ground for the means of exchanging ideas in the society. But the art practitioners especially the painters are faced with the challenges of materials in the areas of cost and availability. Although several attempts have been made in order to provide solutions in order to solve these problems using available waste materials within their reach, yet the problems are still at hand. In solving this studio art problem, there is the need for the process of exploring environmental waste polymer into painting medium that will create special effects when properly used for the production of easel paintings. The exploration of waste polymer in the production of painting medium was chronologically traced to the concept of accidental design with special effects; Crack-Kico and Drop-Pico, hence the multifaceted medium from waste polymer coupled with crayons and congealed automobile paints were experimented in seven different tested stages; A-(50 Degree), B-(60 Degree) C-(70 Degree), D-(80 Degree), E-(90 Degree), F-(100 Degree) and G-(00 Degree). The tested stage B (60 Degree) was discovered to be suitable for the painting medium due to its painting qualities: watery, creamy and chrome. At this stage, the experimented medium is hazarding free, high cost free, easy to use with special effects. This task will in turn boast the ideas of philosophical thoughts of the artists and elevate their status of studio acts. During the course of this research, literature, knowledge, skill and practice were reviewed. The physical exploration and experimental methods adopted were properly conducted in which conclusion was drawn as a meaningful check-mate in order to ascertain the position of exploring compounded medium for special effects in painting. Recommendations were cited that further studies in material and its exploration in art should be seen as a yard stick for effective studio art practice.

Introduction

Materials are the backbone of art production in all aspects of studio art: painting, ceramics, graphics, textile, photography, printing, sculpture and construction to mention but a view. There is neither an aesthetic work of art nor a functional result of an art product without the manipulation of materials either conventional or non-conventional. Material helps in the production of art work especially in painting and simulates all forms and aspects of art practice. Although, one can paint with light but such a practice is not common but only in photography. Besides, it is very expensive to undertake. The prehistoric men executed their paintings on the surfaces of caves through the use of materials that were locally sourced from their immediate environment: fat from bone marrow, soil, leaves juices and blood from animals. This antecedent emphasizes the fact that, materials are indispensable means in art practice. Painting is an aspect of art practice that centers on practical manipulation of different colours media that are capable of simulating and representing certain thoughts.

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According to Archer, (2003):

John Ruskin is an aesthetic art philosopher who championed the ideas of manipulating available materials into media in art practice. His focus was based on the theory and practice of exploration, innovation and experimentation. He further defines the position of materials in studio art practice as a task worthy of research. The concept of media as a basic foundation of all art forms irrespective of its aspects (pg.68).
The unreasonable dependence of artists especially the painters on imported conventional painting media like oil paint, acrylic, poster colours and pastels endorses the total diminution in the aggregate level of studio art practice. This is because the media are not constantly availability and the few available media are too expensive. Due to this, many artists found it difficult to practice effectively. Therefore, this task of media exploration, innovation and experimentation will serve as a motivation for the studio art practitioners who may not have adequate idea of maximizing their art practice due to lack of affordable media. It was deduced out of the desire to providing solutions to this studio art practice problem. It is high time the artists especially the painters redirect and refocus their attentions on this important aspect of studio enquiry. Contributing to this,

Joshua says, (2011):

The contemporary African paintings and decorations are seen as a continuous trend of creativity. All the subjects involved are looked at, as a link tailored towards differentiations in contents and materials. In order to retain these good qualities of art practice, the need for exploration with different possibilities of group packaging and visual historical connections should be the target of current researches. This will be made possible through the use of local or discarded materials from the artists’ immediate environment (Pg. 79).
This exploration of medium will help the studio art practitioners to find out more about the knowledge, skills and practice in terms of the ideas involved in the concept of innovation and exploration. This will serve as a means of developing and repositioning art practice in our milieu. It will also make it possible to clean up our dirty environment by using waste materials in order to create new medium that will be acceptable and functional in art making.
In the present day, we are in the world of tremendous and abundance media, yet there is continued dependence on imported painting materials. The target of this research is to find out possible means of exploring waste polymer that can be amalgamated for the development of a new painting medium with special effects (cracking and dropping). This will at the end of the research affirm the authenticity of squiggle-ism asa a style of painting under the techniques of crack-kico and drop-pico. Waste materials can be deployed for the creation of desired painting medium when properly compounded. These materials are readily available in our immediate surroundings, yet we have not made an effort to make good use of them but they are littering all over the places in our society. But we are making countless efforts to import foreign materials at the highest price rate.
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Conceptual Framework

The conceptual frame work of this practice-led research was derived from Onobrakpeya’s (2009) “all materials are for art making paradigm”. He says that virtually any material or object can be used as a medium for painting. Hence, in the recent times, artists have used innumerable and all manner of materials either as a pigment or as surface on which paintings are executed. Of this, Egonwa (2012:33), says defies the views of classical books on artist’s materials and techniques especially Ralph Meyer who emphasis orthodox and logical facts regarding artists media in his Hand Book of Art Materials and Techniques.

This concept was designed on the process of exploratory in the creation and uses of materials especially the non conventional ones which was tailored on the review of some notable works of selected prominent studio artists all over the world. The need for materials development and exploration as a creative tendency is based on the notion that modern artists should make good use of the available materials in their disposal to form painterly media. Waste polymer was taken as a measuring unit in this research. It is a wider range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solid item that is often used in the manufacturing of industrial products: plastics, nylons and rubber.
Plastic is simply regarded as a typical polymer of high molecular mass, and it contains other substances that aids its performance and reduces production costs. Monomers of plastic are natural or synthetic organic composite. (Huzzain, 2014:55) The word plastic is derived from the Greek word πλαστικός (plastikos) which simply means material that is capable of being shaped or molded, from the word “πλαστός” (plastos) which means molded preempt the good quality of plastic as a changeable material object (Joshua, 2011:100). According to him, it refers to their malleability or plasticity during manufacturing process, which allows the material to be cast, pressed, or melted into a variety of shapes and forms either in liquid or solid. This research centered on the melted form of the polymeric plasticity or malleability in aid of developing a non conventional liquid medium in the studio practice of painting through the act of amalgamating the waste polymer materials with other environmental waste materials: congealed automobile paints and crayons.

Fig. 1: Assorted broken waste polymer for the practical execution of the studio back up

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The common word of plastic was designed not to be confused with the technical adjective of plastic, which may be applied to any material that can undergo a permanent change in form and shape (plastic deformation) when it is strained beyond certain point (Huzzain, 2014:87). Aluminum may be stamped or forged, for instance, it can exhibit plasticity in this sense, but it does not connect to plastic in the common sense; in contrast, in their finished forms, some plastics will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense. (Huzzain, 2014:90)

Review of Conventional Materials for Painting

Confessional materials in painting are the commonness media which are well known in the painting studio as abet for the production of certain paintings. The materials that are meant for creative concepts in painting can be grouped into two forms: liquid materials and solid materials while the styles depend on individual choice of art movement (Michael, 2007). The other kinds of colours are powdery colours. This form of colour cannot be applied raw; it needs to be mixed with water or any other items like egg yolk in the case of tempera.

Aquarelle materials are the kinds of painting media that are in watery or semi-watery forms: Oil Painting, Gauche, Tempera, Water Colour, Enamel Paints, automobile, Emotion Paint, Turpentine, Kerosene, and Adhesive: Gums, Water and Petrol. The solid materials are also regarded as concrete media that are normally used in painting: Pastel, Charcoal, Crayons, Chalks, Pencil, and other invited media like Stones, Beads, Woods, Toilet Tissues and Sand. Such solidity can be seen in less concretized forms like powder colour of tempera to form liquid base paint that involves the use of egg yolk for its mixture (Michael, 2007). Any material can be used as art making medium (Onabrakpeya, 2009 in Egonwa, 2014).
Sourcing for the Waste Materials

Effective thinking in both lateral and logical ways is the back bone of a standard research, this research started with an inquisitiveness on which types of waste materials and aligned process would be taken. In view of this, the process began with the selection of choice of waste available materials such as: waste polymer (plastic and nylons), congealed automobile paints and crayons. The researcher sourced for data that was consulted for the affirmation of the essence of both the primary and the secondary information on the available waste materials that were used for this research. The waste materials were sourced from different places in Delta, Edo and Oyo States. The three States are the most common territories among the thirty-six States in Nigeria with the largest territories of waste reserves of varieties of polymer waste materials but some of those waste materials are yet to be exploited.

For availability of waste materials, the researcher conducted most of the enquiries in Edo State. While the other States: Delta and Oyo States were taken as supplementary. Auchi is in Edo State. It is located in the northern part of the State. The State is a divined territory in Nigeria. Also, Abraka and its environs were other places where the materials were sourced from in Delta State. Besides this, Ibadan was taken as a sourced ground in Oyo State. The sourced waste materials were multifaceted to derive a working modus operandi for the painting medium development.
The different waste materials were subjected to physical fire burning of melting experiment in order to obtain qualitative, quantitative possible data on the expected amalgamated painting medium. Hence, the methods adopted in the study were exploratory and experimental processes. The waste materials that were used for the exploration of multifaceted painting medium are waste polymer: plastic and nylon with other materials: crayons and congealed automobile paints, thinner in conjunction with other aids like kerosene, cooker or stove, palette knives, plywood, cutlass, hammer or mallet and canvas. The most important waste material in this research is waste polymer: plastic and nylon. It was sourced from Abraka, Auchi and Ibadan respectively. The waste environmental materials: polymer: plastic and nylon, automobile paints and crayons were sourced from the immediate environment of the artist, market ground and shops in order to get the desired colourant of the choice of materials in the act of compounding the deserved medium.

Fig. ii: The Researcher looking for disposed waste polymer from public waste site in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria, 2012

Melting as a Means of Compounding the Treated Waste Materials

The table below illustrates the melting rates of the sorted waste polymer and other materials: congealed automobile paints and crayons based on prescribed percentage and gram.

The Melting and the Compounding Rates of the Needed Materials	The Degree of the Melting Rates in Centigrade	The Result of the Melting Rates in Centigrade
Melting and Compounding rate A
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylon (20% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 8grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (35%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 14grm), crayons (Cr) (45% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 18grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (10% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 4grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (45%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 18grm), crayons (Cr) (45% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 18grm) no effect was created.	50°C (stiff)	It is neither be used for painting nor show special effect
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials B
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (50% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 20grm), congeal automobile Painting (CAP) (35%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 14grm), crayons (Cr) (15% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 6grm). It showed cracking effect. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (20% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 8grm), congeal automobile Painting (CAP) (60%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 24grm, crayons (Cr) (20% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 8grm). It showed dropping effect.	6O°C (gooey)	Dropping and cracking special effects were created was created after its application in the creation of painting
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials C
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (25% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 10grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (45% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 18grm), crayon (Cr) (30% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 12grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (30% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 12grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (25%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 10grm), and crayons (Cr) (45%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 18grm) no effect was created.	70°C (liquid brownish)	Special effect was not created was created after its application in the creation of painting
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials D
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (10% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 4grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (55%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 22grm), crayons (Cr) (35% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to14grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (40% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 16grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (45%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to18grm), and crayons (Cr) (15% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 6grm) no effect was created.	80°C (liquid blackish)	Special effect was not created was created after its application in the creation of painting
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials E
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (50% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 20grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (25%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 10grm), crayons (Cr) (25% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 10grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (60% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 24grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (15%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 6grm), and crayons (Cr) (25% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 10grm) no effect was created. .	90°C (glow)	Special effect was not created was created after its application in the creation of painting
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials F
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (20% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 8grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (50%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 20grm), crayons (Cr) (30%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 12grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (70% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 28grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (15%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 6grm), and crayons (Cr) (15%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 6grm) no effect was created.	100°C (crumbly)	Special effect was not created was created after its application in the creation of painting
Melting and Compounding Rate of Materials G
Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (80% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 32grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (15%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congeal automobile paints which is equal to 6grm), crayon (Cr) (5%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 2grm) no effect was created. Waste polymer (WP): plastic and nylons (75% was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of plastic and nylon which is equal to 30grm), congeal automobile paints (CAP) (15%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of congealed automobile paints which is equal to 6grm), and crayons (Cr) (10%) was put into consideration out of the total 40grm of the available materials of crayons which is equal to 4grm) no effect was created.	00°C (powdery)	Special effect was not created was created after its application in the creation of painting