Hydro Dipping- so simple, cool results

[Malcolm Schweizer]

446809

I attend an art event every Wednesday called “art uncorked.” Basically we drink wine and draw/paint/create art. The more you drink, the more colors you see. Haha.

Anyhow, this week we played around with hydro dipping. It is very simple- you just fill a bucket or similar container with water, and then spray paint into the water. Just regular old enamel
spray paint works fine. Three to four colors work best. Then you dip your object into the paint floating on top of the water. I decided to dip my favorite coffee cup. I masked off my Cross of Saint James logo, then used black, white, and silver paint to dip the cup. It came out pretty cool. You spray it with clear enamel to protect the colors.

I am going to do a lot more of this. I may build another art table (see my recent post in woodworking projects) with a hydro dipped center.

[Jim Koepke]

That is cool Malcolm.

There was a fad many decades ago of making candles with a hydro dipping method. Melted wax in a wide container (8 to 10") would be plunged into water. One has to plan a way to do this without burning your arms.

Then drill out a few holes for wicks.

You can also drop melted metal like lead into water to get some fantastic shapes. Done with gold (for the rich) it looks like what some call wire gold or natural gold that was trapped in a melted state and pressure pushed it into water.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/05/worlds-rarest-form-natural-gold-reveals-secrets/

jtk

[Lee DeRaud]

There was a fad many decades ago of making candles with a hydro dipping method. Melted wax in a wide container (8 to 10") would be plunged into water. One has to plan a way to do this without burning your arms.And now I'm having a flashback to about 60 years ago, making firestarters for a Boy Scout campout. (For those unfamiliar with the widgets, they're just small bundles of wooden matches tied with string and dipped in melted wax.)

At some point I moved the pan to the sink to cool...and my mom (who should have known better) turned on the water. No burns ensued, but the pan of wax pretty much turned into a geyser, leaving tiny dots of wax all over the kitchen. Spent the rest of the day scaping counters, walls, appliances...there was still some showing up weeks later.

[Bill Dufour]

Fulgurite is what is formed when lighting hits dirt and melts the dirt in a pretty pattern. They get dug up and the unconsolidated materiel is washed off. the bigger the bolt the bigger the fulgurite. They can be several feet across.
Bill D.

[Jim Koepke]

Fulgurite is what is formed when lighting hits dirt and melts the dirt in a pretty pattern. They get dug up and the unconsolidated materiel is washed off. the bigger the bolt the bigger the fulgurite. They can be several feet across.
Bill D.

If you have seen Sweet Home Alabama (Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas) you have seen a movie version of fulgurite.

jtk

[Ron Selzer]

Very interesting Malcom, thanks for posting
Ron

[Roger Feeley]

Hydro dipping is used for electric guitars.

a variation is end paper marbling where ink is floated in a tray of water and then manipulated with a toothpick much like a barista plays with the foam on your coffee. Blank paper is then gently laid on the ink and lifted. It’s a printing process with no plate.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Hydro dipping used to be a big thing at fairs, where for a buck, you could dip a bottle into the paint. Come back in a couple hours and pick up your master piece, after it had dried.