Sea shells and silicone

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Ed209
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Sea shells and silicone

Post by Ed209 »

I have a customer that wants a selection of sea shells stuck to a mount board and framed,
Simple enough but I read somewhere recently that certain silicon can react with the shells so what type is best I know there is quite a few different types but have never really got my head round the differences.
The other option I considered is a hot glue gun


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prospero
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Re: Sea shells and silicone

Post by prospero »

Foam tape. :D
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Steve N
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Re: Sea shells and silicone

Post by Steve N »

My wife glued a load down (which I framed) and she just used white wood glue (because that's all she has :giggle: ) and that was about 5 years ago, and they are still ok :rock:
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A3DFramer
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Re: Sea shells and silicone

Post by A3DFramer »

See this sort of query come up from time to time on the odd occasions I look in here. It may be worthwhile thinking about the mechanics of the glue point. I came into the pub decor scene just as it started to boom in the late 1970's, from another direction than the tradition interior decor/ framing avenue and were making wall displays in large quantities.

Our background of choice was fabric, but I remember a batch similar to shell displays, which the client had specified a particular mount board. About 10-15 completed displays were going across the assembly table per hour. It was a table covered with an inch of felt and a layer of carpet. As each display was finished it was given a firm bump by dropping it so the bottom edge hit the table quite firmly. This was to shake any flumbs that might be on the inside of the glass.

Fortunately I noticed a shell had become detached, before were ready to dispatch the order. About one in ten displays were breaking down, where an item had torn away from the mountcard, the weak point was the paper layer. After that we always strengthened the glue through the mount card. My companies reward was a reputation for quality, then the handling the display units had as the went through the chain to end user was robust.

The other issue is the integrity of the bonding agent with the display item. I used a lot of hot melt glues and the expected life of my product, at point of sale was 5 years, now I am seeing stuff I made, still all holding together, 30,40 years on. I might even make a 50 year reunion with one of my old pieces of work, a couple of the younger clients seem to be still recycling them on the second hand market.
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Re: Sea shells and silicone

Post by StevenG »

Hot Glue is a nice easy option and from personal experience I've found it very good at stuff like that :)
A3DFramer
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Re: Sea shells and silicone

Post by A3DFramer »

Amazing how time changes things, I have just returned for Lidl where there is a very serviceable looking glue gun on offer for about £5. As my business got directed toward creating pub decor, the only practical means of fixing artifacts into displays was silicone because the gel properties gave the display enough stability to survive its setting time, however this took up a lot of work surface.

The transition to glue guns was expensive, setting one work station was a major capital investment, the 25 mm glue slugs had to be bought in frightening quantities. It is strange the fear of the acetic acid qualities of silicone, having used it in the early days for an enormous range of substances, which might seem to be vulnerable, I do not remember a real problem.

Had I had more time to develop different case styles I might have bought out one using hot melt glue, it would have required a less skilled worker to produce a good facsimile of a tradition Victorian style of Picture frame case, much more robust than the originals. I seem to recall using the technique to vary the styles in a pub in south London that wanted to fisherman's retreat image.
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