Fluid Art Magnets

My Fluid Art Magnets

A large part of what I was working on finishing during my time away from blogging was these fluid art magnets. They started as a curiosity, and then a hobby, and now possibly an obsession. This week I'm going to share with you my process of making them. I hope you have fun! 

 

First I paint the empty magnet rounds and leave them to dry in a warm, dry place. I did these over the winter, so I had them in a place that was near a space heater to keep them warm and prevent too much cracking.

I am an artist, and a photographer in origin so it's hard for me to not take a billion photos of the process to keep my friends and followers updated on social media. It's handy for writing blog posts, though! 

While making these, I often end up with a lot of awesome mini-scenes left on the cups used to mix paint, smudges on the newspaper meant to catch drips, etc. It's honestly one of my favorite parts.

This one reminded me of the final burning journey up Mount Doom.

Once the paint has dried, I fill the backs of the magnet rounds with resin. Finding my ideal process took some attempts- this was my very first one. I knew the magnet needed to be close to the surface to be effective, so I raised it on a little blob of hot glue in a criss-cross shape before filling it with resin. This was my first time buying resin, and I could only get a hold of the clear jewelry kind. Very useful, but too expensive for this kind of application.

This magnet turned out okay for my first one, the hold was a little weak with only 1 small magnet, and there were uneven spots in the resin and around the edges that were holding the magnet a little bit away from the fridge and preventing a good hold, which was fixed somewhat by filing down the resin surface.

My next attempt was with 2-part craft resin and increased magnets.  This worked a lot better! I had some failed attempts with the ratios of the resin, but that's how the process of fine tuning art works. There will always be some failures!

The magnets I had been using were okay, but not the size I'd intended on getting and when I ran out of them, I was happy to begin using these larger ones. After the initial setting, I let them cure and then added another layer of resin to cover the magnets completely and leave a smooth surface.  

Overall, the fluid art magnets have shocked me the most in how well they came out, and I love the effect that makes some of them look like planets. But that's not the only style I've used making magnets! I always like to play around with ideas, and sometimes I'm struck by inspiration (or really want to test out new supplies) and branch off. 

 I had some rounds that I painted over with solid colors, and after having turned some into flower magnets with some cut out paper and gold sharpie, looking at the plain yellow one reminded me of the colors used in Spongebob and it seemed like the perfect setting to paint Gary. So from there I went off making a whole Gary set!

Making these has been an incredibly fun experience. My hope is that in the coming summers, I can attend craft fairs and conventions to hopefully run a booth by myself or with other artists to send some of these to new homes. Currently, the finished ones are available to order individually or in sets.

Click here to view the available sets, or click on the Available Artwork- Fluid Art Magnets link on the nav bar above. The online pricing includes shipping- I use USPS flat rate boxes and while I do have my issues with USPS, they're often the only available service in areas I need to ship to, and I like having the option to provide tracking #s and signature required delivery for my customers, which costs a little extra but I like to offer it.
Thanks for joining in my art journey!