Midas Turns Plastic Into Metal

That would be a strange sort of fairytale ability. Tap and instant copper or brass instead of plastic soda bottles lying about the place. In fact, maybe that could be a new superhero power to make a character out of. The X-Man, Plastimetal. Plastimet-o?

Anyway, I have seen some artists on Deviantart that have some really nice looking Steampunk weapons and various artifacts and the media listed include plastic, cardboard and paint. Unfortunately, when these folks are pressed with questions about just how they managed to make these things look so convincingly like metal plates, bands, rivets, screws and so on they clam up and don't expose any of their “trade secrets.” I for one do not subscribe to the notion that concealing the steps of a process that you use to make an object of art is in keeping with the overall spirit of artistic creation in the first place. I could see if this was the secret recipe for Coke or something like that but when it comes to painting and molding art I think giving away your grocery list of supplies and writing down how you intend on mixing them up in no way replicates your own personal pieces or cheapens them at all. In fact, everyone has their own unique and very personal technique when it comes to expressing themselves creatively.

My own reasons for tapping away at my laptop keyboard to write this very blog in fact center around not only the idea of making my very own cool Steampunk stuff to show off and wear but also to hopefully help someone else out with the process of determining how best to go about it themselves. Therefore, behold the first stage in the latest process for creating metal plates out of everyday plastic. The items below include a translucent (and polka dotted) folder, the clear packaging from an action figure and the round top from a snack container. These each have different properties as far as flexibility, texture and perhaps usefulness when gluing onto some other object.

The plan right now is to measure different areas on the goggles and the gun then decide how best to cut out interesting shapes to glue on then paint to match the rest of the main object. With any luck I'll be able to gradually change the overall look of the base piece that I started out with and transform them into more of my vision of what they should be. I'll post more pics as I go and let you know as much of the process as I possibly can.