[joepr]

Hello,

I'm looking at the artist Roger Hiorns, particularly his work with Copper Sulphate crystals. See attached images. Here are the questions I have:

Would someone mind guiding me through the process the artist has undergone to achieve such a uniform coating of crystals?

Do I need to prepare the metal I'm using in anyway before submerging in Copper Sulphate solution?

How long would I leave it to crystallise?

I have 2.5 kg of dry Copper Sulphate at the moment, would this be enough to coat a small engine of about 15cm in width?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[chenbeier]

It should work, but you have to be aware what metall your sample is made from, because copperions can react with it. So better have a coating of a plastic or a galvanoplating of copper on it first, so no copper can touch other metalls.
Check the soloubilty of coppersulfate and prepare a saturated solution were you immerse your sample. Wait some days and check sometimes the grow of the crystalls. You have to exchange sometimes the solution and remove external crystalls.

[joepr]

Thanks for your reply. Regarding the plastic, how would you recommend coating it?

[Mitch]

You can buy polyurethane in a spray can.

[Arkcon]

You'll also want to be sure that the plastic coating is rough enough for crystals to grow, you may want to try some tests.  In addition to your example, there's other copper sulfate crystal artwork to learn about: https://www.artangel.org.uk/project/seizure/

[joepr]

How would I go about roughening the plastic surface? Would sandpaper do the job?

[chenbeier]

It would do, but careful that you dont have too large scratches down to the metal surface.