Ferrous Intrigue

Early Studies

Magnets

For their simple and effective ability to influence materials and objects, magnets offer enormous possibilities. After in depth studies into their magnetic field and the physics behind their influences, it was decided a materials study tied with branching computational and systems studies would lead to both compelling applications, as well as experiments tying materials to computational logics. 

Iron Oxide

Magnetic fields clearly show their strength when dealing with singular objects, but the field itself can be more clearly understood formally when dealing with particles. Ranging from many sizes of particles, and even vectors, the field and its capabilities materialize from positive to negative poles of magnetism. The smaller the particle though, the more fluid the form and the more detail realized in its materialization. Thus Iron Oxide Powder was chosen for a majority of the long term tests. These super fine ferrous particles, while not so easy to clean up, allow for simple testing of patterns, forms, transparencies and textures. 

Resin

While the free flowing particles perform well for quick tests, they also lack any structural integrity without the magnetism. Powder does however work well with liquids. A range of viscosity and liquids were tested, from water to corn syrup, but Resin was decided upon for its viscosity and hardening abilities. The tests with resin do change in some ways with the added medium, but their qualities and applications are more easily studied when solidified. Still some tests will continue with only particles, but adding the resin allowed for a whole new range of testing.