"The Pine Tar Incident"

From how far away can you smell that bad boy?

Hendersonfan said:

If it blurs, can't you "redo" the lines?

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The tar is quite workable, so yes, I could redo them. I think it would be a nightmare to perform maintenance on a piece of artwork though.

Austin said:

The pine tar may never dry completely, especially since you applied it so thick.
I have a couple of game-used bats from the '80s that are still sticky, and there's hardly any pine tar on them.
I'd imagine your thickly applied pine tar piece will remain sticky for decades as well.

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This is what I'm thinking as well.

jbhofmann said:

I have no idea but possibly low dry heat in a kiln. Might dry it out.

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I guess I didn't think of a kiln before I started - I applied the tar on a paper-based foamboard. It's quite sturdy, but would turn to ash in a kiln.

Mighty Bombjack said:

From how far away can you smell that bad boy?

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It's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My studio is in a well-ventilated garage, so that could explain the low odor.



I think I am going to try to have it sealed in acrylic. It may cause the final image to be a bit dull, but who knows - it may turn into a "beautiful mistake." I'll update this thread with a final image of the piece after my attempt to preserve it. Thanks for bouncing your ideas - and thanks again for allowing me to share my work.

Tim

I always enjoy seeing your artwork.

Pine tar is actually a viscous liquid, and, as you have found out, will flow over time. The suggestions to heat the pine tar will not dry or set the pine tar, but will actually cause the pine tar to become less viscous and flow more easily until it cools. I am curious to see if encasing it in acrylic will have your desired effect.

To see an even more extreme example of something that appears to be solid, but is actually an extremely viscous liquid, take a look at The Pitch Drop Experiment | School of Mathematics and Physics.

What about vacuum sealing into a glass frame, similar to the way they store bugs, butterflies & newspapers.

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Just a guess, but would a dehumidifier help by removing any water?

deaconblues63 said:

I always enjoy seeing your artwork.

Pine tar is actually a viscous liquid, and, as you have found out, will flow over time. The suggestions to heat the pine tar will not dry or set the pine tar, but will actually cause the pine tar to become less viscous and flow more easily until it cools. I am curious to see if encasing it in acrylic will have your desired effect.

To see an even more extreme example of something that appears to be solid, but is actually an extremely viscous liquid, take a look at The Pitch Drop Experiment | School of Mathematics and Physics.

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Thanks! In my best Jesse Pinkman voice........."YEAH! SCIENCE!!"

I'll keep you updated if I try the acrylic seal.

fordman said:

What about vacuum sealing into a glass frame, similar to the way they store bugs, butterflies & newspapers.

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Interesting....but I'm not sure the vacuum seal will be enough to counteract gravity on the tar.

byronscott4ever said:

Just a guess, but would a dehumidifier help by removing any water?

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I have heard this suggestion from a couple of people that deal in horses. They swear that if the humidity is removed, the tar won't run. They say it will always be sticky (as we already know), but the tar should stay in place.


I'll keep you all updated. Thanks again......

Tim

Dirt. Dirt dries out pine tar and allows you to coat it. Obviously you wouldn't do that to this piece but that is how we dry out pine tar on bats when playing baseball. So maybe had you layered it like thin coat of tar, dirt, coat of tar, dirt it possibly would have been less sticky.