A medium for art

Since 1993, Fioreschy has been using silicone tubing for her weaving work instead of traditional woolen thread and has developed the new art form “transfusion silicones” and “Sil-Icons.” For the former, the artist injects dye, blood or chlorophyll into the woven structure with a needle. In the case of the Sil-Icons, Fioreschy partly paints the woven surface. She thus steps away from pure textile art and gives her woven pieces additional substance. According to art critics, “Fioreschy revolutionizes our understanding of the modern tapestry.” The artist has been using unusual materials to set benchmarks with her work for decades.

Most recently, the weaving artist has been working on the mother project of her art form: “Von Silicon zu Silicon” (from silicone to silicone). The flexible, soft silicone tubes lie close together in the frame – either in straight lines or waves. On the surface of the piece, fine silicone tubes entwine a small gray-black chunk of silicon metal – thus, from silicone to silicone. “I’m not yet sure that I’m happy with it,” says the artist, critically evaluating her work in her studio. She grasps the fine silicone tubing on the table in front of her again and again – touches it, feels it. Maybe it needs smaller “silicon metal chunks,” she wonders out loud. A typical moment for Fioreschy – she does not describe herself as “ever searching” for nothing.

Fioreschy is very enthusiastic when she talks about the material that she works with, silicone tubing: “It is very soft, silky, light, semitransparent, pure, erotic.” People have been weaving for thousands of years. “The technique has not changed since. We still work with weft and warp,” explains Fioreschy. With her artistic approach, one of the oldest technologies is meeting the latest technology. Smiling, she lifts up the tubing and adds: “For me, silicone is the material of the century.”

Silicone rubber compounds can be tailored to a diverse range of applications. Product selection is based on processing and the required properties of the cured rubber. Our ELASTOSIL^® silicone rubber is characterized by numerous material benefits: it has very good mechanical and thermal properties, even in delicate components, and can withstand dynamic stress under continuous load. Some grades feature very high tear strength, while others impress with good release properties. The operating temperature range lies between -50 and +250 degrees Celsius. Silicone rubber is easy to process and ranges from being electrically insulating to semiconductive.

Extrusion is a continuous manufacturing process in which silicone rubber is forced through a die and then vulcanized. The die gives the extrudate its shape. Alongside tubing, typical extrusion applications include profiles, cables, flat tapes and round cords.

This is how tubing gets its high tensile strength, enormous elasticity and excellent elastic recovery. We offer two product ranges of solid silicone rubber, which is also described as HCR (high consistency rubber):

• Peroxide-curing grades under the brand name ELASTOSIL^® R (R = rubber)
• Addition-curing grades named ELASTOSIL^® R plus