Silicones: Artistic Materials at Work!
Great art needs creative ideas – and the right materials to make these ideas come true. This is where WACKER silicones are often used. Our extremely versatile “Artistic materials” empower creative ideas – in both the culinary and visual arts. See for yourself!
Cuisine Artiste in Top Form
A feast for the eyes, too: artistic tartlets, creatively shaped desserts or unusual amuse-bouche creations - what pleases the eye usually also makes the taste buds sing.
The Belgian pastry chef Carlos Deleye is a true master of beautifully shaped culinary arts. His creatively-shaped desserts bring artistic sculptures to mind and are served throughout Europe in restaurants and by catering providers. The secrets behind these edible works of art are Deleye’s creative ideas, his skilled craftsmanship and, last but not least, the dessert and baking molds that he creates using silicone.
More about the cuisine artiste Carlos Deleye
An ideal ingredient – silicone rubber
Carlos Deleye uses ELASTOSIL® M 4601 from WACKER for his molds. This silicone rubber is the ideal ingredient to use in the food industry: extremely detailed, durable and flexible molds can be made from this tasteless material – and such molds can withstand the extreme cold of repeated freezing. Even the procurement and production costs are lower than for other baking molds.
“Silicone is no problem to cool and it’s easy to clean, and that means you can refill it faster. You can make about 100,000 decorative balls for desserts from a single mold.”
Carlos Deleye, pastry chef
From the idea to moldmaking
Above all, Deleye can create his own molds thanks to ELASTOSIL®. He finds inspiration, for example, from toys or from nature itself. When creating his baking molds, he initially creates a prototype using a 3D printer, then transfers the shape into silicone as a negative copy. You can watch how the molds are made in detail in our video:
The Art of Networking
The term “plastic” has gained a completely new meaning since 2020 in the assembly room of the Murnau Town Hall. Silicone has been used here as a material to create real art: the fascinating room installation “System: Circuit” made by the artist Lena Policzka. A filigree network of transparent silicone tubes filled with colored silicone gel runs along the walls of the assembly room, metaphorically embodying the flow of information and lively exchange. It also incorporates aspects of the landscape made famous by local painters as “The Blue Land”: the waters of Lake Staffelsee, the moorlands and mountain chains.
More about the silicone work of art “System: Circuit”ELASTOSIL®: Silicone rubber as an artistic material
Karl Valentin is reputed to have once said “Art is beautiful, but is a lot of work”. And a lot of work took place before Policzka finished installing her artwork: The search for suitable materials finally led the artist to WACKER, where they recommended two silicone products: ELASTOSIL® R plus 4305 for the transparent tubes and SilGel® 612 for the colored contents.
“We essentially helped to set up a supply chain for this part of the art project. There aren’t that many companies out there that have the flexibility to respond to customer requests like that and can take on such small projects.”
Dr. Christian Anger, WACKER SILICONES BurghausenThe silicone rubbers in the ELASTOSIL ® series are suitable for numerous applications. The tubes developed specifically according to Policzka’s ideas combine the ideal prerequisites for her artwork: The high transparency allows the true colors of the various silicone gels to shine through the tubes. At the same time, they have no annoying inclusions, are very durable, odorless and have a smooth surface.
SilGel®: All in the flow
Instead of filling the tubes with real fluids, where color pigments would rapidly settle, Policzka used SilGel ®: a pourable, addition-curing two-component silicone rubber that cures at room temperature. This product – along with the pigments it contains – cures to form a crystal-clear material as soon as the two starting materials have been mixed. Silicone is also UV resistant, which keeps it from aging or yellowing. For the artist, the entrapped air bubbles that manufacturers normally do their very best to prevent in industrial applications were perfect, creating the illusion of flowing water.
A Protective Film for Street Art
It doesn’t always have to be an authentic Banksy: Other artistically valuable graffiti and street art also deserves to be protected against unwanted vandalism, particularly when they are explicitly used to beautify facades. Silicone coatings made by WACKER have proven to be effective.
Protecting Graffiti against Graffiti
It could be seen as ironic that SILRES ® BS 710 is actually used as an anti-graffiti coating to protect street art. This single component silicone rubber forms a thin protective film on absorbent mineral surfaces, preventing paint, posters, etc. from adhering or allowing them to be rapidly removed. Smooth surfaces such as street artworks must first be treated with a bonding agent to ensure stable adhesion of SILRES® BS 710 – and thus permanent protection. The silicone film can easily withstand up to 20 washing cycles, after which it simply needs to be renewed.
More about protecting street art