Magnesiacore for Art

Magnesiacore for Art Video
Rogers Television - York Region
Watch daytime...weekdays live at 11am

Novel inorganic mineral fine art support panel conveniently delivered to your door and available for immediate purchasing on-line.

Magnesiacore material uses magnesium oxide ceramic technology for many beneficial properties as a substrate for durable and unique fine works of art. Magnesiacore panels as thin as 1/8" (3mm) make exceptional art media supports. With mixed media; encaustics, adhesives, oil paints, acrylic, watercolors, pastels, plaster and just about anything you can imagine applying to art will fix on to magnesiacore permanently.

Magnesiacore for art has many of the beneficial properties of canvas, paper, hardboard, wood, plaster, concrete and ceramic, all in one integral hard, rigid, yet relatively flexible fired earthen material with inherent elasticity and longevity.

Each panel is as unique as a snowflake without two panels being exactly alike. These natural variations consistently arise from an earthen fired process to add creativity and distinction to your art work in ways that are not possible with artificial supports produced mechanically and randomly varied to appear more natural.

Magnesiacore is a flexible ceramic-like sponge that is dense but airy with fine microscopic pores that support all media, paints, oils, stains, watercolours and adhesives with 26% absorption and a feel suggestive of soap stone.

As an inorganic material, magnesiacore is highly inert and not damaged by repeated wetting and drying. It resists damage from cycles of freezing and thawing. Will not swell, lose strength or warp after getting wet and dries out unharmed. It is non-combustible and resistant to temperature changes of up to 1500F (800C).

Magnesiacore is non-acidic (Ph of ~10) and resistant to damage from salt, chlorine, ammonia and other similar chemicals. Non-toxic and environmentally friendly; made from all natural earthy materials found everywhere in nature that do not contaminate.

Magnesium oxide is and has been used for hundreds of years by museums and libraries of the world to preserve their antiquities. Artwork rendered on a substrate of inert magnesium oxide will surely outlast any other kind of media support.

An interesting use for artistic work in any medium with magnesiacore can be to make renderings on (12" x 12"), (24" x 24") or (24" x 48") and other size panels that can then be laid inside standard suspended T ceiling grids. Thus your canvas size is limited only by the imagination and the physical size of an entire ceiling space. Imagine large ceiling size works of art rendered in inks, pencils, watercolors, pastels, or any other paint medium or collage works with adhesives, easily made in sections for creating vast options for creativity available with our solid board panels used as ceiling tiles with superior canvas-like qualities.

For more information, pricing and to orders please email:
NOTE ON EMAILS - Please resend emails if no reply or read receipt is returned to you within 12 hours. Emails delivery can be lost through firewalls and filters outside of our control.

We provide wholesale and retail prices based on volume that start from as little as packs of 6 panels.

Delivery is available to anywhere in North America and elsewhere by common couriers.

Small cut samples can be sent to qualified published artists when quantities are available.

Send us digital pictures of your art on magnesiacore to publish on our website with a link to your website.

Bruno Capolongo, Award Winning Internationally Exhibited Artist:

Seen here is a selection from the Eye Candy series by Canadian artist Bruno Capolongo, an award winning internationally exhibited artist. All works are on cradled 1/8" Magnesiacore panels, and include encaustic, acrylic and oil paintings. Sizes vary. With Bruno Capolongo's superior encaustic medium (developed and rigorously tested by the artist in 2005 with the assistance of two graduate students from Sheridan College) Magnesiacore panels require no prep work or heating. Bruno Capolongo's encaustic medium forms such a bond on the smooth side of Magnesiacore that it could not be separated from panels even under the most astounding abuse. While Capolongo's unique encaustic blend is not available in art stores, purchase or sample inquiries may be made by contacting the artist at bcapolongo@cogeco.ca. To see more work by the artist, including encaustics, please visit www.BrunoCapolongo.com .

Chinkok Tan, Artist and Writer: "I have tried watercolor of the magnesiacore board and liked it." "I think the board are good for many uses. I personally like to use it for watercolor." "I think the prices are reasonable..."

Valerie Kent, Artist and Writer: "I have done some watercolour painting on Magnesiacore to test it as a new product for artists. It is a hard flat material which has both a smooth and a textured side. It comes in any size up to 48" x 96" and from 3 mm (1/8") to 20 mm (over 3/4") thick and can be laminated together to make thicker or even for blocks which are suitable for carving (and then painting).

Magnesiacore is non-acidic, non-toxic, environmentally friendly and very inert. It does not have to be framed under glass, but varnished with Krylon, for use with watercolours.

It can also be used for other mediums, oil, acrylic and other. The surface can be varnished like other supports. Artists are now experimenting with it to see how far they can take it.

My painting went well, but I need to continue trying it out to see if I can make the colours pop better. The textured side was great for a landscape, and the smooth side worked really well for apples. What was interesting was that the smooth side held the brush strokes, very much like Yupo paper. So, although it was not textured, the actual brush strokes were very evident if you wanted them to be. However, so far, I have not been able to glaze because it lifts the paint. Also, so far, I have not been able to lift back to the natural colour. I would be most interested in hearing about other people's results as we learn more about it.

Valerie Kent: (Update from June 3, 2007)
... I also used mine for doing a monoprint. I painted on it and then put wet paper on it to print and it came out very well. The trick to doing it well is to put the paint on in a creamy consistency. That is similar to what you have to do on the smooth side. In any case, it worked rather well.

June Gauthier, Artist and Writer: "I painted on the rough side & it certainly eats up the pastels but the effect is worth it."

In the Pastel Artists Canada Winter Newsletter 2006, June wrote... "I used the texture side and loved it. The texture seems to hold the colours up to the light and they just sparkle, putting glass in front of the painting took some of this sparkle away, so I am off to the art supply store to see what I can use to hold the pigments on the board without destroying the colour. The smooth side works well with a coat of Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels or Art Spectrum's Pastel Primer."

T. V. Phillips, Artists25: (Artists 25 Nonprofit Art Studio; an open studio that has presented painting and drawing sessions from the model for more than 25 years.) "I did an oil on the rough side. First pencil drawing reinforced with thin solvent and paint followed by overall strong colour washes. After overall washes the painting was developed with colour mixed using paint directly from the tube. The adhesion to the rough side is good. The material can be cut with a scratch on the smooth side and broken on a table ledge. I am very pleased with the resulting figure painting."

Lois Moore, Encaustic Artist & Mixed Media: "There are five panels on this. They are done with Encaustic Individually, then glued to a wooden background, which was attached to a frame that's 1.75" deep. I have one panel left over and I will use it one of these days when I get some more to go with it. This was a successful venture and I enjoyed using the magnesiacore for the substrate. The wax went right into it. I like the outcome very much. Size is 12" x 40"

Thea Haubrich, Encaustic Artist & Mixed Media (www.encaustic.ca):

With this piece I made a connection between our natural world, the tree shape, and our digital age, the image to the right, which is comprised of a printed circuit board for an ISDN modem. The digital connections intertwine with the branches of the tree, stimulating new growth. Working method: I coated the 3mm magnesiacore panel with gel medium, pressed the circuit board into it, put more gel medium around it. Then textured it with a spatula and waited for the gel medium to dry overnight. Encaustic wax was melted in tins on a hotplate, applied with paint brushes, then fused with a hot air gun. Details added with the Stylus. It is incredibly textured. At some places almost 1/2 inch thick.
From the side it looks like a city with high-rises and highways!

D.D. Gagjanski, www.ddgadjanski.ca Attached are images of the paintings that I demonstrated for my students. The two day workshop is dealing with experimentation in art with acrylic media which is what I have used in samples attached. I loved the feel of painting on this surface (magnesiacore) and it is very suited to painting watermedia on it. Watercolour is also very successful with appropriate approach.

Available in select Art Supply Stores: Please email us for locations with retail stock in your local area.

Preparation and cleaning: The magnesiacore surface is suitable for receiving most paints and sealers without surface preparation. Different surface effects can be created by rubbing with steel wool to polish or alternatively with light sandpaper to dull the surface. Because magnesiacore is a solid integral material without a separate skin any amount of surface can be worn away (with sandpaper or steel wool) to expose new surface material below without damage.

Smooth or Textured: Either side of magnesiacore can be used to render different effects in your art work. There is no separate skin material and both sides are one with the core. One side is machine ground to give it a uniform textured effect. By using sandpaper or steel wool on the textured side smooth areas can be created allowing both smooth and textured areas on the same painted surface.

Delivery and Warranty: We deliver using UPS which takes from 24 hours to 5 days to reach most places in North America. Package are sent well protected from damage. Any boards damaged by couriers will be refunded including prorated shipping costs.

Framing Suggestions: Magnesiacore is highly inert and does not require glass or other coverings for indoor use. Artistic renderings can be sealed and left exposed including watercolours.

Cutting and trimming: Magnesiacore can be cut with a utility knife (by scoring and snap), or cut with a fine wood saw or jigsaw in curves. Cut edges can be sanded smooth and finished to your preference. Any desired framing can be directly attached to magnesiacore.