Ferrofluid Sculpture 4/13

I have spent the past week attempting to make the ferrofluid glass encasing completely sealed so the ferrofluid has no chance to leak (that would be bad). It has turned out to be a significantly more difficult process then i originally thought. The silicone sealant I am using requires at least 12 hours to cure, which means no testing for 12 hours after each applied coat.

After finally sealing the glass encasing, I decided to first test with water because I did not want a ferrofluid accident. After filling the glass case with water, I found that there were no leaks for the entire rest of the day. Moving forward I began to fill the bay with ferrofluid to start assembling the display, but there was a critical failure! Since mineral oil has a smaller contact angle than water, the ferrofluid found cracks the water could not…it leaked.

I am in the process of fixing this.