We had The Hydrogen Economy and PyroCardium steel frames professionally powder coated, but I’ve always wanted try out this process since it produces beautiful, durable results. This holiday season I made some candleholders from iron pipe fittings then powder coated them at home with a kit I bought for $140 and an electric oven.  The shine and vibrant colors really brings the piece together, and they make good gifts for those who appreciate industrial sculptures.

About Powder Coating
Powder Coating is an electrostatic process where a charged pigment dust is sprayed into the air with a handheld gun. The pigment particles become positively charged in the gun and stick to the part which is connected to ground. You see powder coating all over the place: bicycles, motorcycles, park benches, cars. My initial impression was that it looks so good I figured the process would require expensive equipment or some hard-won skill. Turns out neither is really the case–you can powder coat at home with an inexpensive kit and an electric oven.

Powder Coating Video

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Powder Coated Iron Pipe Candleholder

False Profit Labs made its east coast debut at Boston Decompression on November 8th. Boston’s Decom was a 300 person party in a warehouse loft space that ran from 8pm till about 8am. The smaller size and indoor nature of the event along with the near impossibility of getting permission to run large scale fire at public events in Boston meant that we presented the LED version of Pyrocardium. The project was set in the main room of the party so we were able to get dancers with fast heartbeats to try it out and cause much high speed flashing. Some people would hang out long enough to calm their heart rates and watch the corresponding visuals slow down which they very much enjoyed. Overall, both the Pyrocardium and the party in general went off exceedingly well.

You can find pictures of Boston Decom here: http://bostonburners.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=46357 (sadly I have not been able to find pictures of the Pyrocardium installation)