Creating Crowns
Crowns are simple to create and have the ability to offer easy manipulations of colour and also shape (by changing the viscosity) of the dropping liquid. Basically, the crown shaped splash is created by a falling drop landing on a drop sitting on a flat surface. I use black acrylic because it allows a nice reflection to be achieved.
My process is to allow a single drop to fall down onto the acrylic sheet to mark the “landing zone”. I then place a focusing object in that location so that I can get the camera and lighting established.
After everything is setup it is just a matter of placing a drop of liquid in the correct location in readiness for a drop to fall onto it. Variations can be created by layering various viscosity liquids ie: a drop of milk and then place some thickened water and acrylic paint mix on top and in whatever pattern you wish to try.
Another technique is to have the drop fall further back from the centre of the pre-placed liquid. With the correct viscosity this procedure causes the front of the drop to lift up. When this is combined with an acrylic reflection sheet it can create a “lip” shape.
