An orgone condenser by any other name…

Karl Hans Welz, Austrian scientist and inventor, owns the trademarks for: orgone and orgone generator and has owned it for at least a decade, but he didn’t enforce it until a few years ago. orgonomers(?) and orgonite artists claim the term has become generic through common usage. find a petition challenging this trademark on Change.org.

Welz looking grumpy

(yes, i signed it. mostly due to my first impression of Welz, who likes to shut down peoples’ websites for selling ‘orgonite’.)
a few observations about Welz: he does not look like a person one would like to join for lunch, he talks like a robot, and builds some of the most hideous websites you’ll ever see. his orgone generator devices are not at all the odd but aesthetic configurations popularized by Don and Carol Croft. surf his wave on the web for 10 minutes, and your bions will be screaming for some metal filings and a hunk of quartz suspended in some type of resin.

organite by Carol Croft (crystalinsights.net)

that is, orgonite.

drop that term into the google machine to find much more than the hideous, primary-hued sites of Welz.
First, wade through the products, because people love to make this stuff and he can’t shut them down fast enough.
Follow some links that reference the Croft couple and their work as Etheric Warriors.
then, follow a link to the biography of Wilhelm Reich, the scientist that became, in essence, the good doctor of the free-love movement.
experience the rabbit hole of endearingly weird psuedo-science, conspiracy theory, glowing anectodal accounts, and pop culture references.
maybe, discover this song from the 70s. bonus: check that off the list.

Welz did in fact coin the term organite and is responsible for organite as we know it today: metal filings suspended in resin. the Crofts improved on the design by adding a crystal for the piezoelectric punch, and because crystals make everything better.

the original term orgone belongs to Reich. his orgone chambers were enclosures the size of phone booths with walls made from layers of steel wool alternating with sheep wool or plastic fibers or some other type of organic material. a person seeking the therapeutic benefits would sit on a chair in the enclosure until feeling slightly nauseous – the sign that they were charged to the max with potent orgone energy.

Reich claimed his orgone accumulators could cure cancer. William S. Burroughs, who used the method as a cure for ‘junk-sickness’, had an orgone generator inside an orgone generator. he also claimed it got him off, yes, sexually.

for your friend.

in case you know someone with a problem that might be solved thus, here is a pdf with instructions. you know, for your friend. The Orgone Accumulator Handbook

Reich, a contemporary of Freud, nurtured a fierce conviction that most of what troubled humankind could be solved by a good orgasm. he portmanteau-ed ‘orgone’ from ‘orgasm’ and ‘ozone’ and defined it as a universal life-force vital energy and an organizing principle running counter to entropy.

out of fairness to Welz, Reich was not a universally loved and respected figure either. his contemporaries scoffed at his research, his books were burned, the FDA banned his treatments, and he was eventually thrown in jail. in short, he was a perfect fit for the Beat Generation and a natural segue into the Free Love movement of the 60s.

that was the mid 20th century. a little more digging will reveal deeper roots.
Oscar Korschelt, German chemist and inventor, build the Solar Ether Radiation Apparatus in 1890 possibly on the same principles.
Franz Anton Mesmer, who pioneered the system of therapuetics known as mesmerism, may have build the first device to accumulate ‘animal magnetism’ in the middle of the 18th century.
i also stumbled on a few mentions of Czech occultist Franz Bardon. Ostensibly, Bardon wangled some ideas that eventually resulted in the concept of orgone and then orgonite, like wee idea-generating bions.

now i want to make things.

i am a beginner at working in  this medium. i will share discoveries and woes transparently.

materials:
clearcast 7050 – this is the only resin i have ever used. it is a 1:2 part epoxy resin. i researched a lot, and then i bought this. i have no basis for comparison.
containers and stirrers – disposable things to mix the resin
lots of little silicon molds – find an endless variety of these online.
bits of metal and gem stone crystals and whatever random beads and things one has laying around
butane torch – priceless for removing bubbles and inexpensive at home depot
some attractive material – and maybe a bead, sanded flat on one side with a Dremel – and some glue like E6000


the resin: Clearcast 7050 epoxy resin for making jewelry

silicone molds of any kind can work. butane torch = game changer.

dust is the enemy,  so use a box. Dremel photobomb.

putting little random things in art is the bestest

no issues with curing using small batches. measure very carefully.

smells like starburst if you’re me ( but do not eat it)


observations on material and process:
this resin doesn’t mix quite as thin as one convincing youtube lady claimed. a watery resin is a plus because it allows bubbles to escape.
these youtube crafters hold up sample chunks of resin that seem to glow with an ethereal flawlessness. but despite stirring very carefully, i am getting micro-bubbles in my pieces. not the end of the world for these are busier pieces, but i want to have more control. i am concerned it might have something to do how i time multiple pours on a single piece or my timing in using the torch to draw existing bubbles to the surface. i’ll learn more as i go. the reader is encouraged to comment.
this ClearCast 7050 is really crystal clear and cures rock hard. and it actually smells kind of… good. citrus-y. but i also find E6000 glue smells like fake watermelon flavor, so it could just be me.

using Novus 1, 2 & 3 with a microfiber cloth. got bored, used dremel

had to polish because i got excited and poked it before it was cured.

my intention is not to find the very best materials or totally refine the process or teach other people. my goal is to make something that i can confidently sell. i rely on the information i dredge from forums and product reviews before deciding what to buy or try. i expect a learning curve, but experiment as efficiently and optimistically as possible until i reach the goal of a sufficiently refined finished product.
i might come back and affiliate link this post. if i do, i will note it. i will never blow any smoke about how wonderful this or that linked product might be, just describe my experience.


look: a micro-organite.
that’s my fun-at-nomenclature stab at a TM-free name for this guy. this is a prototype for a pocket-sized ‘orgone collecting’ charm.

for the fabric, i used a piece of ribbon. first i glued it to the bottom, then cut around it leaving a couple millimeters to fold and glue to the sides. i cut the seam off the ribbon and glued that around the circumference to give it a finished look. this ribbon has wire in it, so i threaded the bead on that. it worked well. i taped off the resin and sprayed the fabric with a gloss enamel to prevent stray threads.


i looked up orgonite on a lark and found a lot of talented artists making resin sculptures full of color and personality. i believe good art is energizing. that’s not the same as mainlining animal magnetism, but it’s ample reason to create or enjoy the craft.
is there more to it? what is the efficacy of these hippie EMF dissruptors?  what do i think? i think i don’t know enough, and i would hate for my arbitrary opinion to sway another away from conducting ones own research.
may the artventure continue!

next micro-organite project in its mold. metal filings.

resin pendants using pendant trays and printed artwork

experiment: teeny micro-organite pendants.

Bookmark the permalink.

2 Comments

  1. Wow great story! Love it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

forty five + = fifty

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on your website.

    Learn more about debugging in WordPress.