Making bioplastics

In this first part of the assignment i'm going to try out and discover bioplastics with the materials i received for this week.

Because this is a whole new thing for me i want to start easy and cook "Agar Agar" from the Bioplasics Cookbook from Margaret Dunne.

Agar Agar

I don't have a small scale at home for weighting ingredients so Summer helped me from a distance and measured it for me with a tea spoon.

The ingredients I've used for Agar Agar:

3/4 tea spoon agar
1 1/2 tea spoon glycerin
40 ml water

Materials:

2 tea spoons
Measurering cup
Pan
Whisk
Electric hob
Vaseline
Cup to pour in

First I filled the measuring cup with 40ml water. Then put 3/4 tea spoon of agar and 1 1/2 tea spoon glycerin in the pan and then added the water. I turned on my electric hob and set the heat to just above the middle.

I stirred as much as possible with a whisk so that everything is well mixed.

While I let it boil further, I lightly rub the cup with Vaseline so that the bioplastic is easy to take out the next day.

I found out that I had to act quickly because the mix started to boil in the pan and I was close to messing it up.

Tip for the next time: Rub the vaseline before cooking.

It all went fine and i poured the mix in the cup and moved it to my windowsill with the window open.

Agar Agar with coffee

The first Agar Agar bioplastic i made was transparent and now i want to experiment with giving it a color and I will use coffee for that.

The ingredients I've used:

3/4 tea spoon agar
1 1/2 tea spoon glycerin
40 ml water
Coffee, 1/3 of a Dolce Gusto Espresso Intenso cup (any other Dolce Gusto cup without milk will do as well)

Materials:

2 tea spoons
Measurering cup
Pan
Whisk
Electric hob
Vaseline
Cup to pour in

I've put the agar, glycerin and water in the pan the same way as before. Before cooking I've cut open the cup with the coffee and poured 1/3 from the cup in the pan. I turned on the heat again and start stirring again with a whisk.

I haven't mentioned before but during cooking it will all smell bad.

When it started to boil i stirred a bit more and poured the mixture in the cup.

When i was done i moved it next to the first one on the windowsill to harden for 24 hours.

Agar Agar Foam

Now i wanted to try to make foam. Because of the ingredients that I received and the materials I have at home, I chose this recipe. Instead of the plastic cups i received I used a metal plate, that i found lying around, as a mold.

The ingredients I've used for Agar Agar Foam:

3/4 tea spoon agar
1/2 tea spoon glycerin
40 ml water
1 tea spoon dishwash soap

Materials:

2 tea spoons
Measurering cup
Pan
Whisk
Electric hob
Vaseline
Metal plate that I use as a mold

I mixed everything back together and cooked until it started to boil and then poured into the mold. Afterwards I put it with the other ones on my windowsill.

Agar Agar with chili powder (and oath cereals)

I still have the mold from the 3D print week and want to make a bioplastic that feels harder than the others so I used a different amount of the same ingredients.

The ingredients I've used:

3/4 tea spoon agar
1/4 tea spoon glycerin
40 ml water
Chili powder from a pack of noodle soup and about 1/3 from the powder for the Bumbu sauce from the same pack.

Materials:

2 tea spoons
Measurering cup
Pan
Whisk
Electric hob
Vaseline
Mold from the 3D print week made from PET

I rubbed a little bit of Vaseline inside the mold before i started with cooking. I mixed the ingredients together in the pan and keeped stirring with a whisk until it started to boil.

Afterwards i poured it in the mold and saw that i had some left over. I thought it was a shame to throw it away so I quickly picked up a new cup that I quickly rubbed with Vaseline. Then i sprankled some oath flakes in there to see what that will do later and poured the left overs into it.

Result after 3 days

In these 3 days I left my window open as much as possible during the day and kept it closed at night. And this is the result:

It was crazy to see how it changed every day. The thing I was most curious about was whether the engraved mold and the crocodile mold changed anything in the texture of the bioplastic.

Actually it did!

And I'm very happy with the result from the crocodile mold, especially with the details.

Some more bioplastics

Agar Agar with paprika powder

Gelatine Foam

Agar Agar with PLA leftovers

For the left one, I first ironed the PLA in baking paper so that it would stay in the same shape without shifting. The right one is a PLA spider web that was in my material bag that I was lucky with.