Week 15: Project Week 4

Documentation

After thinking a lot about the project itself last week (which camera to use and what kind of platform to set up), this week I want to start experimenting more with the actual making of the filters. During the weekly meetings with the entire class, Loes suggested to buy a plexi-glass plate to use as a surface to pour the bioplastic liquid onto. Looking on the internet, these would prove to be quite difficult to obtain. This is mostly because of the Covid-19 crisis. Every store uses these to protect both workers and customers. But there had to be way to, cheaply come into the possession of a glass plate. I then came with the idea to get one from Ikea. They sell their closets in parts, so glass plates are available in separate packages. They also cost around 5 Euro each, a steal!

At this point, I’m ready to properly experiment with making filters. However, there was another thing I have to think about: how will I mount the filters onto the camera? There needs to be a way to use both hands for the camera, while the filter sits in front of the lens. I have a couple of ideas floating in my head, like a wooden frame the lens can slide into, or simply using tie wraps. This is something worth thinking about, but first I want to experiment a bit more.

Because of the shape of a camera lens, the filters would have to have a circular shape. That’s why I purchased some circular cookie shapes from Blokker to use as molds. I hope these work!

After the first experiment, which came out quite yellow, Britt came with the tip to use gelatin sheets instead of gelatin powder. These would provide with a natural, more see-through color. These are easily obtainable at any supermarket. Also, I want to see what would happen if I don’t add any glycerin. The cookbook says that it should be brittle, so I’m curious to see that for real. I also purchased some spices to experiment with: chives and lemongrass. I also still have some red berry juice from the bioplastics week; I want to use that again as well.

Let’s do the no-glycerin recipe first. I did this one with a petri dish instead of the cookie shapes, as I was not in possession of one at this time:

1. Pour 60 ml water into a pot.

2. Add one sheets of gelatin to the pot.

3. Cook the liquid on medium heat for about 10 minutes, whilst stirring with a spoon.

4. When the liquid is viscous, remove the froth and pour the liquid into a petri dish.

While it first looked like this recipe was a fail, it actually turned out to be quite good. It has a grainy effect. This proves you need to give the bioplastic time to reach its final form.

Let’s continue with the red berry recipe. I’m going to add more gelatin sheets than before to see what happens. I’m also going to keep the glycerin, because otherwise the plastic will be too brittle.

1. Pour 60 ml water into a pot.

2. Add 25 ml of red berry juice.

3. Add 3 sheets of gelatin (roughly 9 grams).

4. Add 4 grams of glycerine.

5. Cook the liquid on medium heat for about 10 minutes, whilst stirring with a spoon.

6. When the liquid is viscous, remove the froth and pour the liquid onto the glass plate, into the cookie shape.

Unfortunately, the cookie shapes weren’t completely flat on the glass plate, which caused the liquid to leak from underneath. This also looked like it was going to be a fail, but luckily, when it dried up, it was still pretty usable.

During the class session, Andrei came up with the idea to use UV filters that can be screwed onto a camera lens. These can be cheaply purchased from AliExpress. I immediately ordered them.

Trail of evidence