16 - Reframing and expo prep

This week was about tetsing recipes and the first materials.

Recipe testing Round 1

Alginate Flexible bioplastic (Without olive oil)

I really loved the vibe of the Alginate flexible bioplastic. But the olive oil made a sort of unnatural and uncomrortable twist to the sheet. So I wanted to test the recipe but than without the spoons of olive oil in it.

Results:

It has turned a bit yellow-ish, but I think the oven dish were I poured the recipe in has some affacts on the material outcome. The structure becomes more rough and the color turns a bit yellow/brown.

But the material is still very strong, flexible and suprisingly good.

The lovely fact about this recipe is that it's not super sticky. I would love to test some more alginate recipes.

Alginate Flexible bio foil - 2

I went on testing some more alginate sheets.

Tip:

Make sure you really use an electronic handmixer whili making alginate recipes!

This recipe is the most sticky recipe I have been able to test. I couldn't get it smooth again without breaking it.

This one was not suitable for my bio plastic clothing bags.

Agar Bioplastic - 2

Cooked this recipe for 15 minutes long and made sure the water never really reached the cooking pont, so the temperature would stay around the 80 to 90 degrees. The agar dissapeared very smoothly.

End result after two days:

Love the vibe of this material. It's still sticky, but I hope it dissapears a little while I let it dry a few days more. Its flexible and strong. Feels smooth and soft.

Clara Davis Gelatine recipe

Clara Davis her bags:

Recipe:

480 ml water
97 gr gelatine
26 gr glycerine

Before cooking this recipe I mixed the gelatine with the water, until it became a smooth liquid. While mixing and cooking this recipe I saw almost only foam, but just wait for a few minutes and let it cool off a little bit and the liquid will appear again. Still a lot of foam tho.

My version of the recipe:

Outcome:

The material looks amazing and is almost invisible! It's super strong and a little flexible.

Might be suitable, but I am not sure yet.

Let's test the best materials!

The fisrt test

Link to the first test page

page16 - The first test

Conclusion of the tests

I know I haven’t tested all the recipes yet, but it’s a good start. In the beginning of this project I was doubting between Gelatine and Agar Agar recipes. I prefer not to use Gelatine, because it is not vegetarian or vegan friendly.

I really have proven with this test that Agar is a go and gelatine is a no-go and not just because of the ingredients, but because of my end product goals. Agar recipes turned out to be more flexible and very close to plastic foil. I was afraid that Agar might melted or damaged the clothing along the way but that was not the case! For my experience and the proof I have: Agar can survive being posted to different locations and it can survive being stuck and shield in a paper bag for a couple of days without material changes.

The recipe that I found most promising was the Flexible Bio foil 20 (5 gr agar, 20 gr glycerine, 250 ml water). It’s a nice recipe and the material can stay in shape for a long time. It’s is less sticky than other recipes, feels comfortable and looks like plastic foil.

Recipe testing Round 2

This week my glass plate from 120 x 48 cm came in. So now I can test on a bigger scale. Ain't that amazing!

So I coverd all the endings with black tape, so the fluid wouldn't flow were I don't want it to flow.

I wanted to test the Agar recipe that came out as the best in the test and I'll test the alginate recipe that looks very promising.

Recipes:

Agar Bioplastic - 2 (Big sheet)

4 gr Agar
10 gr glycerine
200 ml water

Alginate flexible biofoil - 2 (Small sheet)

8 gr alginate
15 gr glycerine
200 ml water

This time i waited 4 days, because of the scale I made it had to dry a little longer.

Tips:

To get the sheet of the glass plate is still a bit of a struggle. I advise to just got the piece out you want and transport it to the place you want very carefully.
You'll need an extra hand, also for pouring the biiplastics on the glass evenly.
Don't make your sheets too thin. The thinner the sheet, the more fragile it becomes.