Welcome! In this interdisciplinary course, you will research societal issues and their relationship to technology and design through reflective and critical experimentation with various techniques, tools and materials in the university’s digital fabrication workshop. During the 20 weeks to come, we will engage in collaborative, critical making activities and reflection, that will help you critically question the norms and values that inform existing product designs, branding strategies and technologies. Who benefits from a given design? Who doesn’t? Could it be different? By asking these questions we aim to open a design space with room for difference and alternatives, on a conceptual level as well as product level.

An important part of understanding the politics of designed objects, is to start understanding how they are made, and be able to tweak, hack, modify and/or make your own. You’ll learn to creatively and critically use, modify, deconstruct and analyse both tools and materials. You’ll learn to make explicit which values are reflected in your design decisions and those of others. Together, we’ll discuss why they might not benefit everyone in the same way (if at all). By developing what if...? questions you will open up the design space for radical new product and design ideas to take shape, that are informed by values and ethics, as well as aesthetics, material knowledge, environmental awareness and inclusive user needs.

Week 1-10

The first weeks are dedicated to in-class exercises, discussions and weekly assignments to cover a range of concepts, modes of collaboration, design tools and digital fabrication techniques such as vector drawing for the laser cutter and plotter, design for 3D printing, molding and casting with handmade bioplastics, and of course electronics. Every week, we will focus on different themes and a different technique that you will explore practically and conceptually in a hands-on assignment and class tutorials, and through the production of a weekly class zine (a small publication). Your documentation of this work is the deliverable upon which you will be graded during the formative assessment in week 10.

Week 11-20

The second half of the minor is dedicated to team research projects in collaboration with external partners and/or researchers affiliated with the university’s research labs (eg. Fashion Technology Lab, Visual Methodologies, Citizen Data Lab, Crossmedia, Institute of Network Cultures and others). You will not be asked to provide a solution - something you might be used to! - but instead, to research and come to thoroughly understand an issue through methods for critical making. You might do this by for example:

1. examining the norms and values at work in the development and uptake of different technologies, especially focusing on practices within your own discipline;

2. tracing how it was in the past and how it is done in other places in the world;

3. researching the role of tools, materials and production processes in this issue, and

4. imagining how it might be different, and materialize that potential reality in the form of speculative and critical yet real prototypes or material explorations and samples.

The quality of your material and conceptual research, documentation and presentation during the class expo are the criteria used to determine your final grade for the course. You will participate in a class expo, prior to the summative assessments.

For more detailed information, and an outline of projects from previous years, please take a look here.

Large labels¶

These labels are 21 x 20 cm (WxH)

InDesign file for large labels

Medium labels¶

These labels are 15 x 14.2 cm (WxH)

InDesign file for medium labels

Small labels¶

These labels are 10.5 x 10 cm (WxH)

InDesign file for small labels

Title

Think of a short, descriptive title, maybe even comparing it to materials it is similar to.

[Core]-based?

Here you can what is the main constituent material to help describe what kind of material this is and how its main ingredient has been sourced. This is not a hard classification, but is supposed to provide a meaningful descriptor to help place the material (which the title alone might not be able to do).

For example, a bioplastic may be gelatine-based, or agar-based, or starch-based (or a combination). Fish leather is animal-based, whereas a mango leather would be plant-based, or perhaps even based on fruit waste. Dyes or inks are usually classified accordig to their solvent: e.g. alcohol-based or water-based because it says something about how they might be used. Whereas pure pigment (powders, or pigments grown on silk like the Serratia Marcescens recipe could be considered microbial.

Some examples:

• animal-based (fish leather)

• gelatine-based (bioplastics with gelatine)

• plant-based (cotton)

• based on algae (alginate and agar plastics)

• food waste (clay from banana peels)

• natural waste (withered flower paper)

• plastic waste (recycled PLA)

• microbial (e.g. kombucha, bacterial dye)

• fungal (e.g. mycelium, is not in the 25 recipes listed here for now)

• alcohol-based (red cabbage ink with alcohol as the solvent)

• water-based (dyes made by boiling dye stuff in water)

Renewable/reusable/compostable?

A renewable material is a material that can replenish itself naturally on a human timescale. So plants, bacteria and fungi: definitely. Trees? Not really. Petroleum? Definitely not

A material is reusable if you can reshape it without loosing its qualities. For example: PLA can be remelted in such a way, and alum crystals can be redissolved and formed again without relatively little additional energy.

A material is compostable if it can be turned into a fertilizer (a compound that is beneficial for plant growth within 90 days. Ideally, it is suitable for home-composting. Which means that it does not require industrial composting facilities to compost, but you can do it yourself under uncontrolled conditions.

Ingredients/making procedure

Keep it short and sweet, and make sure you refer to the extended recipe that can be accessed online (see also "variations on a source recipe".)

This is a variation on: The labels ask you to state which recipe is the "source" recipe, and how you are making variations on it. Assuming that you will start off by coming up with variations on the recipes listed here but you can also point to another recipe (use the QR code for quick access).

URL & QR code

Put the URL to the online recipe in the box on the top left, and/or generate a QR code for that url and add it on the label for easy access on mobile phones. You can find free QR code generators online. Use short URLs if possible, you can shorten URLs with for example bit.ly.

The small letters!

Don't forget to fill out your details and the date of fabrication at the bottom of the label.

Printing and assembling¶

All these labels can be printed on regular office printers that can print on heavier paper, like A4, 160 or 210 grams/m2. Check what your printer allows. But don't forget to put your info before printing:

• labels can be edited InDesign or Acrobat Pro (for now). Only include items that are fully cured and/or dried.

• Export the labels for print, and include crop marks for cutting

• Print the labels on 160 or 210 grams/m2 paper

• Cut along the crop marks to trim off the edges

• Use strong double-sided tape to attach a strong label with a hole to it if you wish to hang them. Designs for a display system will be added here at a later stage, or design your own.

The label designs were originally created by Maria Viftrup for TextileLab Waag in Amsterdam, modified by Loes Bogers in April 2020 with permission by Waag. The font used is Calibri light.

[Recipe name, max 4 words]

[embed a tactility video here to present your material]

Tactility video of the material, NAME, YEAR

General information

[Describe the material in max 150 words]

Physical form

Surfaces & Surface Treatments | Solids | Strings, Pipes & Tubes | Grains & Powders | Pastes, gels & liquids (select one)

Color without additives:

Fabrication time

Preparation time: [number 0-24] Hours

Processing time: [number 0-100] [select unit days/weeks]

Need attention: every [number][select unit: hours/days] to [free text] describe activity e.g. stir, turn, etc]

Final form achieved after: [number 0-99] [select unit days/weeks]

Yield

Approx. [number] [unit]

Estimated cost (consumables)

including use of disposables likegloves

[number] [local currency], for a yield of approx. [number][unit]

Recipe

Ingredients

NOTE: you can only select ingredients that are already in the archive. If you are adding a new ingredient, please add a new ingredient entry before adding a new recipe

• [Ingredient ] [optional or not?]

  • Amount: [number]

  • [Function, e.g. plasticizer]

• [Ingredient ] [optional or not?]

  • Amount: [number]

  • [Function, e.g. solvent]

• [Ingredient ] [optional or not?]

  • Amount: [number]

  • [Function, e.g. polymer]

Tools

1. [Tool] [optional or not?]

   • Is this tool optional? Yes/No

2. [Tool] [optional or not?]

   • Is this tool optional? Yes/No

3. [Tool] [optional or not?]

   • Is this tool optional? Yes/No

Method

1. [Step 1]

   • [Free text]

   • [Free text]

2. [Step 1]

   • [Free text]

   • [Free text]

3. [Step 1]

   • [Free text]

   • [Free text]

Drying/curing/growth process

[Describe the setup, including details of mold and tools used (e.g. press, breathers, other) and other details pertaining to the process here]

• Mold depth (surfaces and solids) or diameter (strings): [number] mm

• Shrinkage thickness [number] %

• Shrinkage width/length [number] %

Shrinkage and deformation control

[Describe shrinkage and deformation behavior and how this may be controlled]

Curing agents and release agents

[Free text]

Minimum wait time before releasing from mold [number] [select hours/days]

Post-processing [Describe the process of applying softeners, keeping it pressed after mold release, how to store and expiry information etc]

Further research needed on drying/curing/growth?

Yes/No/Not sure

[Describe areas of further research if applicable here]

Process pictures

Image guidelines: images should be landscape format and sharp. Please provide captions so the viewer can understand the elements of the setup. Include images of the drying/curing set-up

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

Variations

Which variations can be made with the same recipe? Mention other physical forms, additives etcetera. Provide references if applicable

• [Free text]

• [Free text]

• [Free text]

Origins and references

Cultural origins of this recipe

Describe known cultural heritage tradition(s) that are being drawn from as well as communities who made significant contributions to its development: [Describe here]

Needs further research? Yes/No/Not sure

[Describe avenues for further research]

Key Sources

Which key sources or recipes does this contribution draw from?

• [Title of publication 1] by [First + Last Name Author]([Affiliation/Institution]), [Publication name or channel], [YYYY], link.

Copyright information

Is the information listed above copyrighted or published under e.g. a creative commons licence? Provide info here.

If not, please state that you agree to publish this recipe under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC BY-SA 2.0) license

By submitting this recipe I agree to publish it under a CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons license. Please mention to these details for attributions:

[Title of publication 1] by [First Name, Last Name Author]([Affiliation/Institution]), [YYYY], [Publication name or channel],link.

Ethics & sustainability

Describe known concerns and issues with this recipe/technique, provide clear explations arguments people may have put forward to address issues with the technique, this material, or it ingredients. Consider social, economical, cultural, political, ecological considerations

Needs further research? Yes/No

[Describe avenues that need research here]

Sustainability tags

• Renewable: yes/no/needs further research

• Vegan: yes/no/needs further research

• Made of by-products or waste: yes/no/needs further research

• Home compostable within 90 days: yes/no/needs further research

• Re-usable: yes/no/needs further research [describe here, e.g. melting, mixing, shredding]

Needs further research?: Yes/No/Not sure

[Notes]

Properties

Based on technical property categories used in the Material District archive https://materialdistrict.com/material, and the sensory descriptors categories proposed in: Lerma, Beatrice (2010). Materials ecoefficiency and perception. Proceedings: CESB 2010 Prague - Central Europe towards Sustainable Building 'From Theory to Practice': pp. 1-8.

• Strength: fragile/medium/strong/variable

• Hardness: rigid/resilient/flexible/variable

• Transparency: opaque/translucent/transparent/variable

• Glossiness: glossy/matt/satin/variable

• Weight: light/medium/heavy

• Structure: closed/open/variable

• Texture: rough/medium/smooth/variable

• Temperature: cool/medium/warm/variable

• Shape memory: low/medium/high/variable

• Odor: none/moderate/strong/variable

• Stickiness: low/medium/high/variable

• Weather resistance: poor/medium/high/needs further research

• Acoustic properties: absorbing/reflecting/needs further research

• Anti-bacterial: yes/no/needs further research

• Non-allergenic: yes/no/needs further research

• Electrical properties: yes/no/needs further research

• Heat resistance: low/medium/high/needs further research

• Water resistance: low/water resistant/waterproof/needs further research

• Chemical resistance: low/medium/high/needs further research

• Scratch resistance: poor/moderate/high/needs further research

• Surface friction: sliding/medium/braking/variable

• Sensitive to color modifiers: alkaline/acidic/none

About

Maker(s) of this sample

• Name: [First + Last Name]

• Affiliation: [Institution Name]

• Location: [City], [Country]

• Date: [DD-MM-YYYY] – [DD-MM-YYYY]

Environmental conditions

• Humidity: [number]% / not sure

• Outside temp: [min-max] degrees Celcius

• Room temp: [min-max] degrees Celcius

• PH tap water: 1-14

Recipe validation

Has recipe been validated?

No/Yes, by [NAME], [AFFILIATION], [LOCATION], [DATE]

Images of the final sample

Image guidelines: all images should be of the object on a white background. The overview image should show the object in its entirety with a frame of white background enclosing it, adding a detail image is recommended. Crop off edges if necessary. All images should be landscape format.

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

Caption, Image credit, Year

References

[List all references used, including key sources of the recipe]

• [Title of publication 1] by [First + Last Name Author]([Affiliation/Institution]), [Publication name or channel], [YYYY], link.

Ingredient template¶

Below is the template for documenting and researching an ingredient. An example of one that is filled in (for glycerine) can by found here

[Ingredient name]¶

[Ingredient name (alternative names 1, 2)]

What is it and how is it produced or sourced?

[Free text]

What are its possible functions in biofabricating?

e.g. plasticizer, filler, colorant, PH modifier, mordant, solvent, release agent, curing agent, softener, and so on

*example: dried and ground egg shells can be used as filler in bioplastics, to add strength and reduce shrinkage. *

[Free text]

Processing information

If applicable:

• Dissolves in: [free text, e.g. cold/warm/hot water, alcohol]

• PH value: [number 1-14]

Selecting the right type

How do you know if you are getting the right type (in nature/at the shop)? Or can you use any? For example, carbonate and bicarbonate soda are significantly different, but you may find it is referred to as "soda"

[Free text]

Local abundance¶

Where are you located?

[City, Country]

Can this ingredient be found in nature there?

Yes/No

If not, please describe or list local suppliers and price

This ingredient is best purchased....[INSERT SUPPLIER INFO]

and costs about [NUMBER] in [CURRENCY] per [NUMBER][UNIT].

If store-bought, find out where the ingredient was produced. How far is the production source from where you are?

Select one:

• Less than 100 km (locally abundant

• Less than 500 km

• Less than 2000 km

• More than 2000 km

Eco-compatibility*¶

Type and amount of energy used to produce this ingredient, e.g. does it require a lot of water, heat, chemicals?

[Free text]

*Note: The concept of eco-compatibility is taken from: Lerma, Beatrice (2010). Materials ecoefficiency and perception. Proceedings: CESB 2010 Prague - Central Europe towards Sustainable Building 'From Theory to Practice': pp. 1-8.

Toxicity

Is this ingredient toxic to humans/animals?

[Yes/No/Not sure]

[Please provide additional details]

Distance from origin to site of use

In which region(s) of the world is this produced? Is it related to specific natural contexts or industries (e.g. near sea or rivers, in hot humid climates).

[Free text]

Shelf life

Look up shelf life & expiry date, but also use of senses to check: can you see when it’s off, can you smell it?

[Free text]

Vegan

Is it made without the use of any animal products?

Yes/No/Not sure

Is this a by-product is it found in a waste stream?

Is this ingredient a by-product or does it come from waste streams Yes/No/Not sure

[Describe in which contexts this resource can be found in abundance]

Renewable

Can this resource be naturally replenished on a human timescale?

Yes/No/Not sure

What do you know about how long it takes for this ingredient regrow?Which plants/micro organisms grow this ingredient? How long does it take them to regenerate? Under which conditions?

[Describe how long it takes to regrow]

Cultural & historical information¶

Historically, what were the uses of this ingredient? In which contexts were these uses discovered? When? By whom? How did it travel to other places?

[Free text]

Concerns¶

Describe how this ingredient has been or might be contested. What are the issues and concerns? Which arguments are put forward?

may be cultural, health-wise, ecological, social, cultural, political, economical arguments

[Free text]

References¶

Please provide information to the references used

• Title by [name], [publication channel], [date]: link

Research projects in times of COVID-19

To adapt to remote teaching in extraordinary times, our course on making as research had to be reimagined almost overnight. We arrive at the end of a semester that asked us all to reflectively engage with the conditions that make making as we know it possible. Repeatedly hitting our heads against our often invisible reliance on facilities and supply chains has been a struggle and a blessing, but seeing their interdependencies more clearly certainly encouraged us to take a radical turn in terms of the materials we choose to work with as makers. We experimented with bio-based materials and learned to embrace the fact that we would not be exerting the kind of control we are used to having over materials we know and work with when we use industrial machines. Limitations turned into openings and vice versa as we were practically confronted with the ways tools and staple materials inform what we can imagine.

Students engaged in self-directed projects from home, making do with the limited tools and materials at hand. From their kitchens, gardens and bedrooms, they engaged with challenges around the lived realities of the COVID-19 crisis, often combined with a strong sense of homebrew material activism. During this year’s expo, students will present projects on topics of RIVM regulations, fashion, dating, packaging, exercise, biomaterials and DIY maker cultures.

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Gelance Cushion

Ephemeral exercise gear to support rehabilitation exercises during lockdown.

Student: Andrei Motian (CMD)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: exercise, quarantaine, bioplastics

View this project

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Redesigning Warhammer Landscapes from a Sustainable DIY Perspective

Student: Dusanka Prvulovic (CMD)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: Warhammer, kitbashing, bioplastics

View this project

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Biofilters: an Analog Photoshop

Back to the basics of "light writing", using DIY analog, bioplastic photofilters.

Student: Daniël van Kesteren (CO/CB)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: photography, biofabricating, filters

View this project >> update this link!!!

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Hyperdisposables

Towards hyperdisposable sporks: beyond the promise of biodegradable plastic.

Student: Anoush Mazloumian (CMD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: biofabricating, material activism

View this project

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Stop Touching

Reframing hygiene tactics and accessible maker culture through a DIY lens.

Student: Summer Danoe (CMD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: COVID-19, personal devices, DIY

View this project

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Foam for Material Activists

In search of a lightweight, compostable bioplastic to protect fragile goods.

Student: Laura Velgersdijk (PD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: biofabricating, material activism

View this project

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DateKleed

A tactile material experience to support changing embodied social habits.

Student: Duncan van Norden (AMFI)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: social distancing, dating, materials

View this project

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One Size Hurts All

One size-fits-all facemasks revisited: from universal to personal fit.

Student: Kaz Bison (CMD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: COVID-19, PPE, DIY, personal fit

View this project

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Biodegradable Packaging Bags

Rethinking disposable packaging for the transportation of garments.

Student: Kim Sinke (CMD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: biofabricating, material activism

View this project

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DIY Faceguards

Seeking alternatives for the diminishing material supplies used for personal protection equipment (PPE).

Student: Thijs Uffen (CMD)

Coach: Yuri Westplat

Tags: COVID-19, faceguards, bioplastics

View this project

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Bioplastics on a Rainbow Spectrum

Creating a rainbow of color for bioplastics, using natural, accessible ingredients only.

Student: Desiree van Dam (CMD)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: biofabricating, natural pigments

View this project

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Beyond Humanity

Being yourself does not have to be in a human form.

Student: Britt de Heer (AMFI)

Coach: Marjolijn Ruyg

Tags: body accessories, biofabricating

View this project

Each week, you are asked to document three areas, that should each include the points listed below:

1.Maker skills & Attitude: document all practical steps, tips, clever hacks and findings so others can follow and replicate your making process.

• step-by-step making process (text + images)

• machine instructions and settings (text + images)

• design files and code (if applicable)

2. Design research skills: Make your decisionmaking and thinking explicit, so others can follow your thought process. Include:

• your considerations and decisionmaking every step of the way

• a reflection afterwards: what did you learn? What would you do differently next time?

• describe how you negotiated stress, frustration and ambiguity

3. Collaborative Learning: Document relationship to other people’s work

• referencing the work, projects and tutorials of others

• *all* images (including your own) should have image captions with a full reference (name of the maker, name of the project/work, year, URL)

• give credit where credit’s due (mention everyone who helped you!)

IMPORTANT NOTE ON FILENAMES!

All files of ALL students will be stored in one file folder as this platform essentially is a collaboration tool. In order to keep some overview and make the files searchable. Name all your files like so:

loes_wk01_manifesto.jpg loes_wk02_settings.png loes_wk05_finaldesignforprint.stl

It’s brought chaos to the kitchen tables for over 30 years. If you’re remotely interested in strategy gaming, you’ve probably heard of Warhammer. Players collect forces of miniature plastic models and use them to play out on a tabletop battlefield. The tabletop can be made by players themselves with help from several how-to and DIY videos that can be found online but also in books. Players spend hours building and painting their miniatures, a process that requires patience, money, dedication and, sometimes, considerable artistic skill. During this process of building, many products that are used, are environmentally unfriendly.

The most commonly used chemical products to make the landscapes with are, epoxy, plastic, Styrofoam and paint. During my studies at the minor Makers Lab, I have redesigned a Warhammer landscape from a DIY sustainable perspective. My goal with this project is to influence the Warhammer community to replace the chemical products that are used today, so that Warhammer will be a more sustainable hobby.

Research zine

When reading my research zine please download the PDF underneath instead of the Issuu version. Unfortunately my hyperlinks don't work on Issuu and my design has changed on Issuu because I have actually designed for Adobe Acrobat.

Reseach zine on Issuu

Bio

I am Dusanka Prvulovic, a 22-year old student at the HvA, following the minor Makers Lab in my 3rd year of CMD. I choose this minor because I am interested in creating more with my hands instead of just digital. I'd like to create a better and more sustainable environment with any of my projects. The Bioplastic Landscape for Warhammer is a redesigned landscape from a sustainable DIY perspective. By sharing my knowledge that I have learned during my studies (minor Makers Lab, I hope to achieve that the Warhammer community is going to replace certain environmentally unfriendly products with more friendly ones.

Images

Summary:

For years now, professional and hobby photographers have relied on editing software like Adobe Photoshop to make their photos look as beautiful and unique as possible. Before this digital age of still imagery, however, people used analogue cameras that made use of actual filters to apply effects to a photograph. With my Bioplastic Filters, I want to bring us back to this earlier stage of photography. Making your own filters using cheap ingredients found in almost every household is a great and fun way to experiment with the infinite possibilities that the world of photography has to offer.

Link to research zine: https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/researchzine_dvk

Bio:

My name is Daniël van Kesteren. I'm a Creative Business student at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Currently I'm doing the Maker's Lab Minor. I have combined this with my interest in photography to work on this project.

Images

Summary

Due to the current measures related to Covid-19, we are stuck at home. The gyms are closed and people who are in rehabilitation cannot go to the physiotherapist. It is difficult to exercise at home because many people are limited in sports materials. Sports materials are often expensive to purchase and the exercises you can do with them are often monotonous.

I want to show that it is possible to make your own workout material with the stuff you have at home and what you can get from your local supermarket, which is cheaper. I want to do this by means of a gelatin based balance cushion in a way that everyone can make it themselves. With a balance cushion it is possible to do exercises that train muscles throughout your body.

Due to the different material properties that gelatin entails in the process that it hardens, the user can maintain a sports schedule. This starts with soft where the focus is on strength and balance, after which it hardens and the user can focus on stamina and stability.

Research Zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/andreimotian_researchzine

Bio

I'm Andrei Motian, 3rd year Communication & Mulitmedia Design student at Hogeschool van Amsterdam. I chose the minor Makerslab because I want to make the physical products for my own skateboarding brand by myself instead of the website and designs.

With this project I want to inspire people to exercise at home while making their own workout equipment.

You can read more and see some other projects on my website down below.

Additional Images

How can a lightweight renewable material source be used to protect heavy and fragile products during transport?

Weight is an important aspect of the transport industry and extra weight from packaging is kept at a minimum. This is why packaging is often made from plastics since they are a lightweight material. The material for the packaging is usually used once and then discarded. I wanted to find a more environmentally friendly alternative for the disposable plastics and choose to try this by using bioplastics as a substitute.

I wanted to make a new material made from bioplastic that is lightweight and possibly stretchable. I found this in a bioplsatic made from gelatin and honey. This 'Honeyfoam' bioplastic is a thicker, stronger and more stretchable bioplastic.

Research zine on issuu

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/laura_project_researchzine01

Bio

My name is Laura Velgersdijk. I am a 4th year industrial design engineering student at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. I wanted to follow this minor so I could spend more time making and learning how to make. I had never worked on bioplastics before this minor but I have grown very fond of the entire proces and all the possibilities there are with them.

Photos

Sunday the 15th of March the 1,5 meter-society has been introduced. From this point on nobody is allowed to get near each other closer than 1,5 meter except for your housemates. Our brain was set to tell that an interhuman distance between 120 cm and 200 cm would be most appropriate for business relationships (like your colleagues, classmates etc.) or strangers. The Dutch Government has imposed to treat our loved ones the same way. We are not allowed to choose our own personal space anymore. The DateKleed will encourage human interaction in a safe way, to prevent society for serious threatening effects, like Huidhonger, without the need of striking tape, fines or police watching you.

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/datekleed_research_zine

Attachment: Catalog

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/catalog_los

Portfolio

Photos

Photographer: Mayte Breed

Titel:

Beyond humanity

Teaser:

Being yourself doesn’t have to be in human form. These body accessories are made out of bioplastics and are meant to break through the limitation of the human form. With these accessories I don’t want to accessorise the body, but embrace the body. These accessories could be your second skin.

Larger context:

For this project I was inspired by drag and performance artists. Most people know drag as a man dressed as a women, but drag goes way deeper than that. The art of drag is based on a physical transformation that goes beyond sexuality and gender. Within these transformation there is no need to identify as a certain gender. You can also even identify as a creature of your own liking and own imagination. One of my biggest inspirations for this project was the design duo Fecal Matter (@matieresfecales on Instagram). Their transformation goes beyond humanity. Even though the way they look is not a costume but a way they identify theirselves, it’s still a physical transformation they go through. The accessories and clothing they wear, look like their actual body parts but reshaped. The reason I wanted to make these kind of body accessories out of bioplastic is because bioplastic are biodegradable just like most parts of the human body.

Summary

Plastic disposable cutlery is one of the top ten plastics found on the shores of the ocean (Millieucentraal, 2020). Sea animals see those plastics as food. They eat it, get poisened or get internal injuries and die. This is a pressing problem in our world while there is an easy solution: hyperdiposable bioplastic.

By focussing on a spork, I came to a lot of different requirements for the material. A spork needs to be strong, not bendable and sharp. My process takes you through the search for the best fittable biobased and animal proof material for a fast degrading spork.

| "Of the 120 species of marine mammals on the Red List of Threatened Species, 54 have been documented to eat or entangle plastic." (BUND, 2019)

| “95% of the Fulmar in the North Sea has plastic in its stomach. On average, that is 34 pieces (total weight of 0.31 grams). Converted to humans, it is a plate full of plastic. ” (BUND, 2019)

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/research-zine-anoush

Bio

I am Anoush Mazloumian, student Communication & Multimedia design. This year, I attended the minor Makerslab to learn more about the criticals of being a maker. I leveled up my experience in innovative machines as 3D and RISO printers and finished a full research project on bioplastics focussed on cutlery disposables.

Images

About the project

The name of my project is Beyond Humanity. For this project I really wanted to combine making and my personal interests. So I decided to make body accessories out of bioplastics. My inspiration for this idea was drag and performance art. Most people know drag as a man dressed as a women, but drag goes way deeper than that. The art of drag is based on a physical transformation that goes beyond sexuality and gender. The transformation I wanted to focus on is the transformation beyond humanity. I don’t want to accessorise the body, but embrace it. These accessories are more like your second skin.

The reason I wanted to make these kind of body accessories out of bioplastic is because bioplastic are biodegradable just like most parts of the human body. These accessories are definitely not timeless. Through life the idea of your body changes and because these accessories are so close to the body they might not fit the idea of your body anymore in a later state of your life. These accessories are also unique, no piece is the same. Just like people.

The recipe I used for the accessories is alignate based. The interesting thing about this recipe is that you can not control it properly. It sort of lives it’s own life and that’s what made it interesting for me to ‘design’ the accessories.

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/beyond_humanity_-_research_zine

Bio

I'm Britt de Heer and I am currently in my fourth year of Fashion & Branding at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. At fashion and branding we mostly do 2D design. I chose this minor to get more experience in making and also making in 3D. This minor gave me more skills as a brander and helped me form my own identity as a brander even more.

With this project I wanted to challenge myself to combine making and my personal interests and this project challenged me to let go. Normally I feel like I'm in control with my projects, but due to the material I couldn't be in control all the time.

If you want to see more of my projects have a look at my website:

Images

Summary

Why would we seek for the best care for ourselves, but not the planet? Let's change that.

In times of great fear and uncertainties, we tend to use familiar and easy solutions for our problems. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people and companies use plastics to make protection gear; like cashier protection screens and faceguards. These solutions are not environmental friendly because they make use of complex production processes and long supply chains. This adds up to the negative effect on the environment. Additionally, it is almost impossible to make such items by yourself at home.

Here comes my project in place : DIY Faceguards. I want to show that anybody can fabricate appropriate and safe protection gear with everyday ingredients. It only takes 3 ingredients to become a maker of your own faceguard. Faceguards are a good addition to the regular face masks, because it protects the eyes and it will prevent you from scratching/touching your face.

Research Zine

Bio

My name is Thijs Uffen, 25 years old and studying Communication & Multimedia Design at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. I am an UX Designer and UI Designer. I enjoy making tech and web accessible and aesthetic. With this project, I hope to inspire people to become a maker themselves, just as I did during the Makerslab minor.

Product photographs

Do you love receiving your online order as much as I do? I always wait for my online order in full excitement and when it arrives I only have eyes for the product I ordered, not for the packaging materials. I can’t even remember how the last packaging materials I got looked like and how I threw them away.

Is that packaging even necessary you might think? Well it is, without the plastic packaging bag your freshly received product could not be looking so fresh and brand new. But what can we do with this useless piece of plastic? Make it biologically absorbable and reusable!

In the past ten weeks I’ve been researching the perfect recipe to make biodegradable and reusable ‘plastic’ packaging bags. The result is an Agar Agar based transparant and sealable packaging bag that can be home-composted.

Research Zine

In the Research Zine you will find my research and inspiration.

Bio

My name is Kim Sinke. I am a 21-years old student at the University Of Applied Siences Amsterdam. In my 3rd year as a Communication and Multimedia Design (CMD) student I'm following the minor Makers Lab. During this minor I wanted to learn more about different materials and about the making process of products. During this minor I learned that there are more sustainable ways to make or remake products.

With this project I want to show people that there are sustainable and earth loving ways to produce products and that there is more than dirty plastic.

End Result Pictures

Intro

For this assignment we had to pick a contrast and be inspired by that contrast. I took another approach (also explained in this weeks ). I chose to let myself be inspired by materials. Afterwards I figured out that this wasn't the best way to go, because I didn't even know if the materials were compatible with the laser cutter.

The contrast I chose after picking the materials is static vs. dynamic. Dynamic to me means constant change and static to me is more of a lack of change. A pattern can also be dynamic. Some patterns portray a sort of movement. In this book I will show you how I tried to make a static material more dynamic and the other way around.

The cover of the book also shows dynamic and static. From the outside the book is dynamic, but the inside of the cover is quite static.

Picking Materials

Although I wanted to be inspired by materials. I kind of already had an idea that I wanted to use fake fur. I also knew I wanted to use fabrics, because it matches my fashion background and it may come in handy in the future. To buy materials I went to A. Boeken Stoffen & Fournituren Winkel in Amsterdam and to Vlieger, which is a special paper shop, also in Amsterdam.

Fake fur

I bought the fur at A. Boeken Stoffen & Fournituren Winkel in Amsterdam. It costs €49.50 per meter. I bought a little less than one meter, because it was the last piece. The minimum amount you can buy is 10cm. My opinion is that fur is dynamic it goes every direction and you can adjust the direction. It has a sort of movement to it. I'm still not sure if this was allowed in the laser cutter, because one person said it was and the other one said it wasn't. I didn't take the risk to put it in the machine.

Fake leather

I also bought the leather at A. Boeken Stoffen & Fournituren Winkel. The price for this piece of fabric was €15,50 for 120cm by 140cm. I found this fabric in a bin with leftover fabrics. At least, I thought it were leftover fabrics. To me this fabric is quite static. It bends, but it's not stretchy or whatsoever. Although the pattern on the fabric may be a little dynamic.

Before I could experiment with this fabric I had to find out if this fabric was allowed in the laser cutter, because a lot of fake leathers release toxic gases when put in the laser cutter. I believe the material that causes it was PET, but I can't say for sure. To test this material I had to do a quick engraving test. If the material turns brown it releases toxic gases. As you can see in the picture below, the material is usable, because it didn't turn brown.

Awagami Asarakusui paper

I bought this paper at Vlieger Papier. The price is €3,95 per sheet. I'm not sure about the size, but I think it's between A3 and A2. The paper is made out of hennep. The paper itself is not very dynamic, but on the other hand the pattern and the structure of the paper makes it dynamic. So I think it’s in- between static and dynamic.

Inspiration

The cover

The first thing I made was the cover. This was a bit of a gamble, because I didn't even know how thick the book was going te be, but I already knew I wanted to put a band around it to keep it together. The binding method I wanted to use is the button-hole stitch (will be shown later). I wanted my cover to be B5 size (176 x 250 mm) and the inside A5 (148 x 210 mm).

I wanted a 'hard' cover so I started with cutting two rectangles in B5 size (176 x 250 mm) from cardboard with the laser cutter. The second thing I did, was attaching the cardboard to the fake leather with double sided tape (because I didn't have the right glue). I just pasted it on the leather and made sure to cute the leather bigger than the cardboard so you can fold the leather around it (shown in the third picture and also pasted with double sided tape). The fourth picture shows how nice and tight the leather looks around the cardboard.

When I had two nice pieces of wrapped cardboard I started sticking them on the fake fur (also with double sided tape). I pasted them on next to each other with 3cm in between them. After I attached everything I obviously found out that the double sided tape wasn't keeping it together. So I decided to sew them onto the fur. I did it with a white thread (because I had no black thread at home). White looks really ugly on the black leather so I coloured it black with a fineliner.

As I said before, I wanted a band around the book to close it. So I also bought a buckle and a band (separately). I attached them together and sewn it. I also bought these things at A. Boeken.

Experiments

Experiment 1

This experiment was the first one I did. This was before I knew if the leather was compatible with the laser cutter. So I applied a technique I learned at AMFI, pleating.

Material: Fake leather

Manipulation method: Sewing by hand

Tools: Needle, white thread (or another color) and pins

I started with cutting a piece of fabric. If you cut the fabric you have to cut it way wider than the width you want it to be, because you have to make pleats so you will lose a lot of width. Cut it at least 2 or 3 times wider than you want it to be. When I had my piece of fabric I started to make straight pleat, which I pinned in the beginning, middle and end. I continued making pleats until I had no fabric left to pleat. You have you make sure that you leave some space between the pleats. After I made the pleats I started sewing them together in way to get the pattern. If you look at the sample you can that it’s actually very easy to do. Unfortunately I kinda forgot to take some pictures during the process, because I was so into it haha. Hopefully it's sort of clear in the explanation.

Static/dynamic: The pattern in the sample makes it dynamic and the movement in the fabric when you stretch it makes it even more dynamic.

Experiment 2

After the engraving test this was the first experiment I did.

Material: Fake leather

Manipulation method: Laser cutting

Settings laser cutter: Cut

Speed: 90

Power: 20

The proces of this sample wasn’t really long. At first I looked up some inspiration. After the research phase I started to make a pattern with circles in Illustrator. I made sure to immediately fit the pattern in an A5 format, because that’s the size I wanted it to be. At first I ran some tests to find the right settings. After I found the right settings I could cut it with the laser cutter.

Static/dynamic: This sample is quite static. That’s because of the pattern. The pattern is really straight and structured. All the circles are perfectly lined up. There is no movement in the pattern nor in the fabric.

Experiment 3

For this experiment I kinda used the laser cutter in an indirect way.

Material: Fake leather & Awagami Asarakusui paper

Manipulation method: Laser cutting & glueing

Settings laser cutter: Cut

Speed: 90

Power: 20

Tools: Remains of experiment 2, glue, scissors and tweezers

This sample contains the remains of sample two. After I cut sample two I saw that the leftovers were pretty nice, because they were perfectly cut out circles. I didn’t want to waste that much of the material so I decided to use it. I cut a piece of Awagami Asarakusui paper (A5 size). I glued the circles on a piece of Awagami Asarakusui paper to create a more dynamic pattern. It doesn’t make the material itself very dynamic, only the pattern.

Static/dynamic: This sample is also not really dynamic. The pattern in quite dynamic, because of the movement in the pattern, but the material is quite stiff. That makes it more static.

Experiment 4

For this experiment I also didn't use the laser cutter, because the fake fur wasn't allowed into the laser cutter. I wanted to give the fur a different texture.

Material: Fake fur

Manipulation method: Glueing, spraying

Tools: Glue, hairspray and scissors

Fur is very dynamic. The hair moves in all different kinds of directions. So I wanted to make it less dynamic by making the fur stiff. At first I cut a piece of the fur in A5 size then I started glueing the fur. I glued all the fur in one direction and left it to dry. I noticed that after 24 hours the glue was still kind of sticky. So I sprayed hairspray over the fur in the hope that it became less sticky. Luckily that worked, but the effect wasn’t as much as I hoped for. Afterwards I cut off the hairs that were sticking out. Even though the fur is hard and glued to one direction. The structure and the colouring of the fur still gives it a dynamic look.

Static/dynamic: This sample is a little in-between static and dynamic, because the fur doesn’t have the same movement anymore as it had before. But on the other hand the structure of the hair makes it look dynamic anyway. Even though the fur doesn’t really move anymore.

Experiment 5

This experiment is one of my favourites. It's done with the laser cutter.

Material: Fake leather

Manipulation method: Laser cutting

Settings laser cutter: Cut

Speed: 90

Power: 28

My idea was to cut a pattern in the material which made the fabric changing shapes. I started with searching for inspiration. During the inspiration phase I saw a pattern which could work really well on this fabric. So I recreated a similar kind of pattern in Illustrator and started cutting it with the laser cutter.

Static/dynamic: This sample is the most dynamic to me, because a couple of reasons. The fake leather is the most static material I used. If you just look at this sample it’s just a piece of fabric with a pattern cut in to it. But when you stretch it, the whole shape changes. In this sample the transformation is the biggest and the movement is the most out of all samples. The pattern isn’t as dynamic as some of the others, but with this sample it’s more about transformation.

Experiment 6

In this experiment I combined two materials.

Material: Fake leather & fake fur

Manipulation method: Laser cutting & glueing

Settings laser cutter: Cut

Speed: 90

Power: 28

Tools: Glue, scissors

For this sample I wanted to combine a dynamic fabric with dynamic pattern. The pattern is cut out from the fake leather with the laser cutter. I got this idea out of my inspiration. At first I cut the fur in the size I wanted (A5) and then I made the pattern in Illustrator. After I made the pattern I put the fake leather in the laser cutter and started cutting the pattern. Now there is a dynamic fabric and a dynamic pattern. I glued the pattern on to the fake fur. The look of this sample is dynamic, but the feel is way less dynamic.The fur is restricted in its movement, because of the pattern that is attached to the fur.

Static/dynamic: This sample is the second most dynamic, because the pattern and fur combined makes it look very dynamic. It doesn’t move as much as sample five, but the fur still finds its way through the pattern and still moves.

Binding technique

The binding technique I used is called the button-hole stitch. I followed this tutorial:

Underneath this text you a schematic drawing of the base for this binding technique. I attached the pages to this. The dotted lines are folding lines and the rectangle in the middle is the hole. In the video she makes different sections with multiple papers. I just used one folded paper as a section. I also added the file of the schematic drawing. You can just put it in the laser cutter.

In this assignment i've created a soft speaker on a piece of denim. I've solded a mono amplifier with a jack connector that is connected to the soft speaker. For the best audio results i should have a resistance between 4 and 8 ohm.

I did this together with Summer.

In this case the blue wire is + and the orange wire is -. We wrapped some tape on eacht wire and wrote + and -. The + (blue wire) should be soldered on the short side of the jack plug and the - (orange wire) on the long side of the jack plug.

I've soldered the pins on the bottom from the amplifier. With these pins we will provide power and amplify the sound from the speaker.

For connecting the speakers to the amplifier, make sure to solder the part (with the two screws on top) with the two holes pointing on the outside of the amplifier. Connect the two crocodile wires with the amplifier by stripping the coating (5mm will do), stick each in a hole and secure them with a screwdriver on the topside.

The amplifier is done for now and i'll continue with the denim after the recessweek.

For the design of the speakers we wanted to use a piece of denim. We will lasercut a square (10cm x 10cm) and inside the square we are going to sew the coil that is also a square but turned 45 degrees.

The coil that I am going to make will be made of steel conductive wire

Beforehand I did not measure exactly how much resistance the wire had because I wanted to solve it later. I wasn't sure yet how many centimers i actually need.

IIn Illustrator I made a design for laser cutting on a piece of denim. I have experience with the laser cutter, but since it was my first time to do this on a piece of denim, I asked a supervisor from the Makerslab if it was possible.

There was no preset for denim on the lasercutter and it worked out by using the presets from cotton. Because this was a preset i do not know what the actual settings are for lasercutting cotton and denim.

Make sure to save the file as an Illustrator 8 file for lasercutting.

The link for the Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VxzwrsgKnVtR5iwDGME11UZh4vQVc9_9/view?usp=sharing

I've marked the outline with red and the inside where the coil is going to be black. I did this because the lasercutter will cut out the red lines and the black lines are going to be dotted.

I have setted the dotted line 4mm apart from eachother.

Now I will embroider the pattern with the thread that will guide the current. In the beginning I often had to look back at the design so that I would not get stuck in the wrong place.

This was the hardest and most frustrating part for me because I stabbed myself in my fingers a few times, sometimes, I was tied up a few times and also broke the thread a couple of times, so I had to pull the thread through the entire denim again that I had enough thread to continue sewing.

Now I am going to see with a multimeter how much ohm it will indicate. For the assignment I want to be between 4 and 8 ohm.

The multimeter indicates 64.6 ohms. That is too much resistance and I have to think of a way to solve this so that it has less resistance. Loes Bogers told me that if I made the wires thicker, it could conduct more current, so that the resistance would also be lower. Instead of taking the whole thread out and starting over with a thikker thread i'm going to sew a new layer of thread on top of the current one. It might work but I don't know for sure yet.

This went much faster because I only had to follow the first thread. When I was completely done again I tested it again with a multimeter to see how much ohm it would indicate.

With the 2nd layer that I have embroidered, the multimeter indicates 15.7 ohms. My plan worked out and this would also be enough to be able to hear something if I connect it to the amplifier and hold it above a cup according to Kai.

I connected the denim with the amplifier and tested with magnets if I could hear music. Connect the crododile wires from the amplifier with the thread on the denim. Do that on the two sides where you've cut the thread on the denim. Connect the jack plug to a telephone of laptop with music and make sure to turn the volume all the way up.

It worked and there was music, you could only hear it if you keep your ear next to the cup.

I did not manage to get between 4 and 8 ohms for the assignment. I didn't have enough time to embroider a third layer on the denim. Hereby the resistance would be lower because the wire is thicker and provide more current so the music coud be heard louder.

An application as wearable for a soft speaker could be in a beanie. You wear it on your head and the music is played in your ears.

In this assignment i'm going to experiment with inflatables. For the assignment of the week my contrast is "smooth - sharp" and i allready wanted to try that out with inflatables to see how to get from something smooth to something sharp.

Things that I used are:

• Latex

• Baking paper

• A straw

• Iron and ironing board

How does it work?

I cut a piece of latex and then I put a cut out form of baking paper on it with a strip that comes off the latex. The strip is important because later on you stick the straw in it so you van inflate it. After i put the baking paper on the latex i fold it and put a sheet of baking paper on top to iron over it. The latex will stick together except for the part where the baking paper is located. That is the part that wil inflate.

First try

In my first experiment, I wanted a "sharp" point to pop up during inflation. First i cut a circle out of baking paper and i turn it into a cone. In addition i cut out some strips.

Now I'm going to cut a piece of latex.

This is what i have so far, a piece of latex, some strips and a circle that i turned into a cone. I also cut out a second circle in case i mess up.

Now I am going to put everything in place on an ironing board to iron. I crushed the cone because I assume it will rise again during the inflation.

Now i'm folding the latex over the baking paper. This is a little hard to do because the baking paper will move out of its place.

And next I put a sheet of baking paper over it and I start ironing. Sam told me to do this on the lowest temperature of the iron.

Because of the ironing, the latex is fused together except for the piece where the baking paper was.

I stick a straw in the part where the strip was and through the straw i can inflate my design to see if it will point up.

When I blown air into it, I discovered that I had not ironed properly and air came out of the side. Instead of a cone coming up, a sphere formed in the middle when I blew it up.

This experiment failed so i take my loss and try something else.

Second try

For my next experiment i will try it with triangle shapes so the sides wil look shawp while inflating it.

I've cut triangles out the baking paper and used my extra strip from the previous experiment. I cut another piece of latex, put my baking paper in it and a sheet of paper on top of it and I start ironing again.

After ironing, I discovered that in the process of laying the baking paper over it my strip was lost. Because of this all sides were melted together so I could not blow up my design.

foto mislukte poging

Third try

Now i want to be sure not to mess this up again so I made a new shape from baking paper where the strip is no longer loose but stuck to the shape.Afterwards i also cut a new piece of latex.

Now i fold it again and try to get the pointy side as close as much to the border where its folded. Then i put the sheet of baking paper on top of it again an start ironing it.

The result after ironing.

Now i stick the straw in it and try to inflate it. As you can see in the photo below, it partly blows up. I will have to iron again to make sure that everything is fused together.

But first i cut out the unnecessary space and try to be as close as possible to the pointy side and iron it once again.

Now that I blow it up, you can see it has a sharp shape. I can finally say that this was successful.

I've learned that even the easiest looking experiments could go wrong and that you sometimes have to be very precise and be careful. It took me three times to get something i wanted. In retrospect thinking about my first experiment it was logical that you cannot inflate a wrinkled piece of baking paper to make it come up and the latex is too firm to make it stick up.

Zine

Reflection

In the beginning it was not clear to me what the assignment was and what was expected. Once I go with the flow it became clearer to me. Making the inflatables was a fun experiment to start with. One of the most important things I learned is how to work with the laser cutter. I also know how to work now without using presets. I've learned how to solve a problem whenever i encounter one, for example deciding where to start cutting. Now I think more consciously about the material I use and what settings to use with each material on the laser cutter.

It was really fun to experiment with different shapes and structures and to think how I can make it better and worse. I deliberately thought to be more economical with the material by thinking about the following things: the amount of space because I shared the material with someone else, where am I going to cut it out and making rings for bookbinding from the leftovers.

I was happy with the final result of the sample book I've made but less happy that I had to leave him at the Makerslab.

Zine

My kit of no parts

As a CMD student I think that sharing knowledge is important. For me, this means that I can share my process and way of thinking with others to inspire them. I only do it if there is a demand because I can share it with people who find it interesting. It is interesting and educational for me to see in a project how someone's way of thinking is and how the person came up with an idea. Sometimes I think it's a shame that things are only held for the designer.

If I get stuck in my work process and cannot continue, I sometimes ask others to share their process with me. If something is completely new to me and nobody within my circle can help, I sometimes watch a tutorial on YouTube. Furthermore, I do not ask further if I do not understand. If I want to know something very specific, I ask Reddit where people are very helpful. I once asked Reddit a question about JavaScript, unfortunately I was unable to get help with that at the time, but on the other hand it was nice to know that I was not the only one with that problem.

I find it difficult to transfer technology in a didactic way to someone else, especially if the person does not know anything about the subject.

Nowadays you have a kit for almost everything you want to make. Do you want to learn how to program with sensors and actuators and you can order an Arduino kit and get started. This is an example of a kit. With a kit without parts you will look for alternative ways to create, share and collaborate. In that regard, I often have a "fuck it" mentality. I easily let go of ideas that I had before and then "I'll see" what I come up with. In my project during Emerging Technologies, this resulted in a great product.

Hacking

When are you a hacker? If you interrupt a certain process and do something else with it. Hacking does not always have to do with coding and programming. When you search for images on Google for "hacker" it seems to be put down negatively, someone with a mask on in a dark room behind a computer doing something with code.

On my 14th birthday I got a Playstation Portable (PSP), a year ago when I found it again, I hacked it by watching a tutorial on YouTube. I recently did the same with an old Wii that I got. For years no games have been made for this and they are almost impossible to find. By hacking both of them, I can download games and transfer them via USB. In this process there was also a "fuck it" mentality, there were so many ways that this could go wrong and these consoles could be thrown away in the trash. Still I started to try and see what I would end up with (Getting lost ) and yet again it worked out well.

Reflection

The last time I've worked with circuits was more than 10 years ago when I was in middle school. In the beginning it was just as difficult to pick up again because I used to have a lot of trouble with this, but now I understood it better than then in middel school and it all made a lot more sense. I don't know if that was because I am a little older now or if this was poorly explained to me in the past.

I liked making the speakers but at the same time frustrating to do. At first I didn't know it was possible to do it that way. I enjoyed soldering and I hadn't done that for at least 10 years, but it was still as good as back in the days. The frustrating part for me was sewing. I did not had any experience in it and I've made a lot of beginners mistakes that i had to solve the hard way. The speaker was working but the sound was very low. If I had sewn over it again the sound would be better to hear.

In this assignment I worked with two words that contrast each other. With a certain material I've worked from 2D to 3D.

Smooth - Sharp

Material I've worked with is Polypropylene (PP), as thick as 0.8mm.

My first impression of the material was that it has a smooth surface. It is very flexible. What i want to experiment with is to sharpen the surface so it stings while touching it. I want to experiment with different different patterns and shapes.

I was inspired by the pattern that Bas Overvelde, from the origami workshop in the first week, used in some of his projects. I've looked up how it's called and discovered that the pattern i want to use is a Miura Pattern.

In Illustrator I've created such pattern and i did it in 2 colors.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dU35dSD4EOhIyYz7VjinPo9eRQN1veBJ/view?usp=sharing

I used black and red in this case. I used two colors because when i go laser cutting later, red will be engraved and black will be cut.

Before saving the the file it is important to save it as an .ai file and to make sure it is an Illustrator 8 file. Otherwise the laser cutting software, LaserWorks, is not able the open the file.

Now the design is finished i can begin with the laser cutting part. First import the file in LaserWorks.

I put my polypropylene sheet on the bed of the laser cutter and see if there is a preset that I can use for this material in LaserWorks.

After i asked a supervisor in the Makerslab what preset he would advise. He advised me to try it with the Polyester preset and try to change the speed and power. Afterwards i discovered that it was unnecessary to do and i could fill it in directly instead of working from a preset.

For the red lines i want to engraved i used these settings.

For the black line that i want to be cut i used these settings.

Now i upload it to the laser cutting machine by pressing "download" and a few times on "Ok".

Setting the laser cutter.

1. Press File. fig 1.

2. Choose the file you uploaded and press Enter. fig 2.

3. Depending on where the laser head is, you might want to adjust it and set it in the right place. This is useful if you want to save space on your material. Press the arrows to put the starting point on the right place and press Origin. The head is now put on place and if you want to see where it will cut, press Frame. If it is not on the right place then repeat this step. fig 3.

4. Place the placeholder next to the laser cutter under the laser to adjust the height. The height is adjustable by the two brown/golden screws shown in fig 4. You may close the hood now.

5. If it is all set, press the Auxillery button on the side of the laser cutter so the extractor and cooler are turned on. fig 5.

6. Press Start. fig 6.

Now the laser cutter is going to cut and engrave my design.

For the next one i have to give it more power because it didn't cut through the polypropylene. Now i have to cut through it with a knife.

To make it sharp i'm cutting through some lines from the Miura pattern so when I fold it now, there are some spikes where you can puncture yourself.

By cutting the wrong lines my design fell apart. I'll try this again later.

To start from smooth i've cut a piece without any pattern on it with the laser cutter. And because my file was still in opened in LaserWorks i've changed something in the settings. I've set the power to 50 from the black line so it will cut through and the output from de red line to no. I did this because i only want a blank sheet and now it will only cut out the black line.

This was the result after laser cutting, also had to cut again with a knife through it because the laser cutter didn't got through.

Now i want to make a sample where everything is only folded, except for the laser cutting part. I will use the same Miura pattern and by folding creating a sharp shaped pattern that will feel smooth wile touching.

Because the laser didn't got through in the previous one i will increase the power from the red and black lines in de laser cutting software. The red power of the red line will be now at 40, it will not cut through it but it will fold more easily. For the black line, that has to be cut out, i increased the power 50 and decrease the speed to 60 instead of 90. In this way the laser wil do the cutting (black lines) slower so i'm sure it gets through.

After the laser cutter was done i discovered something interesting. It does not matter how hard the power or how slow the speed will be because it cuts through but due the heat it will melt back together. With these settings cutting out was more easily to do because you can use less force and you don't plunk out with your knife.

After cutting the sheet out i had to flip it over and had to cut thin lines from the pattern, which are enrgaved, on the backside from the sheet. It is important to not cut through it. These lines must be cut so that it can be folded on both sides.

After cutting i start with folding. This is hard to do because of the robustness of the material so i dit it carefully and patiently.

When the folding part is done you'll be able to squeeze it together and the pattern will comes up in a 3D effect.

While touching it it will not sting yet.

To make it actually sharp i will try to cut through some lines again with a knife. But first i want two more pieces cutted and engraved with the laser cutter. The settings will stay the same for now because i'm ok with the fact that i still have to cut through with a knife because it will melt back together.

After laser cutting, once again i'm cutting thin lines on the back that intersect with the patter so it can fold both sides.

And now after cutting the thin lines, i will cut through some lines an do it right this time. The effect that I want to create is by squeezing it together the pattern goes up and sharp points stick out from the cut lines. If done right it will look like this.

And the piece with more lines cutted so spikes are coming out on both sides when squeezed together.

These are the samples i have this far from smooth to sharp in different gradations.

Now i want to experiment with other patterns to go from smooth tho sharp. So first i tried with triangles. I've made a triangle pattern in Illustrator so i can fold it upwards that it wil sting while touching it. Before laser cutting I import the file in LaserWorks.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PLH2F-IKc3Vy58srfMmv5S5OSAOobs33/view?usp=sharing

I've used the same settings for the laser cutting as before. After laser cutting was done I've cut it out again with a knife.

When folding each triangle up i noticed that it didn't stayed up, so i have to change the design a bit. But by bending the sheet i found this interesting.

Now I've added a line under each triangle so the laser cutter will engrave the line and the triangles will stay up.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PTl2wTfWyLJyT5fyXR4R7Ae8tsLHNAgm/view?usp=sharing

Now after folding it stayed up. For more gradations I've been thinking how to make it more and less sharp. By making it less sharp, I've made it rounded in Illustrator. Afterwards I imported the file in LaserWorks. With the same settings as before i let the laser cutter do its work and cutted the lines dat i needed to cut.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MOsB7rOjfaaRcoPX6oGLC3Q6ugdv6iF4/view?usp=sharing

Now I went to see how it would really feel sharp and how to sting yourself with it. I immediately thought of thorns and made such a pattern. I imported it in LaserWorks and began cutting with the same settings as before.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_CWGSQ78pgZlZGBPzMKvdQGwV_7kpkc7/view?usp=sharing

Afterwards i folded everything up and it felt really sharp. Result:

The second serie from smooth to sharp:

For the sample book i want to use the same material. With the leftover polypropylene I had I've made rings in Illustrator to bind. Afterwards I imported these rings to LaserWorks. I copied them and made them smaller and bigger just in case. With the same settings for laser cutting i let the laser cutter do its work.

Illustrator file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tsB7JGh8RTPhfIyjhOZfJhpwiJjrNn0C/view?usp=sharing

Now comes the binding part. The front and back cover will be the pieces that i messed up. I kept these because it is a shame to throw them away.

I have printed the pages with explanations about each piece and perforated them together with the samples.

After everything is perforated i put the rings i cutted out through the holes so the sample book is in one piece.

The final result:

Link to the PDF of the samplebook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tsB7JGh8RTPhfIyjhOZfJhpwiJjrNn0C/view?usp=sharing

A tea bag or its contents

Zine

Think before you make.

As a maker it is important to think about what the consequences of the things you design can be. As an example, the cigarette creator is also responsible for the people who get sick or die from it, while that was not the intention. It is also important to delve into what the goal is for whom you make it. As an example a company such as Shell or BP, it might sound very cool and promising to design something for such a company, but you don't think about the consequences that your design will have on the environment.

Since the advent of 3D printing, we all come up with handy and fun things to print that might make life easier or perhaps for decoration. It's great that you can print a part so that you can repair your broken coffee maker. But even 3D printing can have bad consequences, it can be used for wrong purpose as printing weapons or other objects that are normally not legal to own.

Manifesto

The designer is always responsible for the (bad) consequences that can occur. - A design must not cause damage to people, animals and the environment. - A design may only be made if it is used for good purposes.

Reflection

Working with Kaz on this assignment for the first time was fun to do and the collaboration went well. We were able to come up with good ideas together and were on the samen page. We were so lucky with 3D printing because we were the only ones who had no issues while printing (spaghetti-like strings or the material that wouldn't attach to each other).

I've learned a lot in this week. I never worked with Fusion360 before and it was like a whole new world opening up for me and I would like to do more with this in the future. I would like to make a mold for skateboarding wheels for myself and with the possibilities from Fusion360, I even can create a new shape of wheel that has never been done before! I haven't experimented a lot with Cura but as soon i will need it in the future it will become more clear.

UV printer

Ways to hurt yourself

• Niet naar de laser kijken tijdens het printen.

• Pas op met het sluiten van de klep dat je vingers daar niet tussen komen.

Ways to hurt the machine

• Haal je print er pas uit als er op het schermpje van de UV printer staat "PRINT READY".

• De klep altijd dicht laten, zelfs als de UV printer niet gebruikt wordt. Door het open laten kan de inkt in de cartridges uitdrogen.

Ways to annoy others

• Niet printen als er niks in zit.

• Als de printer aangeeft dat de inkt op is, melden bij een leidinggevende. Alleen een leidinggevende mag de cartridge vervangen.

• Reserveer de UV printer van te voren om er zeker van te zijn dat je hem kunt gebruiken.

• Leg je voorwerp waar je op print binnen de kader.

Andere belangrijke zaken

• Draai het voorwerp waarop geprint wordt 180 graden als je hem op het bedje legt.

• Er ligt een handleiding naast de computer waarin staat hoe je vanuit Illustrator kunt printen.

• Voor het beste resultaat op vlakke materialen printen.

• Zorg ervoor bij het afplakken dat er geen tape uitsteekt ivm met hoogte waarop geprint gaat worden.

• Er is een bak achter de computer met schoonmaakmiddelen voor als er op het bed geprint is.

• Zorg ervoor dat de vacuüm zuiger aan staat.

Oven & lijnbuigmachine

Ways to hurt yourself

• Gebruik bij de oven de handschoenen als je er iets uit wilt halen.

• Raak de draad bij de lijnbuigmachine nooit aan.

Ways to hurt the machine

• Zet de oven en de lijnbuigmachine uit na gebruik.

• Er mag geen materiaal in de oven dat chloor bevat. Als je het niet zeker weet vraag het aan begeleiding.

• Plexiglas op maximaal 180 graden bakken. Er staat een streep aangegeven op de oven.

Ways to annoy others

• Leg de handschoenen op de juiste plek terug.

• Roosters liggen onder de oven.

• Als er restjes op de roosters zitten maak dat dan schoon. De restjes kunnen anders in het werk terecht komen van de volgende gebruikers. Doe dit evt. met een staalborstel.

Andere belangrijke zaken

• Rechts in de hoek naast de oven staat bakpapier.

• Je hebt weinig tijd met afkoelen van materiaal. Als je iets moet buigen doe dat binnen 20 seconde.

• Bij het gebruik van de lijnbuigmachine buig altijd naar jezelf toe.

• Aan en uit knop van de oven, rood = aan, groen = uit.

• Gele stip op de oven bij de timer is oneindig tijd.

• Er is een thermometer in de oven.

• Als je iets niet weet, vraag het dan aan begeleiding.

With the same idea for a wearable switch I've made a wearable analog sensor with electric paint.

First I improved the prototype I've made for the switch by painting a line of conductive paint on it. Afterwards I've tried it out with a LED on the breadboard and the brightness was changing.

Afterwards with the leftovers from the black cardboard I've made another wearable that looks the same as the wearable switch. Now I've added conductive paint. I used tape to make sure it looks neat.

When it dried I've used some glue to make rings again so it will fit in my hands.

After trying it out in week 8 with the output it worked.

I did this assignment together with Kaz. After some brainstorming we decided to do an alligator themed project. We both made a mold separately, for the mold that is closed and consists of two parts, we made together and it was also more difficult to do.

The idea for the mold i will create is an alligator in the water where you only will see a little of his head, back and tail. I want to make it as detailed as possible so you kan see the eyes, nose and spikes.

Kaz will make a design from the skeleton of an alligator.

Alligator in Fusion360

I used this image as a starting point.

Image source: https://zooz.wiki/nl/animals/alligator/

First i used the pen tool to draw the shapes and by extruding it i gave it a height.

Then I shaped the edges so it will sort of look like it's half above water. Afterwards i started with the spikes on the back. I was not happy yet with the spikes on the back so i deleted them afterwards and did them over later.

Because this will be made to create a mold i need to create something that will hold all the parts together, so i made a big circle.

Now i will try to make the spikes on the back and the tail.

The spikes took a long time to create because I had to make them one by one.

I also made some spikes on the back of its head.

The hardest part was to make the eyes and the nose, I had to do this over multiple times. I was satisfied with the eyes but less with the nose.

The final result with the eyes and nose:

When you're done with designing in Fusion360, make sure you save your file as a .stl file. So later you can open this file in Cura to prepare it for 3D printing.

3D printing the alligators

For the molds that Kaz and me created separately we teamed up with Desiree and Thijs because their mold were ready to print as well. Desiree put all our designs together in Cura to start the printing.

Desiree sent me this photo before printing and asked me if I was okay with this:

Due private circumstances I couldn't come early to the Makerslab and Kaz was there before me. He sent me a photo of how far the printing was:

When I arrived at school the 3D printer was this far:

The printing would take a total of 13 hours. In the meantime Kaz and me designed the two-piece mold.

Here are a few pictures from the progress of the printing:

The designs from Kaz and me were done before the ones from Desiree and Thijs because their design was bigger in height.

I was very happy with the details of the design I've made. The spikes, eyes and nose were clearly visible.

2-piece mold in Fusion360

Because Kaz and me are doing an alligator themed project we wanted to design a mold for a part from an alligator. The mold will have to be cast later, so we have chosen to make an eyeball from an alligator. The eyeball is a geometric shape.

We took this as a starting point for designing the eye in Fusion360:

Source: Pinterest.

In Fusion360 we created a new file and made a cube first that is going to be the mold.

I renamed the cube into "mal" in the browser under "Bodies" and clicked on the eye to hide it.

After this I made a sphere.

With the pen tool i drawn the pupil.

One by one I've made the lines in the eyes. This took a while to do.

The hardest part was while extruding we wanted for the pupil and the lines to round with the eyeball. This was hard to do but with some help from Sander and Kaj it all worked out.

For the rest of the mold we followed along with this tutorial:

We did exactly everything what is said in the tutorial but with our own design. The only difference is dat we made two holes in it, one for casting and the other for the air. Kaj advised us to do it that way.

Meanwhile we were following the tutorial, the eyeball and the cube we created in the beginning had to be combined so we did that. Afterwards I had to subtract the eyeball from the cube so there is an empty space inside the cube in the shape of the eyeball.

Afterwards i split the cube in two parts so we can make four balls that the mold will be able to keep closed in its place. After splitting and creating the balls I subtracted the balls on the side with the pupil so it will be able to close it.

Next thing we had to do was to make the casting hole and the extra hole for the airflow that Kaj advised us to do. The hole for the air had also to be smaller than the casting hole.

We finished the tutorial we followed and Sander gave us feedback. He said that a piece of the top and bottom could be removed in connection with the printing. Otherwise we would be wasting material and we haven't tought about that. On both the pieces I've set a plane and removed the unnecessary space.

This was the final result:

Printing the mold

I saved the the two parts seperately as .stl files and opened it in Cura. This time with printing we teamed up with Summer and Britt who where ready to print as well. We allready had set up the settings for printing while we also had to wait for the file from the others.

We used the Ultimaker 2 Extended+ because that was the only available 3D printer. We have set that in the settings.

We had a little help from Sander with setting the print settings. The settings we used here below:

After we received the file from Summer and Britt we imported it, set it in place and saved the file as .gcode and put the file on a SD-card. This time we used gold colored PLA.

Before printing it is important to clean the plate where it will be printing on and spraying it with 3DLAC.

After everything was done Kaz prepared the file in the 3D printer for printing and had it printed at night.

Results

The next moring when I arrived in the Makerslab the mold was finished with printing.

Quarantzine

I was the editor of this week together with Laura. The entire zine can be read at https://andreimotian.com/quarantzine/

When is something analogous?

To put it simply, when you do it yourself, most of the time by hand and nothing happens digitally. There are various equipment that work both analog and digital, such as: photo and video cameras, synthesizers, clocks and much more.

Let's use synthesizers as an example. An analog synthesizer is often separate from a computer. You can make music with it with the possibility to transfer it to the computer. With a digital synthesizer, it is often part or plug-in of a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and reproduces the sound of an analog synthesizer. That will never be the same because the waves of analog are smooth and the waves are angular. That wouldn't make much difference to someone like me, but it would to a producer.

Is analog better than digital?

It depends on how you look at it and what the purpose of the use is. Maybe it is in music production. If you look at photography and video, digitalizing has made everything easier for the most users by omitting complex tasks.

Reflection

I was happy when I heard we are going to program with Arduino and I had been looking forward to this for a while. It was my first time working with a breadboard and I really like the possibilities. You can connect many more things at the same time and it is easier to work with resistors. It was just picking up some things again but Arduino was still fresh in my memory.

The assignment was quite easy because I've worked with Arduino before but at the same time I was discovering new things again like making a switch and analog sensor from cardboard and copper tape. The hardest part was connecting everything the right way on the breadboard and knowing wich resistor I needed.

This week got really strange from the moment everyone had to work from home due the Coronavirus. The communication went better than expected, we communicated with each other through WhatsApp and Zoom. Usually it is hard for me to work at home because there is a lot of distraction but at the same time I was not distracted because I was busy doing things that I like. I was limited in the materials I got from school and at home I had some things that could be connected with Arduino.

At first I thought you allready had to made an input and output for this week so I've made a switch that plays a song while connected. Afterwards, that was too much and I did not have any time to make the analog sensor, so i did that later.

In this same week I was the editor for the zine with Laura and that was decided the day before the show & tell, so nobody had their spread done. Because we all are in "quarantine", we decided to do something funny with this week's name "Quarantzine". We communicated through WhatsApp and had in mind that we would be able to print soon again but that was not the case afterwards. We decided to move the deadline to week 9 and instead of a magazine it would be a website.

Zine

Material Storytelling

When is it right to tell the story behind a material and when not? We use materials to make functional products and often we don't know where it comes from or what the process behind it is.

As an example, the story behind Fair Trade coffee is that the farmers in Colombia harvest the coffee berries, which are processed into beans and traded so that they are available in the store for the consumer. With Fair Trade products, the company shows the consumer how it is made and that the farmers get a share of the percentage of the coffee that they buy in the store. By doing this it may sell better. What the consumer does with it is up to him to finish the story.

A company like McDonald's likes to talk about the beef they use in their burgers. They say that the cows have had a good life and in their beef there is no other processed stuff. On the other hand, the chicken nuggets are concealed how they are made. The chicken they use is so fattened that it contains a lot of meat and it is cheaper to buy per chicken and the average consumer is against it, but McDonald's does not tell that as quickly because the consumer might not want to buy it. As hard as the truth may be, it is sometimes wise not to tell the whole story behind a product or material.

Reflection

I had a hard time working with bioplastics. I often got nauseous which made it very slow. After every example I made I had to take a break. I had enough material and it was fun to experiment with what I had at home. I didn't have a scale that made it difficult, but Summer had helped me from a distance by saying the amount of which ingredient is in a tea spoon.

Most of the time I had no idea what I was making and what would come out and I actually liked it. Because we still had to work from home, I asked my roommate to assist me with the material properties and it was quite hard to explain what everything was.

What I'm going to take with me from this week is to reflect on materials where it comes from and what the story and process behind it is. It was also interesting to think about other applications that could be created by using different kind of plastics.

It has created an awareness in me of the usage of materials.

In this assignment I've asked my roommate Djordi to assist me.

From each bioplastic I made, I asked questions according to the MA2E4 toolkit worksheet that Djordi answered.

Here is the video where Djordi is discovering every piece of bioplastic. The video is in Dutch.

Agar Agar

Performative level

Watch the video above from 00:00 - 00:35.

Sensorial level

Interpretive level

Djordi describes this as a jar of hair gel that is very old.

Meanings of the material:

• Calm

• Aloof

• Vulgar

• Frivolous

• Futuristic

• Feminine

• Strange

• Not sexy

• Professional

• Hand-crafted

Affective level

• Frustration

• Boredom

• Disappointment

• Reluctance

• Confusion

• Rejection

• Disgust

• Curiosity

• Distrust

• Doubt

Agar Agar with coffee

Performative level

Watch the video above from 00:36 - 01:25.

Sensorial level

Interpretive level

1. Shoe polish

2. Licorice colored

3. Coffee

Meanings of the material:

• Calm

• Aloof

• Vulgar

• Sober

• Nostalgic

• Masculine

• Strange

• Not sexy

• Professional

• Manufactured

Affective level

• Frustration

• Boredom

• Surprise

• Reluctance

• Confusion

• Rejection

• Disgust

• Melancholy

• Distrust

• Doubt

Agar Agar Foam

Performative level

Watch the video above from 01:25 - 01:51.

Sensorial level

Interpretive level

1. Old

2. Soap

3. Candle wax

Meanings of the material:

• Calm

• Cosy

• Elegant

• Frivolous

• Nostalgic

• Feminine

• Ordinary

• Toy-like

• Natural

• Hand-crafted

Affective level

• Love

• Amusement

• Surprise

• Confidence

• Enchantment

• Respect

• Attraction

• Curiosity

• Fascination

• Comfort

Agar Agar with oath cereals

Performative level

Watch the video above from 01:51 - end.

Sensorial level

Interpretive level

1. Chocolate

2. Nuts

3. Cookies, "kletskoppen" in Dutch

Meanings of the material:

• Aggressive

• Aloof

• Elegant

• Frivolous

• Nostalgic

• Masculine

• Strange

• Not sexy

• Professional

• Manufactured

Affective level

• Love

• Amusement

• Disappointment

• Reluctance

• Confusion

• Respect

• Disgust

• Melancholy

• Distrust

• Doubt

Technical properties

I tested the technical properties with two of the bioplastics I've made.

Agar Agar with chili powder

Fire resistance: No / It burns easily

UV resistance: Poor / Exposing it to the sun makes it dry

Weather resistance: Poor / Putting it in a glass of water makes it losing its color

Scratch resistance: No / Easy to tear up

Weight: Light

Chemical resistance: Unknown / Not able to test this

Renewable: No

Agar Agar Foam

Fire resistance: Moderate / First it melts and after a few seconds it burns

UV resistance: Poor / Exposing it to the sun makes it dry and shrinks a lot

Weather resistance: Poor / Putting it in a glass of water makes it transparent. After touching it the soap comes off

Scratch resistance: No / Easy to tear up

Weight: Medium for its size

Chemical resistance: Unknown / Not able to test this

Renewable: Yes / Can be melted

Future application

By playing a little with the Gelatine Foam I've made I discoverd that i can press it/squeeze it with whole my weight.

My fingers moved a bit from side to side while pressing and i got an idea for an application.

You could create a balance cushion for working out. Especially if you are doing an exercise where you have to stand on one leg and your whole weight is on the cushion it is hard to keep balance. This would be a better application than my current balance cushion.

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.

Agar Agar with tulip petals

I doubled the ingredients from the Agar Agar recipe so it will be thicker and the tulip petals will be inside the pastic.

Agar Agar with ginseng tea

I teared oped a teabag with ginseng tea and cooked it with the other ingredients.

Zine

Experience

When I look at how I have worked in the past eight weeks, it is different than I normally do at CMD. At CMD you mainly do research on the internet, you create scenarios, you do interviews, you create an experience map and you use other methods. In the minor I do research by making and trying physical things. You think about the material you use and how you use it. In times like quarantine, the materials are scarce and you think about it more than usual.

In “Back to the Basics: Or Why Education Is Going Back to Making” I see more similarities within CMD than in the minor. Except for the fact that we have to think about designing for a contemporary context and understand how the materials work.

Think

Think about what you are going to make and what you need. Write or sketch all your ideas and materials that you may want to use for that. Think about where your material comes from and whether you are doing well to work with it (what your contribution to the environment is, for example). Then choose an idea and continue with it.

Design

What will your idea look like? Design it on paper or on your computer. Optionally make a prototype of paper. If you are going to work with equipment that needs a file, design it immediately.

Make

Make everything as you have thought and makes sense to you. Fail it? Do not throw it away, keep it and try another way. There is also a lot of improvisation involved.

Reflection

This week I've worked with Arduino again. I've learned how to work with a common cathode RGB LED, I've never done this before and it was easy to learn. In this weeks assignment I wanted a bigger challenge and I challenged myself to work with Processing. For me, Processing was another new world that opened up. When i had time left I've tried to make an audio visualizer in Processing, but that was a bit too much for me.

It was nice that I could make something in Processing that will fit in the serie of Loes. I've used the analog sensor I made from week 6 as an input and Processing as output. I did not consider how technical all this was and how much I learned about it in a short time.

For further application I want to see if it is possible to get Processing working in a website and to process that in my own website.

Summary

While public places like schools and stores are slowly opening their doors again in Europe, we have to be cautious about how we can limit ways for the virus to spread. We have to suppress our natural tendency to touch the objects that we habitually touch. Many everyday objects require our hands to operate them. Doorhandles, water taps, soap dispensers, buttons and handrails are all things that are not only touched frequently, but by many people in relatively short spans of time. Instead of franticly trying to clean these objects continuously, we could try to come up with solutions to refrain from touching them with our hands completely. **A possible solution is to use "personal devices". Objects that are an extension of our own body that prevent direct contact with possibly contaminated surfaces, like doorhandles and buttons. In this project I aim to provide a solution to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus through surface contamination, that is accessible to everyone and doesn't depend on regular production methods.

Bio

Hi I'm Summer! I'm a 3rd year CMD student and I'm currently following the Makerslab minor. I like to work on both digital and physical products. In this project I tried create possible products to help prevent the spread of the Corona virus.

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/reserachzine

Trail of Evidence

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/trailofevicence

How to color your bioplastic by only using natural ingredients which are easily accessible? This project is all about creating the seven basic colors to be used in gelatin-based bioplastics. The iterationswere always based on the same recipe, with natural products that are easily accessible, like products you can find in a supermarket and are not all too expensive. To name a few, with red cabbage you can make purple and with beetroot you can make red. Different ways and products have been looked at to get these colors, to see what works best and to see what it does to the bioplastic. In addition, tests have also been carried out to see what affects the bioplastic and what does not. This resulted in about 40 different kinds of bioplastic with all kinds of colors, that will help designers getting more freedom in their work and give others more inspiration and variety for applications.

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/research_zine_issuu

Bio

I'm Desiree van Dam, a 3rd year Communication and Multimedia Design student, a UX-Designer and UI-designer studying at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. With this project I hope to inspire others to think about alternatives for using plastic, by proposing natural and accessible ways to color bioplastics.

Images

Healthcare providers have an essential role in times of Covid-19. They care for the Covid-19 patients and are therefore more likely to be infected by the virus than others. The surgical facemasks they use in the hospital have a universal size. The facemask will not suit everyone well, so that healthcare providers are not sufficiently protected as they deserve to be. By developing facemask straps, I try to contribute to a better protection against Covid-19 and making them more comfortable to wear.

Research zine

https://issuu.com/makingasresearch/docs/kaz_researchzine

Bio

I'm Kaz Bison, a 3rd year Communication and Multimedia Design student at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kazbison/

Product photographs

This was my first time using Processing.

Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts. - processing.org

The coding language is similar to Arduino code.

To try to figure out Processing I followed the Arduino X Processing Tutorials that i found on DLO.

Arduino code

First i uploaded this Arduino code on my NodeMCU and used the LDR to receive data:

Processing code

Then i pasted this code in Processing:

I was not sure what was about to happen when i would run this code. It turned out to be a circle that goes up as soon as the values change:

More experimenting

Through Zoom i learned about processing and how to work with images. Sander had made something with which you see the sun rise in an image and I also wanted to make something similar like that. I made a moon from the view of a satelite that rises above earth.

It is important to set the size the same as the image size so it wil fit as a background image otherwise you won't see it. I changed the code in processing and this was what happened:

I found it enjoyable and interesting to work on:

• Bioplastics: especially to think about future applications.

• Electronics.

• 3D modeling and printing.

From the 3 themes i'm most interested in:

This part is hard to choose for me because they all have aspects that are interesting. I will look through the resources to get some inspiration and to make a choice.

I explored the resources and will work on:

After getting some inspiration I've decided to choose for theme 2: Material Activism & Archiving. For the idea i have in mind it will have a slight piece of the Covid theme.

I got inspired by these resources:

• Radical Matter, by Kate Franklin and Caroline Till, 2019.

• Biofabricating Materials by, Cecilia Raspanti, 2019

• Blood Bio Leather, by

I want to contribute by:

Due to the current Covid-19 situation we have to sit at home and facilities such as gyms and physio practices are closed, we are limited in material with which we can exercise or move. I want to see if it is possible through material properties of bioplastics to be able to make exercise material at home in order to be able to do exercise to stay physically active.

This is relevant because:

As is described before due the current Covid-19 situation. Because we have to stay at home, we do not exercise enough so that you can start to feel down and possibly become depressed. By exercising this is a way to counter such a thing and to stay in shape physically and mentally.

My first experiment will be:

I want to recreate a balance cushion i have at home by making one from bioplastic and to look at the material properties that it will be the same as what the balance cushion can do.

List of tools i will need:

• Moulds

• Recipes (have to do further research in what kind of recipe)

• Agar

• Glycerine

• Water

• Gelatine

Local suppliers that are open during the Covid-19 situation:

• Holland and Barrett

• Albert Heijn & Vomar

• Action

• Sligro (I don't have a card for it)

Other source that can be helpfull is my physio therapist. The physiotherapy practice is in the same building where I live in.

According to safety.com it is important to consider the price, function and space if you want to buy fitness equipment.

Their top 10 consists of (price included according to Amazon and a small description):

• Indoor rowing machine (€500). Rowing machine for cardio and condition exercises. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

• TRX bodyweight trainer (€50 - €105). Long strap with two handles that you can mount on the ceiling or stand on, most often used when training chest or upper leg. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

• Power tower pull up station (€240). A "tower" with which you pull yourself up from your arms, mainly used for upper body training. Gyms.

• Resistance bands (starting from €20). Elastic bands with different resistance force, used for training legs and feet. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

• Spinning bike (€500). Mostly for exercising cardio and stamina. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

• Wall mount cable station (€900). A tower with weights and two cables with grips, while pulling the cables the weights will come up. Used for upper body exercises. Gyms

• StrengthTech EXM2500S (€2500). A fitness machine that you sit on and lift weights from your arms, mostly used for arms and chest exercises. Gyms.

• Bosu balance cushion (starting from €75). A round balance cushion with which you can train your whole body, also recommended for injury prevention and used both in private and rehabilitation. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

• Treadmill (€1100). Treadmill where you can walk and run on, used for stamina. Gyms and rehabilitation care.

Source:

Conclusion

Fitness equipment is expensive and especially if only used during a lockdown. The most interesting thing to focus on is the balance cushion because the use is focused on your whole body and it is used both privately and in rehabilitation. In my current physiotherapy treatment we also often use a balance cushion and in the past she has also recommended that I do exercises at home by purchasing one or using a different pillow, but that is not the same. When I think about how I could recreate this list of equipment with bioplastics, most things related to weights fall off because it is difficult to make bioplastic heavy. To put it in an exaggerated way, you may need a 50 cubic centimeter to have 1 kilo of weight.

I've tried to do research in bioplastic work out equipment but as far as searched i couldn't find any. This is a big insight because I could be the first one that could create one.

If i focus on a balance cushion the next step would be to experiment with bioplastics in what composition at the same time is firm and squishy. If i found the right composition then I will focus on how other can recreate it.

For getting some inspiration we did a brainstorm session with Micky. The day before I've went to the beach to do some inspiration myself and I found some shells that might come in handy to use as materials.

Taking a look in my environment

At first we had to look around in our room and to sketch what we see.

Mind maps

Secondly for each theme I came with some idea's and put it in a mind map. Afterwards in duo's we had to show what we had and put the idea's together.

Theme 1: Covid-19

The ideas translated:

• Moving/exercise

• Soap dispenser with Arduino

• Reset button

• Human contact

• Make everything by yourself

• Reusable face masks

• Morphsuit that protects from bacteria for people who work in healthcare

• Spreading people/distancing

• Country land of the future

Theme 2: Materials

The ideas translated:

• From old or broken skateboards to furniture

• Gelatine swimming pool

• Edible clothing from mango leather

• Home exercising/workout set from bioplastic

• Giving shells from the beach a new purpose

• Finding a way to become more durable by making things by yourself

Theme 3: Homo Faber tools

The ideas translated:

• Plasma sphere

• Lava-lamp

• Inflatables that work on their own

• Reusable tools

• Guitar tuner with Arduino or Processing

• Making moulds for skateboarding wheels

Combining themes

Combining Material & Archiving with Covid-19:

Combining Material & Archiving with Homo Faber tools:

Combining Homo Faber tools with Covid-19:

In my first experiment i want to experiment with agar based and gelatin based bioplastic. From this experiment I want to discover which composition is the strongest, but it also has to be squeezable.

I chose agar and gelatin because I discovered during the bioplastics week that it is quite firm. In this case it was slices but now I want to make it thicker and massive to see if it stays that way and what happens when I squeeze it. If it is really that sturdy, I want to see what would happen if I stand on it with all my weight.

Cooking bioplastics

For the gelatin based recipe i used the recipe from the Bioplastic Cookbook by Margaret Dunne. I doubled de amount of ingredients because I want to make a bigger piece than before in the bioplastic week.

Ingredients

• 24 grams of gelatin

• 120 ml water

• 15 grams of glycerine

I warmed it up while stirring with a spoon so that it became a composition that started to feel thicker while stirring. Then I poured it into a bowl and placed it next to an open window to dry.

I did exactly the same with the agar based bioplastic. The agar packaging stated that 3 grams of gelatin is equal to 1 gram of agar and I used that in my recipe. I had written down a formula to calculate how much I needed.

Ingredients

• 8 gram of agar

• 120 ml water

• 15 grams of glycerine

I let them dry for two days before testing.

What struck me is that the agar based bioplastic had shrunk a lot in comparison with the gelatin based one.

After drying i squeezed both of them with full force to see what happens and also did a durability test by standing on them.

Conclusion

After testing both, I came to the conclusion to continue with the gelatin base bioplastic. I chose this because that of agar shrinks enormously and quickly. When the gelatin is pressed and squeezed, it quickly "inflates" again while remaining dented with the agar.

On a small scale, the gelatin base bioplastic has the right properties for a balance pillow and the next step is to make it bigger.

This was the first time I worked in Fusion360. By working step by step with Sander he guided the class to make a switch for the laser cutter in the Makerslab.

At first we got an explanation about the basics, what you can find in the interface and how to create objects. We started with making a cube for the design that Sander had in mind. The cube is going to be the handle of the switch.

Then we added two circles on the bottom. A large circle that is against a plate and a small circle that will go through the plate and is in the middle.

The last object was a squared plate in the bottom that wil function as the switch that wil turn the knob.

By using planes (the yellow areas) we could make parts of the plate diagonally upwards.

The final result:

I have not been able to see a 3d printed version of this and that is a bit dissapointing for me.

Ohm's law is a formula that establishes the relationship between voltage current and resistance. The formula is Voltage (V) = current (I) x resistance (R). If you want to know the current for example than the formula would be V : R = I. This is the same for resistance except you have to divide the voltage with the current.

Circuits with LED's and resistance

In this assignment i want to light a LED on paper by using some copper tape, resistance and a 3 Volt battery.

It is important to know from the LED that the long pin is + and the short - and to connect it the right way otherwise it wont light up.

I started first to stick the copper tape where needed from + to -.

Then i sticked the resistance on the right place with some copper tape on top of each pins. Here it is important to put the pins on top of the copper tape that are on the paper and on top of the pins some new copper tape so its stuck. The sticky side from the copper tape is not conductive.

Then i sticked the LED pins in the copper tape the same way as i did for the resistance. Making sure that the + and the - where on the right side.

And now i've used the 3V battery and put it with the + side on top in the circle with the -. I folded the corner from the paper so the piece of copper tape inside the cirle with the + will touch the + side of the battery.

Now i want to measure some data with the multimeter, it is the first time i use one.

First thing i want to measure is the voltage of the battery. I allready know it is 3V because of the package but i want to see it for my own curiosity.

Now i want to measure the resistance. There were a few resistances i could choose but i didn't know wich one i had and how many ohm's it has. After measuring i discovered i had a resistance from 47 ohm.

Next thing i want to know is how many volts is going through the LED. That was somewhere around 2.8V

And after measuring how many voltage is going through the resistance i had to add it up to the voltage from the LED and that will be the same amount as the voltage from the battery.

The battery gives 3V from the + side, the resistance uses 0,2V and the LED uses 2,8 and 0V is going to the -. If i did not use any resistance there would be 0,2V returned to the battery and it could get really hot.

In this assignment i want to make a switch that closes a circuit that produces sound as output. The switch is an analog sensor that i will connect with a NodeMCU and a breadboard. For the sound as output i will use a Piezo Buzzer.

I will make the switch from cardboard and copper tape. The switch would have to fit in a serie of products as shown in the image below.

For my idea i want to make the switch as an wearable with two rings that will close the circuit whenever they touch eachother.

For prototyping purposes i am using gray cardboard and for the finished version i will use black cardboard.

First i draw some lines and than i cut out the unnecessary space. I leave a strip in the middle that connects the rings with each-other and to make it impossible to lose one ring.

After cutting i rolled up the strips that i will use as rings and secured it with adhesive tape. With a black marker I've marked the spots where i want to secure the copper tape.

This is how it looks like this far.

I taped some copper tape and can now start connecting everything. To make sure the switch works, I try it out with a LED.

Thanks to Kaj and Loes i discovered that i used a 10K ohm resistor and instead i should use a 220 ohm resistor. I switched the resistors and the LED was brighter.

Now comes the tricky part, connecting it with a buzzer instead of a LED and figuring out how to connect everything.

I've drawn a schematic from my first try.

Then the coding started, that was easier because I've worked with Arduino before and still remembered a lot. For the speaker i want it to play Sandstorm by Darude so I searched on the internet for the code of the notes that are in the song. I came across this video and copied the code of the notes that the maker left in the description.

The code was written for the Arduino UNO so i had to change everywhere where he defined "pin 8" to the D2 pin where i connected my buzzer. Then i wrote the code for the switch and used if and else with the sound. If i press the button music will play, else there is no music.

This is how my code looked so far:

In the top of the code you see that i included a library named "pitches". That is a library with different notes that will come out of the buzzer. Otherwise there will be no sound.

This is what the library looks like:

After uploading the code to the NodeMCU it did not work. The speaker was playing the song but the switch was not working. I was sure that there was nothing wrong with the code so i had to figure it out with the cables to make the right circuit.

After almost 2 hours of debugging it finally worked out, sort of, but it was good enough.

I looked in the previous slides from Micky's tutorial with the button and LED and how to connect it with digital pins.

Now my schematic looks like this:

Now i will start with the black cardboard.

First i measured and drew lines where i want to cut.

The result after cutting everything:

I also cut out a piece from the stripes on each side so the rolling will go easier. After that i put some glue on the short sides and rolled it, holding it for a few seconds until it dried.

Now i cut out 2 pieces of copper tape. One is 4cm and the other 3cm. The 4cm piece is the piece what gets two paperclips for connecting. After placing the copper tape i'm done and ready to connect for the final test.

After connecting and turning it on again i discovered that it wasn't working properly. So i tried to switch the D0 to the A0 pin and changing it in the code as-well. I also changed the if and else statements after looking in the serial monitor what the values were. After uploading to the NodeMCU and testing it finally worked how i wanted it to work.

The final code:

I'm not sure if this was the right way of debugging but it worked.

Video of the final result:

I made another variant of the wearable switch that would fit better with the rest of the series. Instead of cutting the unnecessary space i only cut the strips to make two rings. Now the design is more square and would fit better with the rest. In addition the copper tape goes around the ring.