Reflection of my end results and process
I've used about 4 different recipes, the only thing that changed the most with every recipe was the amount of glycerine. Sometimes I used gelatine, and sometimes I didn't. I wish that I've made more hard plastic ones instead of a lot of jelly ones because I think it is more durable and you can do a lot more stuff with it because it's firm, and it looks and feels nicer in my opinion. I would love to experiment more with bioplastics and try different recipes. I think it's really cool to design your own materials for your base of a product.
Understanding the experience of my material
To understand my materials better I will be using the MA2e4 Toolkit of the Material Experience Lab. I will fill in this toolkit for every bioplastic I've made. This will give me more insight for the material properties sheet.
Assignment explanation
This week was about bioplastics. Plastic made out of renewable biomass sources such as corn starch, woodchips, food waste, etc. This assignment consists of 4 sub assignments:
Try various recipes, add other materials, play with textures and use your mold. Document your process and findings.
Describe the properties of your material
Understand the experience of your material
Develop a concept for future applications
Developing a concept for future applications
For this assignment I will be thinking about a concept for future applications for my material. I'll be making mood boards to give an idea.
When seeing tulips I would think of Holland. That's why I think it would make a nice souvenir. The plants stay alive and look very nice inside the bioplastic for a long time.
Mousemats
I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this material because it didn't made me think about something specific. The touch did kind of reminded me of the old classic mouse mat feeling, especially the part where you rest your wrist on.
Durable kitchen tools, cutlery, straws, cups
Because of it's good quality, behavior and feeling you could make a lot of stuff out of this. The first thing that came in my mind were cups and straws but you could basically replace any hard plastic material with this bioplastic.
Soundproof studios I think because of it's thickness and different layers it would make very good noise isolation material. The downside of it is that it doesn't smell good.
Cases & latex like clothing
I was thinking of cases because it's very hard to make a scratch into the material. The inside of the foam makes the material protected if it would be a case. Because the gelatine foam looks a bit like latex (on the side where there is no foam) it would be cool to make latex like clothing with it. You could make anything from tight dresses to cleaning gloves with it.
Because of the colors and the fairy vibes it gives it reminded me of hairy potter kind of genres. I think it would be great material to make a floor with when making a miniature fantasy house. It has the exact right colors and the dried fruits inside the material gives it a nice detail.
Describing the properties of my material
For this assignment I will discuss the following properties for every material:
Sensorial (what do you perceive with your senses)
Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it)
Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it)
Performative (what happens when interacting with it)
Unfortunately I wasn't with anyone at home this week so I had just myself to answer these questions. Later on I got the feedback that I've forgotten to fill in the technical properties of the material and I've already thrown away my plastics because they smell bad, but I still filled them in based on my memory and assumptions.
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) It feels soggy, moist and kind of wet, it doesn't feel to nice. It does smell very naturally, the smell doesn't disturb me at all. The flowers and leaves inside the material look very alive. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) I associate it to a pond because it looks like the tulip and leaves are underneath foggy water. It also kind of reminds me of Holland because of the tulips, although tulips are actually originally from Turkey. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) It makes me feel like I'm under water and getting in touch with nature. I don't really like touching it but I do like the vibe that comes off it when looking at it. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) When interacting with it it feels like you're touching something jelly, it's very flexible. I cant really pull it apart because it will rip.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) I kind of want to rub it because the bubbles between the materials and my nails give a satisfying feeling. It also feels good when I'm folding it. It looks pleasing to the eye. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) I interpretative it as a small painting or something I would put my soap on because of the bubbles. Something decorative. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) It makes me curious, looking at it makes me wonder what it can do. I like the effect it has when the sun shines through the bubbles. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) I want to see the bubbles up close and pop them, I want to take out the little needle branch that is in it.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) I really like the color of it, it is very natural-like and the bubbles inside of it too. It's very rigid and firm. I like the way it feels and behaves, it feels like good, durable quality. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) I would guess that is is something sharp if I didn't touch it, thinking it would be glass. The shape looks like a butterfly. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) It makes me very satisfied because the material feels like it would last a good while and can handle a lot. Durable things make me happy. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) When interacting with it I want to see a bigger piece, to see if it would still behave the same. I like the noise that comes from it when I'm touching it with my nails.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) It smells really bad, I couldn't stand having this in my house all day. Touching the foam feels very welcoming, it's soft and feels very nice. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) Something that can isolate sound like they have in music studios. I also associate it with jelly desserts. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) The green inside the yellow is mold I think, that makes me feel disgust. When interacting with it I actually don't want to interact with it because it doesn't feel nice at all. Because of the smell and the mold inside. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) When interacting with it it moves how I want it to move because it is very flexible. It feels like it is very strong and could hold heavy pieces.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) It is strong and glossy. There's no way I could make even a scratch into this material with my nails. I could only rip it with a pair of scissors. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) It looks a bit like latex because of the gloss and the way it behaves, it is also a bit sticky. This would be good for some kind of case to protect something with it or maybe even a skirt. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) It makes me kind of happy to see how strong it is. The way it shines looks very appealing to me as well. I like this gelatine foam more than number 4. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) It is very flexible and strong, I couldn't break it. When rolling it in a certain way it kind of stays the way you rolled it.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Sensorial ( what do you perceive with your senses) It smells very nice like sweet honey. The upper side where the dried fruits are feels like a rough texture. It feels very heavy compared to the other ones. Interpretative (how do you interpret this/what do you associate with it) It looks like some path that you see in fantasy movies in the woods. It looks kind of fantasy like. It also reminds me of my breakfast because of the smell and the things inside. Emotional (what does it elicit/attribute meaning to it) It makes me feel like I am in the woods or like i'm touching my morning ritual. Performative (what happens when interacting with it) I cant really bend it because it would break. I could put heavy stuff on it because it is strong when it is put on a flat base. It's between fragile and firm. Sometimes the dried fruits fall off the material because some of them are not deep inside the material.
Based on memory and assumptions because I've thrown them away already when I've gotten the feedback that I'd forgot to hand in the technical properties sheet:
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
Yes
UV resistance
Yes
Weather resistance
Yes
Scratch resistance
No
Weight
Light
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
Yes
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
Yes
UV resistance
Yes
Weather resistance
Yes
Scratch resistance
Yes
Weight
Light
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
Yes
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
No
UV resistance
Yes
Weather resistance
Yes
Scratch resistance
Yes
Weight
Light
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
Yes
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
No
UV resistance
No
Weather resistance
No
Scratch resistance
No
Weight
Bit heavy
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
No
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
No
UV resistance
Yes
Weather resistance
Yes
Scratch resistance
Yes
Weight
Light
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
No
Technical properties
No
Medium
Yes
Fire resistance
No
UV resistance
No
Weather resistance
No
Scratch resistance
No
Weight
Heavy
Chemical resistance
?
Renewable
Yes
Bioplastic making documentation
Make your own bioplastics. Try various recipes, add other materials, play with textures and use your mold. Document your process and findings. (Bron: Brightspace)
I've tried about 6 different recipes. First I wanted to avoid the gelatine because I don't like eating pork. But when I saw that most recipes in the bioplastic cookbook were with gelatine I did made 2 bioplastics with gelatine because I felt like I needed to try different kinds of recipes. When cooking the gelatine it smelled so bad that I really couldn't stand making more bioplastics from gelatine unfortunately. My molds are digitally finished but I haven't had the time yet to print them out so for now I've just used my petri dished.
For the recipes I've used the Bioplastics Cookbook by Margaret Dunne.
For this recipe I used:
2.7 g glycerine
40 ml water
1.6 g agar
Tulip flower & leaf
I had to make this 4 times to fill up the petri dish enough for the tulip flower. So I actually used this amount of ingredients but then x4
The first thing I did (with every recipe) was greasing the petri dish with vaseline so that the plastic would come off easier after 24 hours when it hardend.
2. Secondly, I poured about 2.7g glycerin into a pot.
3. Unfortunately I didn't have an electric scale so I just guessed that in this teaspoon was about 1.6g Agar
4. I added 40ml of water and started cooking at about medium high heat which was 5 on my electric cooking stove.
5. Beforehand I filled up a petri dish with some tulip leaves and green flower spikes. When the ingredients in the pot became a bit viscous I poured it into the petri dish as quick as possible before it dried. I had to repeat step 1-5, 4 times before the tulip was mostly underneath the liquid:
It got very fragile and it was still a bit wet, maybe because I put the entire petri dish in my garden and it was a bit moist outside. It broke a bit when I tried to take it out.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
For this recipe I've used:
2.7 g glycerin
40 ml water
1.6 g agar
6 ml soap
Tea spoon of kurkuma
20ml of blue Listerine
I also repeated this proces 2 times to have enough to get the petri dish filled. I just forgot to pour in the soap the first time.
Beforehand I filled up a petri dish again with what I wanted to have in the plastic; a small branch with needles on it.
When the ingredients became a bit viscous in the pot I filled up the petri dish. Unfortunately I couldn't get the bubbles out. I poured some of my own natural paint into the petri dish. I did this when I just poured the ingredients into the petri dish and it was still a bit watery. I made blue from Listerine and yellow from kurkuma. I injected this through the open side of the petri dish with some kind of dosage vial.
I like the end result a lot, it looks pretty and it feels very firm and durable.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
For this recipe I've used:
1.8 g glycerine
40 ml water
1.6 g agar
II discovered that using less glycerine made the end result a lot less flexible but it gave it a nice glass-like effect. I like this kind of feel of the material way more than the kind of jelly ones.
But when the ingredients became viscous and I wanted to pour it into the petri dish, I was too slow so i couldn't get it in nicely like the shape of the petri dish. But it came out looking like a butterfly, which was pretty cool.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
Like i've mentioned before I didn't enjoy the smell of the cooked gelatine. I think animal based bioplastic is a bit contradictory. Making plastic from animals is not very environment friendly and the whole idea of bioplastics is to make it environment friendly in my opinion.
For the first gelatine recipe I've used:
30 g glycerin
60 ml water
45 g gelatine
6 ml soap
table spoon of kurkuma & sugar
I've used Kurkuma again to give it some color, this time I used more kurkuma than water so it became more bright yellow. I steered into the pot until it became viscous again and then put it into a petri dish. I forgot to put it outside in the cold so the green stuff you see is mold I think. After this I put it in my garden again and it didn't mold any further after another 24 hours. It's about 3cm thick.
After 24 hours it became very jelly-ish and it still smelled very bad because of the gelatine. The foam on the other side was very soft but it was very firm.
Weirdly enough only the front side (the side which was against the petri dish) is the only side that is from foam, the other side is just kind of jelly. I think this is because I didn't steer it well enough.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
For this recipe I've used about: (I'm not sure exactly anymore)
1.8 ml glycerin
12 g gelatine
60 ml water
table spoon of kurkuma & sugar
It looked the same as recipe 4 but just thinner and more rigid. It also had foam on the front side but not on the back side. This one didn't mold after 24 hours inside the house. Probably because it had a lot less gelatine in it.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
For this recipe I've used:
2.7 g glycerine
1.6 g agar
40 ml water
dried apples & peers
muesli
teaspoon of honey
This is the honey I used:
After 24 hours I took the material out of the petri dish and it looked very breakable, I didn't expect this to happen because I filled it up with a lot of hard stuff like the muesli and dried apples and peers. It did smell very nice and it felt very heavy.
Watch a video of the bioplastic here to get a better experience of it.
