4. FISH LEATHER AND HIBISCUS DYE ON BIOPLASTIC Biofabricating Dyes and Materials#

My work this week is related to the development of Bio plastic and Fish leather.

FISH LEATHER#

Amazonic Fish “paiche” jacket for HER BAD HABIT

Mood#

Research#

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT: Would you wear shoes made of fish?#

Most of every fish taken out of the ocean is thrown away, but there’s cash in finding ways to use the waste

Nike made running shoes from perch leather

Fish leather has been making a splash on international runways for a few years.

Christian Dior, Prada and Nike have all been experimenting with fish leather products, from shoes to handbags. It’s part of a growing worldwide movement to reduce waste in commercial fisheries and to make more money using less fish.

OSKLEN F/W 17 Collection See What Sustainable Fashion Label Osklen Has For FW17

https://www.thecoolhour.com/2017/03/osklen-fw17-collection/

For those following innovation in sustainable fisheries development, it probably comes as no surprise that these fashion houses are getting their fish leather from Iceland.

“Iceland is focused on value from the entire fish,” said Carey Bonnell, head of the School of Fisheries at the Marine Institute in St. John’s.

“They have a strategy right now in Iceland to get more value from the traditional waste stream than from the fillet. That’s a paradigm shift for them and for the industry as a whole,” he said in an interview.

Carey Bonnell is the head of the Marine Institute’s School of Fisheries. He comes from a long line of fishermen in Forrester’s Point on the Northern Peninsula. (Sarah Smellie/CBC) “They plan to get more from the oils from the skins, from the heads from the livers, to go into pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and biomedical type applications, skincare products, you name it.”

Using more of the fish byproducts – the parts of the fish that normally go in the garbage — is all part of Iceland’s efforts to make more money with less fish, particularly with cod.

It’s a strategy Bonnell hopes will adopted in Newfoundland and Labrador as the cod slowly comes back.

Bonnell says the real driving force behind Iceland’s innovation with byproducts is the Iceland Ocean Cluster Centre, in Reykjavík’s old harbour. It’s a home to researchers and an incubator for seafood companies who are working to get more value from each fish pulled from the water.

“As we get critical mass, as we get scale, as our stocks continue to rebound – we hope – that’s the kind of model we need to look at in terms of full utilization, maximizing production, maximizing value per kilo of catch. Doing more with less.”

Reebok 25th anniversary collaborative version of “Workout” model shoes made of “tilapia fish leather”

The Process#

Step 1. Go to you local market, ask nicely to the fishermen working there if they can spare you some nice pieces of leather skin, clean, and with less cuts you can get In my case I used Salmon skin since it´s one of the most common/available/price convenient I could get there, also because the pieces have a good size.

Step 2. Wash the fish skin carefully and delicately, take away all the flesh residuals they can be to void decomposition scraping the excess flesh from the skin using a fleshing knife, wash it several times until it´s completely clean

Step 3. Soak fish skins in a pickling brine with a mix of 50% glycerine 50% ethanol and shake with strenght the container every hour for a day, this allows the solution to get into the skin. Repeat this operation for the next 2 days, making sure the fish skin it´s not wrinkled or folded

Step. 4 After leaving the fish skin inside the container and shaking it take it out and dry it from the mix with a cloth or paper, making sure there´s no residuals and let it dry in a dry place, you can place some books or weight over it to keep it straight.

HIBISCUS DYE AND BIOPLASTIC#

My project with the hibiscus dye was inspired in blood. to create RED BLOOD CELLS print like over BIO PLASTIC, this project was inspired by artist´s Anish Kapoor exhibition Shooting into the Corner and Russian artist Dmitry Morosov

Mood#

Research#

Red blood cells, also known as RBCs, red cells, red blood corpuscles, haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek erythros for “red” and kytos for “hollow vessel”, with -cyte translated as “cell” in modern usage), are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate’s principal means of delivering oxygen (O2) to the body tissues—via blood flow through the circulatory system. RBCs take up oxygen in the lungs, or gills of fish, and release it into tissues while squeezing through the body’s capillaries.

DMITRY MOROZOV “Until I die”#

This artist powers batteries with his own blood

A sound installation “Until I die”by Dmitry Morozov runs on energy generated by the artist’s blood

Moscow-based media artist Dmitry Morozov, known at vtol, has spent 18 months collecting enough of his own blood to power an electronic sound installation. Until I die consists of five batteries, together powering a synth module that plays generative sound compositions via a small speaker. Each of these batteries, however, is made up of 11 storage tanks full of Morozov’s blood – 4.5 litres in total, diluted to seven litres and mixed with preserving agents. The project hinges on the basis that blood contains enough minerals to serve as an effective electrolyte. Copper and aluminum metals were used as anode and cathode respectively, with each battery able to generate around 0.6 V. Together, the five batteries generate 3 V and a current intensity of 1000mAh – enough to power a sound module and speaker, thanks to voltage converters and buffer capacitors.

In his summary of the project, Morozov notes the influence of eighteenth-century Italian physicist Luigi Galvani, who pioneered the field of bioelectricity thanks to the accidental discovery that the muscles of dead frogs’ legs twitch when struck by electricity.

::vtol:: until I die from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.

The artist also nods to the work of Russian scientist Alexander Bogdanov, who founded the Soviet Union’s Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. “In the 1920s he dedicated himself to improving the technology of blood transfusion, which he viewed not only as a medically necessary life-saving procedure but also as a metaphysical act yielding a brotherhood of blood among revolutionaries and, later, among all the citizens of a new and progressive nation,” writes Morozov. In 1908, Bogdanov published a science fiction novel, Red Star. Morozov says this is where the scientist “first described his ideas about the possibility of achieving immortality and eternal youth through blood transfusion”. (An idea that, ironically, still refuses to die)

“He was not only a physician and scientist but also a philosopher and communist ideologue,” adds Morozov. “He actually put his studies into practice, verging on occultism; his practices were more closely related to Soviet mysticism than to medicine. In many respects my installation is a similar metaphysical act, but between man and machine rather than between human beings.”

ANISH KAPOOR “Shooting into the Corner”#

“Shooting into the Corner” consists of a cannon developed by Kapoor together with a team of engineers. A pneumatic compressor shoots 11-kilogram balls of wax into the corner across the room; all in all, 20 tons of wax will be “fired away” throughout the exhibition run. Loud aggression on the one hand and silent growth on the other give the piece tension, sensuality, and compelling power.

In “Past, Present, Future”, by contrast, material is taken off. A motor-driven steel plate peels off layer after layer of a blood-red huge hemisphere of wax with one move of the arm taking a full hour.

A similar principle is used in the object “Push-Pull II” which also consists of a semicircle and a cut-out rectangle. Here, too, material is removed, but the oversized metal scraper moves across the mass of wax a couple of times only before it is locked in position with a metal suspension.

“Shadow Corner” again is a work in progress that plays on the encounter of a square and a semicircular segment. A negative form is continuously hollowed out by an automatic arm in an extremely slow movement.

Confrontation with the public is becoming increasingly more important for Kapoor. Despite the apparently simple shapes, viewers are unsettled in their perception and forced to complement, or continually relativize, their impressions with new views over and again.

MAK - Shooting into the Corner - Anish Kapoor from ZONE Media on Vimeo.

WHY IS FASHION STILL SLEEPING ON ALL-NATURAL DYES?#

The pigments stem from Earth-friendly materials, are supply chain-ready and do wonders to eliminate wastewater. So why isn’t every manufacturer using them?

Every shade on the color wheel is accounted for at Audrey Louise Reynold’s Brooklyn dyehouse, where tangy, lemon-yellow cottons sit alongside powdery pinks and frosty blues. The hues are so vivid that, at first glance, you probably wouldn’t guess that they came from some of the best stuff on Earth.

Reynolds is self-taught in the purest sense: She began playing with all-natural dyes — in her case, the ink that plants emit when compressed — when she was a toddler. “As soon as I could walk, I would be going out into the garden, dragging plants inside and pushing them onto the wall,” she says. In 2010, The New York Times dubbed her “the fashion world’s artisanal dyer,” and she has the industry credentials to back up the title.

Her clientele range from indie labels like Kaelen and The Elder Statesman to veritable giants like Nike and J.Crew, and she now has her own line of gorgeous, completely scalable dyes carried at Whole Foods, various fashion retail stores and her own online shop.

The dyes that have become the tenets of her business — minerals, seaweed, squid ink, coral, shells, plankton, flowers and soil — are the same that stained her clothing as a 2-year-old.

Dangers surrounding synthetic and artificial dyes have been splicing into the news cycle for decades, but only recently have influential industry players acknowledged all-natural dyes as viable substitutes.

Textile dying and treatment is the second-largest polluter in the world, only usurped by agriculture and, with it, big oil. In a 2014 report, the World Bank estimated that textile production is responsible for up to one-fifth of industrial water pollution globally, with the emission of as many as 72 toxic chemicals reaching the water supply. Once the synthetic materials reach the wastewater being dispersed from manufacturers, they heat the water, increase its pH and saturate it with those chemicals that left the factory; from there, they can go on to seep into fish or farmland upstream.

This effect can be seen most egregiously in Southwest China’s Pearl River. An inky blue discharge, indigo, bleeds into the South China Sea from the denim mills in Xingtang. Xingtang makes roughly two-thirds of the world’s denim clothing annually — the local plants employ up to 220,000 people — but the pollution and resulting labor conditions are so dire that, according to Chinadialogue, many lifelong Xingtang residents are refusing to work in the factories.

It’s not as if environmental precautions haven’t been installed to combat the hazardous consequences of wastewater. China enacted its own legislations in 1979 with its Environmental Protection Law, while its Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law came five years later. After a string of pollution accidents, including the toxic Songhua River benzene spill in 2005, China amended its legislature to avert such incidents.

But rising raw material and labor costs, among other factors, have generated a demand for something better, easier and safer within textile production. Natural dyes fulfill nearly all of these requirements, with benefits to spare, and have only just begun to be embraced by mainstream manufacturers. Just this May, Cotton Incorporated linked up with Swiss dye specialist Archroma to collaborate on a pigment created from cotton plant residues, the first of its kind.

As an early adopter of natural dyes and washes, Patagonia has long partnered with Swisstex California to dye its T-shirts. According to a 2011 report, Swisstex’s facility uses natural gas as its energy source, consuming half as much energy as an average dyehouse in the U.S. and 80 percent less than the average dyehouse in Asia. The retailer has also been explicit about its supply chain partners for years, very rigorously vetting them and listing them for consumer perusal on its website.

On Wednesday, Patagonia took its commitment to natural dyes to new heights with the launch of its Clean Colors Collection, a line of five women’s and seven men’s styles dyed entirely by plant-based dyes — like the by-products of food waste, dried beetles and the excrements of silkworms — as well as Archroma’s patented EarthColors, or biosynthetic dyes made from agricultural waste.

“Dyeing has been a key area of focus for us as a company for a long time,” Sarah Hayes, Patagonia’s Senior Material Research & Innovation Manager, tells me over the phone from the West Coast. “We look at it from a water-intensive process and also look at chemical safety.” Patagonia’s mission statement — “build the best product; cause no unnecessary harm” — guides every facet of the company decision-making. Natural dyes require patience along every step of the production cycle, as well as cooperation with the appropriate supply chain partner.

“Once the dye is created, you still need to bring it to the textile mill that’s going to do the dyeing,” says Hayes. “They need to make sure their equipment is set up to run it. It can take a couple of trials to optimize the process, and it takes us a little while to pick our colors. It always takes us longer than we wish it would, but it’s a journey.”

Hayes explains how, at Patagonia, much of the preparatory legwork involved extensive research, followed by lengthy testing; not all natural resources are created equal, even if they’re plucked straight from the ground.

“They were used for thousands of years and they come from renewable resources, but they also come with their complications, and we want to make sure we’re being responsible and making the most responsible decision about what resources are being used,” she says. Patagonia’s production team works closely with its supply-chain partner Esquel, a global textile and apparel manufacturer based out of Hong Kong, on everything from the machinery that’s running the dyes to any extra chemicals that bind the dye to the fabric.

Reynolds, whose business is lauded for this very attention to detail, is the singular driving force behind her production and sources primarily from “really tiny, family-owned farms. ” Even when she works with her heavier-handed clients, the process begins with the story. “They want to create something that’s viable for press, something that sets them apart from producing in a factory,” she says. She gives the example of a company that is inspired by the ocean, but nothing in their line is natural or from the sea itself.

“I’ll say, ‘Okay, I have an idea,” she says. “I’ll go to the ocean and get ocean water and use it as my dye base for the water, and then we’ll use algae and squid ink and things from the sea, things that actually, literally evoke the same story that they’re trying to impart.”

For her larger clients, Reynolds’ fees start at a baseline with all of her stock colors and prices factored in; she then shows them how they can create a custom hue that can match any Pantone color, but that comes at a development charge. In the case of the latter, not only does it take time, but it’s also expensive, meaning there’s a barrier to entry for much of the fashion world.

“It’s not simple,” says Hayes. “The way the industry’s evolved and [the way] supply chain partners are set up for maximum efficiency, price is kind of king. It’s easier and faster and cheaper to run the synthetic dyes that we’ve been running.”

Consumers have grown used to their garments looking, feeling and acting a certain way. Though Reynolds has worked with clients to replicate even the sharpest Pantone shades, the range of colors available with synthetic dyes is much wider. “I feel like customers have gotten used to the rainbow of colors that’s been available,” says Hayes. “When you dye with a natural dye, they do have different properties.” Hayes mentions that natural dyes can fade in the sun, which could be a dealbreaker for shoppers looking for their clothes to remain ageless.

With those like Reynolds leading the charge — and with Patagonia now on board — it can be expected that fashion will incorporate natural dyes more in the seasons ahead. Ideally, Reynolds sees that taking the form of a choice that brands — even those with mass production needs — can make in the production stage, where natural dyes are included in chemical dyehouses alongside synthetic ones.

She’s also in the process of developing a catalog of natural dyers around the world, which she hopes will come to fruition in the next five-to-10 years. “I’m trying to vet the system and see, how can we form some sort of guild or alliance between us that helps natural dyeing stay at a reasonable price,” she says.

Hayes believes that the consumer needs to show an interest in natural dyes for the brands to fully invest, because it is an investment. But to do that, the consumer has to fully learn why they should care. “It might [involve] re-educating the consumer to a degree, producing clothes with natural dyes that look really great and will help adjust viewpoints,” she says. “If the customer’s asking for things, then the industry will bring it to them.”

Doing so will not only better the environment, but will also allow for experienced dyers like Reynolds — and those small businesses she uses for her sourcing — to thrive. “There’s so many people in our daily lives that work super hard, so I just want to create a huge platform to support artists and artisans and fiber farmers, and people who give a shit.”

Audrey Louise Reynolds, A Fashionable Selby Film from the selby on Vimeo.

Important information HOW TO MAKE NATURAL DYES FROM PLANTS#

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-natural-fabric-red-dyes-2145745

Materials#

RED HIBISCUS DYE

1. half kilo of hibiscus petals dehidrated

2. 1000 ml of water

BIOPLASTIC

1. 25 GR. of Gelatine

2. 20 ml of Glycerine

3. 125 ml of water

The Process#

Step1. Boil with low temperature the Hibiscus petals in the water until all the dye comes out of them and the water is almost black red, it might take between 20 or 30 minutes, this is a very easy process and the Hibiscus has a very high density and it´s a very strong tipe of BIO dye.

This is the color of the dye just made, the intensity of the red is amazing, really shiny and very deep.

Step2. For the Bio Plastic put the water to boil also in very low temperature together with the gelatine while stirring, make sure not to leave any bubbles.

Step3. The stir it over a tray with the height and lenght you need. Put some drops or mix it with the Hibiscus dye according to the pattern or color you want to achieve. Let it dry between 2 or 3 days.