4. Biofabricating Dyes and Materials#
The Industrial Revolution made our world to be driven by consumism. In the pursuit of more consumption, it was necessary to increase the productivity and reduce costs, without taking into account the environmental impact.
Things have changed the last 10 years. The accumulation of non-biodegradable waste in the world became an increasing problem. That’s why researchs and innovations shifted towards developing eco-friendly & biodegradable materials. As I mentioned last assignment, the fashion industry has been highlighted because of how much it is polluting the environment. So now, research and innovations have changed towards wider use of textile fibres that are biodegradable, as well as biodyes, in order to avoid water and environment contamination in the whole process of fabricating garments.
In order to do this, we need to create materials based in natural resources. Biomaterials are biopolymers with innumerable uses. They are a natural resource that allows them to be synthesised and manipulated in order to be used for different needs, as well as being biodegradable, and so they are destroyed by microbes when their use is over. Therefore, the problem of dumping waste materials with synthetic composites, as for example plastic which lasts forever contaminating the environment, can be avoided.
Bioplastics#
Polymer + Plasticiser + Water These are the base of them. Then you need to play and experiment with different recipes to make it work, adding your own material.
FIRST APPROACH:
In my case, I’m interested in recycling food waste, specially the ones of restaurants, in order to make a circular business. That’s why I’ve decided to create bioplastics out of organic (fruit and vegetables) and coffee waste. My idea is to make aprons out of this materials, but in both cases, first I need to find the perfect recipe with the properties I need. My main concern is to find a way to make them resist heat, just because aprons in the kitchen may be exposed to hot temperatures. Though bioplastics are used to melt when they are exposed to hot temperatures, as well as if they have contact with water, so maybe we need to think about some kind of coating that keeps the bioplastics with the same flexibility and other properties. Resin is an option, but still I need to figure out which kind of resin and how to apply it.
I’ve tried with different recipes to find the one that adecuates to my needs.
- Gelatine based:
• 48 grs gelatine • 2 grs glycerin • 240 ml water
Mix everything before boiling. Split the mix Use 44 grs of it and mix it with with 22 grs of fruit /vegetable waste (already blendered) Use 50 grs of it and mix it with 20 grs of coffee
Pour each mix into a flat surface and let them dry for some days
- Agar based:
• 2 grs agar • 250 ml water • 2 grs glycerin • 30 grs levadura (royal powder)
Mix everything before boiling. Split the mix Use 44 grs of it and mix it with with 22 grs of fruit /vegetable waste (already processed) Use 50 grs of it and mix it with 20 grs of coffee
Pour each mix into a flat surface and let them dry for some days.
- Corn starch based:
• 30 grscorn starch • 15 grs glycerin • 150 ml water • 15 ml vinager
Mix everything before boiling. Split the mix Use 44 grs of it and mix it with with 22 grs of fruit /vegetable waste (already processed) Use 50 grs of it and mix it with 20 grs of coffee
Pour each mix into a flat surface and let them dry for some days.
This are the results!
Results & conclusions:
I had some trouble during the drying time. I left the bioplastics drying in a flat surface covered with a piece of fabric, but after some days they where full of mold on top. So it wasn’t possible to reach the final result.
For the next time, using a dehydrator is a must! You can dry them quickly and avoid the mold growing.
Also I realized every mix need to be cooked for some time in order for the water to evaporate, and so the mix will dry faster and avoid getting mold.
-Gelatine based bioplastic with coffee: it needs to have more glycerin in order to be more flexible, because it shrunk as it dried. Though it looks good for doing coffe to go pods, as it is light and it resists fire exposure.
-Gelatine based bioplastic with food waste: still needs to dry some more days, but in order to improve it I think I need to dry the food waste before using it
-Corn starch based bioplastic with coffee: still needs to dry some more days, though in order to improve it I need to boil it more time so the water evaporates. Though it shrunk a little bit and broke in the sides.
-Corn satrch bioplastic with food waste: still needs to dry some more days, though a lot of moho grew on top of it. I think in order to improve I need to dry the food waste before using it and maybe put some more glycerin to give more flexibility and avoid breaking when shrinking.
-Agar based bioplastic with coffee: still needs to dry, though it broke into many pieces. In order to improve it I think its necessary to put more glycerin inside it.
-Agar based bioplastic with food waste: still needs to dry, but it looks good so far.
SECOND APPROACH:
After my conclusion I decided to add some more glycerin to the mix, as it works as a plasticizer and allows it to be more flexible.
- Coffee waste (test 2):
• 230ml water • 20 grs iron substrate • 48 grs gelatine • 20ml of glycerin
Mix everything while warming it in a cooking pot.
Pour the mix into a flat surface and sparkle the coffee on top of it. Then let it dry for some days.
Though this time I tried sprinkling the coffee grains on top of it to give some extra texture, and it was a mistake because some grumes where left on the surface. The problem with this is that when I did some tests, as bending it, it broke where the grume was situated. So it’s preferable to mix it completely as I did the first time.
Also I did some test to check its properties. Here you can see the results!
1) water exposure - √
2) bend it - X it broke where the grume is, though not in the rest of it
3) laser cutting - √ As I want to create a seamless apron, I tried how laser cutting works with it. After some tests, I found the correct parameters to cut it: power 100, speed 0.25, PPI/Hz 1000.
4) hammer blows - √ it is very resistant though it smashed a little bit and became thicker
5) stretching - √
6) fire exposure for 30 seconds - √
Conclusions: I consider this material has a big potential to create aprons for the local coffee shop that provided me the coffee waste, but first I will continue improving the recipe, and test it again with different exposures and treatments.
THIRD APPROACH:
After trying with different recipes I decided to improve the gelatine recipe varying the amount of glycerin. This time recyclying other types organic waste! Also I decided to pour them inside wood frames in order to avoid bending while drying. It’s very important to stick them to a flat surface with tape and prevent dripping. You can laser cut them, though in this case I used some I found in the lab.
- Kiwi peels
• 125 ml water • 25 grs gelatine • 15 grs glycerin • 37 grs kiwi peel
The first step is to mix the water with the kiwi peel and blender it. Once ready, heat it for 3 minutes or till the mix is warm enough. Then add the gelatine and continue stiring for three more minutes. Add the glycerin, pull down the temperature and continue stiring 3 more minutes or till the mix is a bit dense.
Cooking kiwi peel bioplastic from Lara Campos on Vimeo.
Pour the mix into a flat suface with a frame (this is a must to prevent the bioplastic to bend while drying). Take it to the dehydrator for 8 hours at 40 degrees.
- Citrics pulp (orange and grapefruit)
• 125 ml water • 25 grs gelatine • 15 grs glycerin • 88 grs citric pulp
The first step is to mix the water with the pulp. Once ready, heat it for 3 minutes or till the mix is warm enough. Then add the gelatine and continue stiring for three more minutes. Add the glycerin, pull down the temperature and continue stiring 3/4 minutes or till the mix is a bit dense.
Cooking citric pulp bioplastic from Lara Campos on Vimeo.
Pour the mix into a flat suface with a frame (this is a must to prevent the bioplastic to bend while drying). Take it to the dehydrator for 8 hours at 40 degrees.
- Chia & Spirulina
• 175 ml water • 25 grs gelatine • 20 grs glycerin • 2 grs spirulina • 20 grs chia seeds
The first step is to mix the gelatine with the chia seeds and the spirulina (all dry ingredients). Then add with the help of a syringe the water, while continue mixing. This is very important to avoid grumes. Once ready, heat it for 3 minutes or till the mix is warm enough. Then add the glycerin and continue stiring for three more minutes. Pull down the temperature and continue stiring 2/3 minutes or till the mix is a bit dense.
Cooking chia & spirulina bioplastic from Lara Campos on Vimeo.
Pour the mix into a flat suface with a frame (this is a must to prevent the bioplastic to bend while drying). Take it to the dehydrator for 8 hours at 40 degrees.
New material – Yuca flour!
As I was trying different recipes, I decided to try with a new polymer. This is yuca flour, which I use often to cook and allows you to create strong composites. Though the idea was to try with it and check its properties for bioplastics.
- Yuca & ginger
• 175 ml water • 15 grs yuca flour • 20 grs glycerin • 5 grs ginger
The first step is to dry and blender the ginger. Then mix it with the yuca flour (all dry ingredients). Then add with the help of a syringe the water, while continue mixing. This is very important to avoid grumes. Once ready, heat it for 3 minutes or till the mix is warm enough. Then add the glycerin and continue stiring for two more minutes. Pull down the temperature and continue stiring 2 more minutes or till the mix is a bit dense.
Cooking yuca & ginger bioplastic from Lara Campos on Vimeo.
Pour the mix into a flat suface with a frame (this is a must to prevent the bioplastic to bend while drying). Take it to the dehydrator for 10 hours at 40 degrees.
Results:
The gelatine based bioplastics had great results! They are flexible, strong enough, and smooth except from the chia seeds one, that make it texturised. Also they are translucent and kind of glossy.
I leave for future improvements the yuca bioplastic. As I poured it on top on an acrylic surface, and so it remained wet on the bottom and sticked to the surface.
Bio dyes#
In order to discover the natural palette the environment provide to us, we did some dyeings with plants, fruits and vegetables.
In first place you need to weight the fabric you are going to dye. Then, in order to clean the fabrics you have to put them in into warm water with bicarbonato de SOSA - 2 spoons per 4lts.
Afterwards, boil some water in order to cover the fabric, and add alum that works as a mordant. The quantity of alum depends on the fabric weight, so you should add 15% of it. In this case for 38.3 grs of fabric we used 6 grs of alum.
Later, you are able to make an infusion with whatever you want to dye in order to extract the colour of it.
We used different types of materials as you can see in the picture above.
In my case I decided to use mate herbs, typical from my country, and mix it with some curcuma to reach an intense yellow.
Before putting the fabric inside the pot, I strained it.
With it I dyed horse hair, cotton fabric and pinatex.
After extracting some colours, we realized that changing the ph we can obtain different colours from the same material. Specially with cabage, with which you can create many colours.
To change the ph we used lemon, vinegar, coke and sulfato de hierro. It is amazing to see how the colors change!
Here you have a video of one of them!
IMG_2313 from Lara Campos on Vimeo.
Biocomposite#
In Textile as scaffold assignment some research was done about different kind of composites. Combining organic components to create a new material, mainly food waste combined with pine resin as a natural binder. Still on experimentation phase, good results were obtained. A lightweight strong & insoluble in water biocomposite was created!
Going forward with that explorational path, the recipe was improved to reduce the amount of resin and the resistance of it.
A new biocomposite emerged, by adding carnauba wax to give some flexibility to it. Moreover some alcohol was added, as pine resin is soluble in alcohol. This way the binder flows better and an homogeneous mix result from it.
Once the mix was done (in a cooking pot exposed to heat), it was poured into a wood squared mold and pressed with another piece of wood on top till it dried completely.
It is very important to put some cooking paper on top of the mold to avoid the biocomposite to stick to it. Otherwise, another technique is to create the negative of your mold with wood, and cast it out of silicone. Pine resin stick to almost everything instead of this two.
During the explorational path, an alginate mold was a potential option to avoid the use of non biodegradable materials. Though it shrinked a lot after drying, so it was decided to use wood instead.
Recipes:
The first recipe was done with differnt types of organic matter to test their resistance, weight and aesthetic, combined with pine resin.
This are the results!
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palm leaves
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sawdust
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pine cones
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coconut shell
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orange peel
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orange peel
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orange peel
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citric’s pulp
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avocado bone’s peel
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edamame peel
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mate herbs
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sesame and milk
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sesame
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coffee
The second phase involved just coffee and mate herbs as the organic matter component, as they result lighter than the rest, probably due to the fact that they are more processed than other elements so more amount of organic matter and less of pine resin can be used. In this stage, it was also tested the implementation of different components such as corn starch, agar, glicerine, alcohol and carnauba wax to the mix, and analyze the results.
The onces with carnauba wax tended to have a matte aesthetic, and to be the stronger onces. This is because pine resin behave similar than caramel, being weak to any knock, and carnauba wax add some flexibility to the mix to make it more resistant.
The weight of the samples vary depending on their composition, but keeping the volume of the mold (5x5x1.5 cm):
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pine resin 28 grs. + coffee 7 grs. + glycerin 3 grs. = 27 grs.
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pine resin 28 grs. + coffee 7 grs. + glycerin 5 grs. = 28 grs.
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pine resin 28 grs. + coffee 7 grs. + glycerin 12 grs. = 29 grs.
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pine resin 15 grs. + coffee 12 grs. + carnauba 5 grs. = 26 grs.
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pine resin 15 grs. + coffee 12 grs. + corn starch 5 grs. = 30 grs.
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pine resin 7 grs. + coffee 15 grs. + alcohol 15 grs. + corn starch 5 grs. = 30 grs.
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pine resin 12 grs. + mate herbs 10 grs. + alcohol 12 grs. = 15 grs.
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pine resin 12 grs. + mate herbs 10 grs. + alcohol 12 grs. + glycerin 3ml = 14 grs.
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pine resin 15 grs. + mate herbs 20 grs. + alcohol 15 grs. + carnauba wax 5 grs. = 20 grs.
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pine resin 15 grs. + mate herbs 20 grs. + alcohol 15 grs. + carnauba wax 5 grs. + glycerin 2ml. = 17 grs.
Final recipe:
According to the tests, sample number 9 was chosen as the best recipe and replied in a bigger scale (x10).
• Mate herbs (recycled) 200 grs.
• Pine resin 150 grs.
• Alcohol 150 grs.
• Carnauba wax 50 grs.
The weight of the biocomposite of dimensions 14.5x13.6x2 is 288grs.
It was dried and tested in the CNC milling machine, with amazing results. It’s very hard and resistant.
√ missing to upload the video milling test
Some coatings where also tested, but none of those had the desired finish. These were olive oil, coconut oil & bees wax. Then, it was decided to live it as it was.
Biocomposite properties:
• biodegradable
• strong (doesn’t splinters, can be cnc milled)
• soluble in alcohol, insoluble in water
• very flamable
Making off#
Two squared wood mold were built in order to pour the biocomposite inside. Those were made with 1 cm wood, cutted with the saw and sticked with glue for wood. The molds were 30x30 cm and had 1 cm walls for the composite thickness.
Before doing the mix, some calculations were made (having in mind the sample volume, recipe and weight) to have the exact weight of each piece as well as the quantity of material needed.
The final recipe was replied, this time considering the volume of the mold.
As the sample’s volume is 394,4 cm3 and weights 288 grs, each square of 900 cm3 (30x30x1cm), it will weight 657,2 grs. aprox.
As the sample’s volume is 394,4 cm3 and involves 200 grs of mate herbs, each square of 900 cm3 (30x30x1cm) will take 456,4 grs. of mate herbs aprox.
As the sample’s volume is 394,4 cm3 and involves 150 grs of pine resin, each square of 900 cm3 (30x30x1cm) will take 342,3 grs. of resin aprox.
As the sample’s volume is 394,4 cm3 and involves 150 grs of alcohol, each square of 900 cm3 (30x30x1cm) will take 342,3 grs. of alcohol aprox.
As the sample’s volume is 394,4 cm3 and involves 50 grs of carnauba wax, each square of 900 cm3 (30x30x1cm) will take 114,1 grs. of wax aprox.
Mix all the ingredients in a cooking pot while heating, and pour the mix with some globes inside the molds. Put a piece of wood on top and press it as it dries.
Next step was to mill the pieces using the render design done in Rhino and set up the parameters for the RhinoCam.
Bacteria dyeing#
Inoculation on fabrics
There are many types of bacteria which will imprint colour on fabrics, though you can work with two main types: class 1 and 2 or class A and B. To feed the bacteria and keep it alive you need to pour some agar cooled to a jelly film on a petri dish which has been sterilized in a pressure cooker. To feed the bacteria in the dyeing stage you need to use liquid broth to soak the fibres from the fabrics so that the colour can be absorved by the fibers. It is important to mention that dyeing with bacteria has many variables in the process that you can’t control. The bacteria trace follows food and oxygen levels and leaves a trail of colour. Therefore, some bacteria dyes within 2 days and will need constant inoculation to continue growing. It’s very important to follow lab rules and security cautions.
In order to try some bacteria dyeing, we grow Serratia bacteria in petri dishes, and following lab cautions and instructions we make it colonized other petri dish in which we put a piece of folded fabric (white chiffon). It is very important to use gloves, alcohol and fire to clean the area, and to be fast with your movements while manipulating the bacteria from one petri dish to another. Also, we add some ‘food’ (vegetable soup) to make it grow faster. This bacteria has the natural condition of growing and dyeing with pink colour.
Serratia marcescens bacteria which is a class B or pathogenic bacteria for our dyeing process, so extra precautions should be taken.
Step by step:
• Stich on your fabric making a pattern (sucha as shibori; make sure it is of vegetal or animal origin)
• Place petri dish in pressure cooker to sterilize (you may want to use a plastic autoclave bag to place your petri and don’t close it too tightly)
• Use a portable camping gas fuse to create a sterile “dome” or “halo” to work around
• Sterilize your working area, tools and gloves with isopropyl alcohol
• Swiftly open the petri with inoculated bacteria and swab
• Save the petri dish in the incubator for some days till the dyeing is ready.
This are some pictures of the results!
Kombucha (Scoby) Leather#
Ingredients:
• 1000 ml water
• 2 bags green cafeinated tea
• 100 grs cane sugar
• 1 mother culture (scoby - you can find this at most health food stores)
• dash of vinegar (if mother juice is not used)
Process:
-Boil distilled water and brew tea
-Add sugar and vinegar and stir until dissolved
-Strain tea with double mesh to get a clean batch (you can also clean the surface of the tea on your recepient/mold with a non-fibrous tissue)
-Wait until cooled
-Add mother scoby
-Cover recepient/mold with a natural woven cloth
-Use clips or rubber bands to segure edges
-Wait two weeks and repeat process with your growing scoby to thicken it
-Once you reach optimal thickness you ay remove the scoby and place it on a mold to create a shape or place it on a wooden board
-Rest the wooden board vertically so the water can drain from the scoby
-Once it is dry enough (2days) use a natural wax (soy) or oil (coconut) to keep it from wrinkling as it dries
This are some pictures of the results! Beautiful and organic kombucha leather.
