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6. BioFabricating Materials: Good Enough To Eat

Date Night Earrings

This week we are biofabricating materials!

I have some dates that are about to expire so I thought why not make fruit leather out of them and turn them into edible earrings or jewelry? Edible date night earrings when you just want to nibble on your date's ear! Guaranteed to get you into or out of any sticky situation

Ideas

  1. Edible clothing and jewelry
  2. Discarded schoolpapers Handmade paper
  3. Discarded clothing handmade paper
  4. Lemon Leathers?
  5. Bioplastics

Experiment 1: Making Date Night Earrings! Fruit Leather From Dates

Ingredients - 1.5 cup dates chopped and pitted - 2 small slices of Lemon - 1 tsp apple cider vinegar - water

Step 1: Chop and pit your dates

Step 2: Place dates in a blender with water, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.

Step 3: Heat over medium high heat until a smooth consistency

Step 4: Smooth mixture and place on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 140 degrees F overnight

Step 5: Peel, In my case this was an epic failure. The product fell apart and tasted terrible.

Experiment 2: Making Paper with Kids

Step 1: Tear up bits of scrap paper and place in a tub to sit overnight. Or 3 nights if you forget about it and get busy. By far the boys favorite part.

Step 2: Blend up your paper bits and water in a household blender.

Step 3: Remove excess water from your paper slurry. I didn't have a window frame available but i had an old pair of pantyhouse that I placed over the plastic bins

Step 4: Place paper slurry on a surface to dry

Step 5: Press and roll out paper slush try to get a uniform width

Step 6: Press into cookie cutter paper shapes if desired

Step 7: Blot out excess moisture with a towel

Step 8: Grow impatient and try to dry your paper with a blowdryer

Step 9a: Add extra water and reform paper when it starts to fall apart because of your agressive blowdrying. Step 9b: Learn patience my child and allow to sit overnight

Step 10: Realize your homemade paper is a very ugly shade akin to a veggie burger patty. Vow to use a more uniform paper color next time!

Now all kids scrap schoolwork can be made into handmade paper! When, of course, you turn into Martha Stewart and have a full time staff!

Experiment 3: Agar Agar BioPLastic

Ingredients - 40 g distilled water - 10 g Glycerin - 3 g Agar Agar - 1 g tumeric powder for fun and color!

Tools - 1 stainless steel pot - 1 digital scale - 1 blender - 1 measuring cup - 1 mixing spoon - 1 flat surface to cast on (I used a silicon baking mat)

Procedure - Measure ingredients and place in a pan - Stir together and heat over high heat until boiling - Realize your internet has gone out so you don't have the recipe - Improvise and Place mixture on flat silicon baking mat when it looks like it has congealed - Add 1 g of tumeric and smear it into your mixture - Add a lego into mixture for texture and curiosity - Clean up your pots and pans your mother doesn't live here and if she did she'd make you clean up your mess too! - Let sit overnight

Experiment 4: Grow your Own Materials

Coming Soon!

Lessons Learned

  1. Use a more uniform paper color for paper making
  2. Do not use aluminum foil to make fruit leather
  3. Dates are delicious date fruit leather is not
  4. More time in the oven does not make date fruit leather any better
  5. Don't be afraid to use the blender for bizarre things
  6. When in doubt improvise
  7. Write recipe down in case of internet failure
Last update: November 17, 2020