Project Development¶

My final project Glacial Bio Pottery was a whirlwind of fun troubleshooting and working on a very tight/non-exsistant budget of material research and process research to reformulate the porcelain slip casting process to be bio/waste material based. Beginning with the material investigation to then apply to the process development.

Project Timeline¶

I am more of a list person when it comes to organizing my workflow for a project and writing out each step on paper to then have the satisfaction of crossing things out once I have completed something. However, doing the GAANT layout helped me visualize the timeline I need to follow inorder to stay in check be sucessful. I have things organized more as goals/deadlines for different milestones of my project.

GAANT layout inspired by Olatz

Project Proposal¶

First Process: A - B - C - D¶

Taking inspiration from Mimmi Blomqvist ceramic casting process I looked into knit forms to casting a biomaterial in to then use for making a mold to then make a casting in the mold. This process involoved a lot of testing on textile and bio material compatibility and bio material to bio material compatibility.

Some recipe books and sites I used for recipe inspiration and reference to get started with:
BioPlastic Cook Book
Recipies for Material Activism
The Chemarts Cook Book
Nature Lab RISD

A - B (Textile and Casting)¶

Knit swatches and Forms¶

Below are the swatches I had made with how it was made, stitch pattern, and notes when using for making test tiles:

The goal of these swatches and forms were to see how compatible plaster and biomaterials are with the textiles with minimal leakage,ease in removing the biomaterial from textile, and reusability of the textile. The video below demonstrated how this compatibility went.

Tile and casting Tests¶

For the test tiles I laser cut frams to pour into with this file I made:
Tile laser cut file

  Laser Cut Settings:  
  Speed: 9  
  Power: 100  
  Frequency: 10

Noted that if I were to make them again I would've laser cut them with acrylic instead of wood so they wouldn't warp over time.

Machine Knit Trouble Shooting¶

For the machine knit swatches I had some troubleshooting to over come because of my laziness to double check what the tension needed to be set at. So until I looked up the correct tension settings I was having issues with my carriage getting stuck because the stitches were too tight. But the Brother KH950 Manual was what I should have looked at before starting to get a proper refresher.

Test documentation:

And below is a recap video of the demolding of all the tile pieces.

Favorite recipe tests:

C - D (Molds and Casting)¶

To save space for photos on my gitlab I documented the recipe tests for molds and castings HERE.
Some key notes/take aways from the main tests I did:

C) Egg Gelatin mold: A bit thin/not fully dried and had some seperation with there being too much water. And not frozen when poured into. D) Egg Gelatin Casting: Nice pour, but because of the thin walls of the mold it melted through and no sticking thanks to a soaping coating

C) Sand Mold: Gelatin and water didn't really bind to the sand so there was a lot of leaking through when making the mold. D) Sand Casting: Stuck to mold even with a soap coating

C) Carrot Clay mold: Very sticky, but still crumbly. D) Egg Gelatin Casting: Ok pour. Too much water that caused it to seperate

With little eggshells to work with I looked at other food waste options and came across how to make Black Bean Tofu. I used the tofu recipe for pours in the cups and the excess "pulp" or waste from the tofu process to incorperate into the mold

With all the eggshell donations I had started to aquire a large collection of eggcartons that turned into me exploring their possibility of using the pulp to make the molds with. At first the castings were sticking to the dry molds. So I played around with coating the inside of the mold with dish soap, then aquafaba, and then tested what it would be like to freeze the mold and that proved to be the most sucessful

Coating Molds Test Summary:

Coating	Application	Result
Dish Soap	Brushed	Good Release
Aquafaba	Soak	Hit or Miss
Freezing	Freeze	Good Release

Evaluating Process¶

A (Textile):
- Sticking: bio material getting stuck in stitches and hairiness of fiber
- Time consuming for development
- Textiles were resuable and washable
B (Casting):
- Picked up textures nicely
- Hard to remove from textiles
- Used a lot bio-material
C (Molds):
- Melted or deformed when used for casting
- Used A LOT of bio-material
- Deformation of pulp molds when dried in dehydrator at 70C
D (Casting):
- Bio-material fuzing with no release agent
- Pulp sticks to casting
- Solid form that uses a lot of bio-material and not a vessel form

Recycling¶

When I was starting to run low on eggshells I looked into if it was possible to recycle my tests like one can with a "normal" clay body. With clay you just soad down an unfired piece to recyle it, but with the gelatin based recipes I had to use boil hot water to begin the disolving process of the gelatin.

Process¶

Indgredients

Gelatin based casting
Essentail Oil
Boiling H2O
Pot
Stove top
Spoon
Prepared mold

Process

Bring water to a boil in a pot
Add gelatin based castings to recyle
Add a few drops of essential oil
Let dissolve
Let it boil down to a liquidy paste
Pour into a new mold
Demold and let dry fully

Results:
- Egg geltain only
- Really easy to recycle
- Egg gelatin + sand
- Sand would settle at the bottom
- Egg gelatin + ash
- Ash wouldn't settle as much as sand but with the amount of gelatin that were in the orginal castings it had a pretty strong smell
- Sugar gelatin
- Really hard to recycle
- Salt gelatin
- Really hard to recycle too

Revising the Process¶

After reflecting on the ABCD process I looked for ways to revise it to be more economical with the materials I had. I also changed my focus from knitting to felting and sewing/quilting as I could have more "control" of the forms I wanted to cast. I first tested just having an AB process, but came across some complications with the bio material sticking to the felt. Then revised again and went forward with the ABC process that I used for my final pieces.

A - B¶

A (Felting Samples)¶

I first started felting with raw wool that I wet felted and then machine felted and did different thickness tests to see if it would impact the leakage of any bio material.

B (Casting Tests)¶

At this time we were without a coffee grinder for me to grind my eggshells with and so I played around more with potato starch and salt based recipes with sand as a filler. Which were documented HERE under the Salt & Starch tab.

Different Potato Starch and Salt Casting Tests

The biggest issue was the hairiness of the felt getting caught and ripping the biomaterial as the felt was peeled off.

I did do one undocumented test of pouring into a frozen felted mold, but that will need to be revisted to get more reliable tests to compare.

A - B - C¶

Mid Term Presentation¶

A (Sand Stuffed Felted Form)¶

The forms I tested with were hand cut and sewn felted scraps I had from my earlier tests and some industrial made craft felt. I stuffed them with sand to give them volume for when I would make molds with them.

B (Frozen Molds)¶

The paper pulp molds I had been testing with before were dried out in the dehydrator and then used for casting to then be put in the freezer to set the castings. This involved using clamps and coating the molds with dish soap or aquafaba so the castings wouldn't rip off the paper pulp. I then wondered what would happen if I were to freeze the mold which the pulp was still wet and the results were just what I was looking for. A 1 part mold that I could cast in, set the casting without having to put it back in the freezer, and just let defrost to demold. I was still having issues with the pulp sticking, but not as badely and then when doing the final dishes set realized that I could "coat" the inside of the mold with strips of cardboard to the peel off after casting.

Process 1 is with the dry molds and Process 2 is with the wet molds

Materials

Paper waste
Hot or cold water
Buckets
Hand mixer
Strainer
Cup
Flour clay
Mold frame
Sponge

Process1

Shred/tear up paper waste
Soak with hot or cold water for a few hours or overnight in bucket
Use hand mixer to blend up. Add more water if it gets too thick
Have mold frame prepared before hand with seams sealed with flour clay and felted form in the right position
Scoop a cup of paper pulp into the strainer that will drain into another bucket
Press out as much water as possible, but not so much that it becomes super dry
Take damp pulp and press into mold frame around the felted form
Repeat 5-8 until the felted form have about 1-1.5 inches of pulp covering it
Compact the pulp mold with a sponge to soak up any excess water
Flip mold frame over onto another moveable surface
Remove mold frame walls
Pull out the felted form carefully
Smooth out any cracks
Put in dehydrator at 40C overnight
Clamp together after dry
Coat interior with soap
Put in freezer overnight before using for casting

Process2

Shred/tear up paper waste
Soak with hot or cold water for a few hours or overnight in bucket
Use hand mixer to blend up. Add more water if it gets too thick
Have mold frame prepared before hand with seams sealed with flour clay and felted form in the right position
Scoop a cup of paper pulp into the strainer that will drain into another bucket
Press out as much water as possible, but not so much that it becomes super dry
Take damp pulp and press into mold frame around the felted form
Repeat 5-8 until the felted form have about 1-1.5 inches of pulp covering it
Compact the pulp mold with a sponge to soak up any excess water
Flip mold frame over onto another moveable surface
Remove mold frame walls
Pull out the felted form carefully
Smooth out any cracks
Put in freezer overnight or until ready to cast with

C (Casting tests)¶

The ratio and casting tests I did started with the dry molds, but then adapted to the frozen molds. The recipies can be found HERE and have detailed notes of each test. The goal of the ratio tests were to find the right consistency and timing for building a sturdy wall thickness and which fillers I wanted to use with the gelatin. Here is when I explored casting with sugar, marbling eggshells and ash, and salt recipies.

Final Process¶

Go to Final Process

Storytelling¶

There was a lot of revising that went into the storytelling of my project to incorrperate the concepts of connection, knowlege sharing, and the climate crises.

Video Message¶

I had read Andri Snær Magnason's book On Time and Water to gain a different perspective about how to talk about the climate crisis. I really resonated and was inspired by his concept about what your "life time" is and how it spans across those you interact with from you grandparents to your grandchildern. Here is a quote that speaks to this concept:

    "Imagine your time. I was born in 2008, and you'll know a person who'll 
    still be alive in 2260 That's the length of time you connect, more than 
    250 years. The time you can touch with your own hands. Your time is the 
    time of the people you know and love, the time that molds you. And your 
    time is also the time of the people you will know and love. The time 
    that you will shape. Everything you do matters. You create the future 
    every single day." (pg139)

In addition to the quote I have been very inspired by Iceland's glaciers throughout this whole project and reflected on what it might be like to have a conversation/get advice from a glacier. And so I materialized a story that connected my glacial inspiration and material resources with the act of knowlegde sharing the Bio-Pottery process and incorrperating the concerns of climate change.

Storyboard and Script¶

The letter was a big part in paying homage to our glaciers and the advice or inspiration they have given me by observing and researching them. The letter also speaks to the evolution of craft and is a call to action to explore to grow to community of bio-potters and see what local resources they can utilize for this accessabile nomadic process of "slip casting ceramics".

The Letter:

Dear Friend,

Look at these bio-pottery dishes I made. 
They materialize our connection with our local resources and
evolution of craft across time. 
May these glacial bio-pottery dishes inspire you…

… to carve your own path

… to layer and build the memories that shape you

… to keep moving under your pressures

… to not fight what you cannot control

… to be vocal in your progress

… to give as much as you take

… and to build a reservoir of knowledge to inspire others

Now look and explore what local resources you can use to make
your own bio-pottery.

Best,  
Alice Sowa

Filming¶

The filming of process only took an evening. I had Sigurgeir Thoroddson be my actor while I filmed and directed him. There were some scenes where he had to hold the phone/camera as it was an action secene from his perspective. Below were the tools used while filming:

Tools

iPhone 12 mini
Bench/stool

The props for the filming included a box to hold the "shipped" glacial bio pottery pieces and a "booklet" of the bio pottery process. Below are the files that I made to the "caution tape" and bio pottery "booklet" cover.
Caution Tape
Booklet Cover

Editing¶

I used Videoleap to edit my video. I have been using this program on my phone and ipad for the past 7 years and have the yearly subscription to have access to all the editing features. In addition to the filming I did of opening the box and my pieces I used downloaded youtube videos and soundscapes to collage into the video linked below:
Iceberg
USPS Mail Truck
CBSN News Report
Glacial Soundscape 1
Glacial Soundscape 2

Final Video¶

Last update: 2023-05-10