6. BioFabricating Materials¶
Research¶
This week we learned about biofabricating different materials. why biomaterials are a important, why plastic is harmful.
The assignment for this week.
Tools and Materials¶
These materials are to be used for various types of biofilms, bio plastics, bioresins, and bioleathers. Many of these materials can be found in your own kitchen at home.
MATERIALS:
-Bio -plastics -resins -silicones
-gelatine
-agar
-alginate
-fruitwaste
-tapioca
-calcium chloride
-starch
-glycerine
-water
-vinegar
-pigments & dyes
-sodium carbonate
-kombucha
-mycelium
-malt
-yeast
These tools are also to be used for vairious biofabrications and many can be found at home.
TOOLS:
-pots
-bowls
-spoons
-measuring spoons/cups
-weight
-stove top
-extruder
-dehydrator
-large plastic box container
-pitri dish
Tapioca¶
The first experiment we did was with tapioca to create a bioresin that was very translucent and soft and wobbly to the touch. We specifically made a film so it was sheer and light and could almost be like a plastic fabric. Depending on it's thickness I could see this material being used in place for childrens toys or used as jewelry, unique home objects, decorations, packaging, art and possibly even clothing. The process and the recipe will directed below.
THE RECIPE:
-250ml water
-25g tapioca
-10ml glycerine
-10ml vinegar
Our first step was to combine the 10ml of vinegar to the 10ml of glycerone and gently stir them together gently.
Second, we took the 25g of tapicoa and dilluted in a little bit of water.
Third, we took everything and added it to the 250ml of water at a low heat and stirred until it became a thicker consitency. Make sure it does not boil.
Fourth, we poured the sticky tapioca mixture into a pitri dish.
Finally, we let them dry in a dehydrator over night and the next day it created a clear plasticy film in the pitri dish.
Fruit Bioleathers¶
Next our class slipt into groups to create various types of fruit leathers. These recipes can be used to make the kind of edible fruit leathers that you buy little kids for their snack lunch box if you do not put beeswax in them. However if you put beeswax in them they become a slightly sticky leahter alternative that is translucent. If you made these fruit leathers stronger I could see them being used as house decoartions and art however I do not belivie that they would be used nicely in clothing because of how sticky they were. The room smelt amazing after we made these. We used mangos, apricots and plums. I was very hungry after this project to say the least. All of them resulted in a similar prodcut in terms of touch but changed in color from the fruit.
MANGO BIOLEATHER
RECIPE:
-2un over ripe mangoes (about 300-400g)
-1un lemon
-5g of salt
- 10-20g of beeswax
-pinch of cinnamon or curry
First, we peeled, chopped up and blended our over ripe mangoes to prepare them for our mixture.
Second, we mixed our pured mangoes about 300-400 grams of them into a big bowl of 1un of lemon and 5grams of salt. The lemon is used as a stabilizer.
Third, we heated up some beeswax about 10-20g to make the touch of the leather a bit smoother and waxier to immitate real leather. I also belive this helps hold the particles together better.
Fourth we added a pinch of cinnoman, (curry can also be used). This helps the material to avoid molding after storage.
Finally, we put our mixtures into a pitri dish and put them into a dehydrator at 40 degrees celcius overnight.
The results felt exactly like the fruit leather snacks you would by at your typical grocery store but a little bit smoother becasue of the beeswax.They also had quite a sweet strong fruity smell about them.
APRICOT BIOLEATHER W/ TAPIOCA
RECIPE:
-140g of apricot
-8g of vinegar
-8g of tapioca
-pinch of salt
-pinch of cinnamon
-4.5g of beeswax
The same process we used for the mangoes of pureing and mixing all the ingredients together was used for the apricots. The mixture WITH the tapioca came out with a more plastic feel to the bio leather and was stronger than the mixes without.
APRICOT BIOLEATHER W/0 TAPIOCA
RECIPE:
-140g of apricot
-8g of vinegar
-pinch of salt
-pinch of cinnamon
-4.5g of beeswax
The same process we used for the mangoes of pureing and mixing all the ingredients together was used for the apricots. The mixture WITHOUT the tapioca came out feeling more corse to the touch and was weaker than the mixture with tapioca.
PLUM W/ TAPIOCA
RECIPE
-90g of plum
-5g of vinigar
-5g of tapioca
-3g of beeswax
-pinch of cinnamon
-pinch of salt
The same process we used for the mangoes of pureing and mixing all the ingredients together was used for the plums. The mixture WITH the tapioca came out with a more plastic feel to the bio leather and was stronger than the mixes without.
PLUM W/0 TAPIOCA
RECIPE
-90g of plum
-5g of vinigar
-3g of beeswax
-pinch of cinnamon
-pinch of salt
The same process we used for the mangoes of pureing and mixing all the ingredients together was used for the plums. The mixture WITHOUT the tapioca came out feeling more corse to the touch and was weaker than the mixture with tapioca.
APRICOT AND PLUM MIX W/0 TAPIOCA
RECIPE
-90g of plum
-90g of apricot
-10g of vinigar
-6g of beeswax
-pinch of cinnamon
-pinch of salt
The same process we used for the mangoes of pureing and mixing all the ingredients together was used for the plums and apricot mix. The mixture WITHOUT the tapioca came out feeling more corse to the touch and was weaker than the mixture with tapioca.
BIO RESIN¶
Next I created a bio resin using mullitple different surcafes to dry it on to experince the material with different effects. There was sucha wide range of effects that I could see these bio resins being used for many different household items, clothes, packaging and toys. Below is the recipe and steps used to create these different molds and surcafes.
RECIPE:
-100g of gelatin
-20g of glycerine
-500ml water
-pigment may also be added
First I used the "au bain marie" method to heat a pot of 500 ml of water.
Second I added my 100grams of geltin and stirred gently.
Third I added my 20g of glycerin and stirred gently.
I then let it simmer for 10-15 minutes and prepared all my different molds that you can see below. For my four surfaces that I experimented with I used three textured synthetic fabrics, one flower mold, and one iridescent film.
RESULTS:
Flexible Bio Plastic¶
For this next experiment I created a flexible bioplastic that was made with alginate. This alginate material is typically water resistant and usually does not pick up textures very well. When it was drying it created a very large bubble in the middle of the substance, my results are still drying in the lab so I do not have a complete image of what the different materials i created woudl look like. I could also see this material being used for toys and house hold decorations. Below is the recipe and steps I used to create this.
RECIPE
-24g alginate
-40g glycerine
-20g sunflower oil (non transparent) or Glycerine (for transparent)
-400ml water
-20 ml sodium chloride hydrate
-200ml water
-calcium chloride spray
First I blended the alginate glycerine and sunflower oil into a blender, I added a little bit of extra water. I added the rest of the water and sodium chloride hydrate.
I then prepared my pitri dishes with different substances to mix into the alginate like weld and food colroing, I also left one pitri empty so that I could see the raw material by itself.
Then i poured my mixture into different pitri dishes and let sit for a moment.
Finally I sprayed them with Calcium Chloride a handful of times until each side started to shrink and create a film over the gelly like substance so it was no longer sticky to the touch. It cured the alginate pretty quickly for each pitri dish. A fun fact is that Calcium chloride is a substance that chefs use for vegan caviar.
I then left all the pitri dishes out to sit and dry and over the corse of a few days they began to harden and create a bubbly like rounded bendy thing of bio plastic. The images below are of the final results are not fully dried.
3D Bio Extruding By Hand¶
This next assignment I struggled a bit with my recipe. We learned how to create our own hand extruded 3d bio mold. My first and second attempt however were not succesful so the recipe I created had to be innacurate. As a refrence for the recipe I used Carolino Delgados recipe #4 and tweaked it after trying to make a larger portion of the mix and this is where I went wrong. When I used her original recipe I was worried that the mixture was too sandy becasue the white shell sand was not mixing with the small amount of alginate so I added more alginate and then water and it was too wet at that point. Where I also became confused was when I didnt add any glycerine from the recipe she provided because I belvie there was already glycerine in the alginate we were using and had created before hand. Bellow was my process.
Carolino Delgados RECIPE:
-5ml glycerine
-2gr alginate
-15gr white shell sand
-50ml water
RECIPE I USED:
-35g alginate
-130g white shell sand
So when I was trying to mix my substances together I noticed it was far too dry at first. I had made my recipe larger by 10 times so that i had enough to create something with. That meant that i first mixed in 20g of alginate to 150g of white shell sand. When i mixed these together it was too dry and not all the sand was mixing in. I then decided to see what would happen if I added water, this is wehre I belive tihngs started to go majorly wrong. I added about 50 ml of water and it became too wet so i added more of the sand and alginate at a total of 35g alginate and 130g white shell sand total. The mixture was looking good in my pot after mixing it was sticking together at a nice consistency and I thought it would be ready to extrude. When extruding the first time it came out very watery and was hard to push through the extruder so the second round i used a larger extruder and it worked for a moment until it flattened out. It would not hold its shape. Below are the results.
Kombucha Leather¶
In the final section of this week we discovered the beautiful possibilities that kombucha leather offers us.The process of growing a scobe into kombucha leather is a long one and one typically has to wait a few months to gain results. We were shown lovely final results of kombucha scobes that had been dried over a long period of time to create an alternative to real leather. The results ended up in an almost translucent strong leather like material that could have various end uses. Below is the recipe I used to start my own process of growing kombucha leather.
RECIPE:
-3 black tea bags
-1l water
-200g sugar
-vinegar
-scobe
First I brewed the 3 tea bags in 1 liter of water. I then doubled the water to 2 liters because it is better to have your scobe lying in a deeper bath for the growing process.
Second I added my 200g of sugar to my warm bath and stirred gently.
Third I checked my PH balance and made sure the acidity went down to about 4-5 range by adding two teaspoons of vinegar.
I finally let the bath cool down to make sure my scobe would not die in the hot water and then I added the scobe to the bath. Then I let it sit in the open bath for as long as it will need to grow, this typically takes a few months.
