7. BioFabricating Materials¶
Research¶
Textile biomaterials are revolutionizing the fashion and textile industries by offering sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to traditional materials. These innovative materials, derived from natural sources such as plants, algae, and even waste products, help reduce the environmental impact of textile production. By utilizing renewable resources and biodegradable components, textile biomaterials contribute to a circular economy, minimizing waste and pollution. Additionally, they often possess unique properties like enhanced breathability, antimicrobial effects, and improved comfort, making them highly desirable for a wide range of applications. Embracing textile biomaterials is a crucial step towards a more sustainable and responsible future in fashion and beyond.
weekly assignment
- Include some inspiration: research on artists, projects, platforms that work with biomaterials, local ingedients and resources
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Produce at least one crafted and one grown material:
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Crafted material - explore the different recipes and understand how to adjust them based on the ingredients:
- Grown material - explore the different recipes and understand how to adjust them based on the ingredients
- Document your recipes, the ingredients and process and if there have been changes, document your unexpected discoveries
- Name your materials, classify them by typology and display them in a systematic order of samples
Submit some of your swatches to the analog material library of your lab. (20cm x 20cm approx.)
get inspired!
Check out and research alumni pages to betetr understand how to document and get inspired
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Comparison research - Aslı Aydın Aksan - TextileLab Amsterdam
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Comparison research - Barbara Rakovska FabLab Bcn
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Jute research - Julija Karas - FabLab Bcn
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Polarisation in bioplastics Viviane Labelle - EchoFab
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Local waste streams - Marieke van Eyndhoven
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Alginate Net - Loes Borges
References & Inspiration¶
Piñatex¶
Piñatex (Spanish pronunciation: [piɲaˈteks]) is the trade name for a non-biodegradable leather alternative made from cellulose fibres extracted from pineapple leaves, PLA (polylactic acid), and petroleum-based resin. Piñatex was developed by Carmen Hijosa and first presented at the PhD graduate exhibition at the Royal College of Art, London. Piñatex is manufactured and distributed by Hijosa's company Ananas Anam Ltd.
Piñatex's development began when Hijosa was working as consultant in the leather goods industry in the Philippines in the 1990s. She observed the leather produced there was poor quality, environmentally unsustainable and involved a hazardous production process for those working in the industry. Hijosa was inspired by the barong tagalog, a traditional Philippine garment worn untucked over an undershirt and made of pineapple fibers. She then spent seven years developing the product through a PhD at the Royal College of Art in London, and joint collaborations with Bangor University in Wales, Northampton Leather Technology Center, Leitat Technological Centre in Spain, alongside NonWoven Philippines Inc. in Manila, and Bonditex S.A., a textile finishing company in Spain.Source: Wikipedia
What I find interesting from Piñatex is that they made a business out of a natural material, not just academic work. They are still a long way from being completly sustainable but, still, a very good first approach.
Projects¶
Salmiana Maguey Fiber Leather¶
Agave salmiana (also known as maguey pulquero and green maguey)[5] is a species of the family Asparagaceae, native to central and southern Mexico. It is also reportedly naturalized in South Africa, Italy and Spain, specially in the Canary Islands. Source: Wikipedia
It is called pulquero since pulque is made with the maguey's sap. Pulque (Spanish: ['pulke]; Classical Nahuatl: metoctli), occasionally known as octli or agave wine, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous consistency and a sour yeast-like taste.
The drink's history extends far back into the Mesoamerican period, when it was considered sacred, and its use was limited to certain classes of people. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the drink became secular and its consumption rose. The consumption of pulque reached its peak in the late 19th century. In the 20th century, the drink fell into decline, mostly because of competition from beer, which became more prevalent with the arrival of European immigrants, but pulque remains popular in many parts of Central Mexico, however, and there have been some efforts to revive the drink's popularity elsewhere through tourism. Source: Source: Wikipedia
Since the plant dies after producing the pulque, all leaves are left behind to rooten in the field. This project idea is to use this material as the base of a textile, since other varieties of agave are used for rope and textile making.
Getting the leaves. As shown in previous picture it is clear that salmiana is the biggest maguey species. Its leaves are very big and tough. I got the leaves from a pulque destiled producer with the idea to make a material similar to leather since there are many little tennis shoes producers in Tlaxcala region where pulque is a traditional beverage even before the arrival of spaniards.
I based my process from this video of traditional maguey fiber extracting that you can see it here
Once the maguey is cut we had to reduce the size of the leaves cutting the spikes and the pointy end of the leave. In order to fit inside the trunk of my cara we had to reduce it even more
Heating the leaves. As the traditional making video I heated the leaves. First I setted the temperature to 200 degrees but the oven took about one hour to reach 150 ° celcius since the leaves are very thick.
After heating we beat the leaves with a heavy tube. It was a rough job since it is very hard and the liquid inside the leaves "enguixa". Enguixar is a verb that means to feel itchy because of the guixi, that is, because of the irritation produced by the liquid of the maguey.
Guixa or guixi is a semi-caustic or pungent substance found in some plants, such as maguey fibres, before they are treated for use. Contact with this substance can cause anything from mild irritation to an allergic reaction.
We had some reactions to guixi on the skin so we only extracted the fibers from a couple of leaves.
It was so hard to extract the fibers so I asked for help and we decided to smash them with a heavy lifting cart, the result was not perfect but we did the job.
After extracting the fibers with a lot of other plant stuff I boiled the fibers and other materials for about two hours in a 2.5% caustic soda mix. The result was good but not enough, after that I boiled it again at home for one hour adding 2 tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate.
After that, with the back of a knnife I took off most of the impurities from the fiber.
Use gloves I found that after working with a low pH substances it seems that nails tend to become thiner and fragile. I had two of my nails ripped, they were paper thin.
Next I wash the fibre with soap and water and let it dry
Next I had to re boiled with sodium bicarbonate part of the fibre since it was still very hard.
I found out that fibers in the first part of the maguey leaf where harder than the ones at the tip, and also of different color since they are thicker.
Then I tried to felt the fibers, I tought it was the way piñatex was made. I bought some felting needles and design and print a felting tool. The fibres did not felted, I belive the fibers are not suited to felting.
Back to basics¶
After failing felting the fabric I turned to investigate how piñatex is making their fabric. After several videos that were not clear I searched for the Carmen Hijosa's patent.
Needless to say I was very disapointed with the patent. First because Piñatex is mostly marketing.
The proces to make piñatex fabric is called airlaid, where fibers are carded and by air softly deposited adding a polimer to fuse in the next step.
You can see the process in this video:
The full process is all but sustainable. After using caustic soda, softening agents are added and then they add a bunch of polimers and vinyl leather like substances for finishing.
A thing explained in the patent was carding the fibre. The fiber does not card properly, like wool or cotton, but they use the proces to kind of align and separate the fibers, so I carded mine.
After carding, we (my wife, that is kindly helping me) mannually laid the fibers in two blankets to end drying.
The next step still remains a mistery. I want it to be fully sustainable but it seems to be impossible if I want to make a profit out of this. So there will be a tradeoff, I think maybe using recycled PET to bond the fibers and some fabric to add consistency.
In the patent it is suggested to use a mesh laminated architechture of the fabric, putting a fiber blanket and a mesh between the blankets.
So I am going to try puting a cotton backsupport and add layers of tully and fiber blankets all with powdered PET to join the fabric and then maybe use sodiumalginate with carbonate to finish the product.
Still considering possibilities.
... After talking to Nuria, my global instructor I have defined 3 materials to try, and accepting suggestions:
- A mix with gelatine and gliceryn on 4 layers of the blanket and compress them together on a base of strong fabric for support
- Use a strong support fabric base and alternatively put a blanket of maguey fibers and a polyester support mesh and sprinkle every layer with recycled PET
- Same as in material #2 but using PLA as bonding agent
- ¿?
What decided to do first is use some of the fibre to mix with PLA to make a PLA/maguey fiber composite
At our university we have a bunch of PLA leftovers that we crunch to recycle.
Then I weighted the fibre and the plastic I intended to melt with the fibre
Then I weight the PLA, I estimated that 3 times the weight of PLA could be enough to glue all the fibers and to be kind of flexible
After that I layered the fibre to form a three fiber layer and put the PLA inbetween the fibers.
The sandwich of fibers and PLA ended looking like this:
After making the fibre/PLA sandwich I heated the press to 190 degrees so I could melt the plastic without degradatig it
First I only pressed the composite for 30 seconds. The result was that not all the plastic melted and mixed with the fibre. So I had to iron again for another minute and ten seconds.
Tachaaan! Finally my PLA / Maguey fibre composite is out in the world. Two things:
First. Although the ratio of fibre to plastic was only 1:3 in weight the material ended up very stiff, still far away from the leather texture I was thinking for the final product, I discard doing more experiments with PLA as I don't think it is a suitable material to achieve the look and texture I was looking for.
Second. The fibres degraded when heated to a much softer texture than before it was put in. It would be interesting to experiment a bit more in this sense for future materials. The tradeoff is that the softness is accompanied by a noticeable reduction in resistance.
Another possible experimentation is to use more pla and make a stiff laminated composite
Project seed¶
For my growing material I wanted to experiment with roots. I find facinating how the material behaves and looks.
I was very inspired by the work of Barbara Rakovska her Amber Grain emrpoidery project is awesome.
Making the mold. I designed and CNC router a mold with the fabricademy logo with 6mm deep in the higher part and 12mm in the lower part of the logo.
The night before I put 100 gr of wheat in water for 24 hours to start the process for a regular seed.
Then I filled the mold with dirt and placed the seeds on it
After seeding I put a heavy object on the planted seeds to force the seeds to grow downwars, forcing the roots into the substrate.
After a day the roots started to grow and they seem to be on their track to build a beautiful Fabricademy logo
Unfortunately, for the worm, there was a "gallina ciega" a type of worm that feeds from roots. He gave his life in the search for knoledge.
After 3 days since the seed the wheat is growing consistently it is clear how the vegetal mass of the roots pushed up the entire. Today I am going to leave the project without a top table to let the wheat grass grow for a couple days before extracting the plants from the soil.
Luffa Project¶
Luffa is a genus of tropical and subtropical vines in the pumpkin, squash and gourd family (Cucurbitaceae).
In everyday non-technical usage, the luffa, also spelled loofah or less frequently loofa, usually refers to the fruits of the species Luffa aegyptiaca and Luffa acutangula. It is cultivated and eaten as a vegetable, but must be harvested at a young stage of development to be edible. The vegetable is popular in India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Vietnam. When the fruit fully ripens, it becomes too fibrous for eating. The fully developed fruit is the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge. Source: Wikipedia.
In Mexico, for ages, the Luffa is mainly used as scrubbing sponge, it is very cheap, wildly produced and available. Actually I was taking a bath when I had the idea to use it as textile element.
The luffa has very interesting shape with all the interlaying root like structures. And the size is very interesting since it can reach up to 60 cm long and about 30 cm wide when oppened.
The luffa has very interesting internal development. It can be cutted in different ways to obtain different results
Luffa fibers are very hard, it could be hard to work with them for a textile, so to soften the fibers I boiled the luffa during 1.5 hours with 3 table spoons of sodium bicarbonate, and it worked.
The fiber soften noticeable and while wet I cut the inner piece obtaining this results:
Even the inner part has a very interesting shape that can be used somehow. It is interesting to note that without the tridimensional structure the softened luffa once dry thins and become a more manageable material. Interesting.
This made me think that depending on how you cut the luffa you will find different interesting patterns
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Ingredients & Recipes¶
Prepare this recipe 1 by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:
* xxx gr
* xxx gr
* xxx gr
* xxx ml
* xxx gr
* xxx gr
* xxx gr
* xxx gr
* xxx ml
* xxx gr
* measure - measure - measure
* add, combine, mix..
* simmer, cook, boil, freeze, burn, crush...
* mix, smash, stack, overlay..
* cast, pour, press..
* dry, aereate, dehydrate..
* remove, peel, unmold..
* finishing touches
Documenting and comparing experiments¶
TEST SERIE BIO-PLASTIC¶
| Material pic | Material name | polymer | plastifier | filler | emulsifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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bio-rainbow | biokelp powder 12 gr | glycerol 100 ml | rainbow dust 1 kg | green soap a drop |
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bio-rainbow | biokelp powder 12 gr | glycerol 100 ml | rainbow dust 1 kg | green soap a drop |
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bio-rainbow | biokelp powder 12 gr | glycerol 100 ml | rainbow dust 1 kg | green soap a drop |
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bio-rainbow | biokelp powder 12 gr | glycerol 100 ml | rainbow dust 1 kg | green soap a drop |
RESULTS¶
Two ways of showcasing and comparing results with images below
On the left an image of a sample made by xxx with xxx. The dye is more xxx. On the right, an image of a sample made by xxx with xxx and xxx. Here the dye is more xxx.
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Overview material research outcomes¶
example from the documentation of Loes Bogers TextileLab Amsterdam 2019-20
| Biofoam |
Gelatin foil |
Bioresin |
Biosilicone |
| Starch Rubber |
Biolinoleum |
Alginate net |
Alginate foil |
| Alginate string |
Agar foil |
Bio composite |
Reused PLA |
Recipes¶
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recipe: salmon skin fish-leather ↩