Biofabricating Materials

What are Biomaterials?

I attempted making 2 bioplastics using gelatine and agar agar actually for a textiles class a year ago wherein I had to make a textile sample. I also tried naturally dyeing it with beets. It didn't go well! But I'm happy to be exploring that again here with better results. For this week, I wanted to try making the bioplastics I tried to make a year ago to no successful avail.

First, a little background!

Biomaterials really can be separated into different categories. Not all biomaterials are the same. Some are biobased, some are biodegradable, and some are biocompostable.

Biobased: A plastic derived from renewable biomass sources, such as corn starch, sugar cane, or algae, rather than fossil fuels like oil. "Biobased" does not automatically mean the plastic is biodegradable or compostable.

Biodegradable: A material that can be broken down by living organisms into natural elements like water, carbon dioxide, and biomass. Biodegradable plastics may require specific environmental conditions (like an industrial composting facility) to decompose and do not necessarily break down in a landfill or the ocean.

Biocompostable: A type of biodegradable plastic that can break down into natural elements in a composting environment within a specific timeframe. For a plastic to be compostable, it must meet specific standards, and it often requires a controlled, industrial composting facility rather than a home compost pile. "Compostable" is a subset of "biodegradable," and without a certification, a product's claims should be viewed with caution.

Cecilia Raspanti's lecture on the latter was very thorough.

Biobased materials can be made of animals or animal-based, vegetal, microbial, fungal, or bio-manmade ingredients. However, it does NOT mean these materials are biodegradable and/or biocompostable. It's important to do the research on these ingredients and post-processed products to make sure what their end life-cycle looks like.

Research + Inspirations

Most of my inspirations come from how peoples used to make functional and traditional clothes and tools, specifically in indigenous cultures. The Yupik peoples of the Arctic, residing in western and southwestern Alaska and Siberia, made this parka out of seal gut.

Imarnin (summer dried seal gut parka) or oasperrluk (over-garment), Aleutian Islands, Yupik, 20th century, seal gut, dentalium shells, yarn, beads, caribou beard fiber, sealskin, red ochre, hand-stiched; Honolulu Museum of Art

I was also inspired by the work of Angelique van der valk and the lugae (carrageenan or red algae species native to Chile) bioplastics produced by Caro Pacheco. Both of these bodies of work are both beautiful and versatile, overlapping applications that might lend themselves to paper fabrication and modular garments using digital fabrication tools.

Studio Angelique van der valk: Asaparagus in Yellow Ink (Paper)

Caro Pacheco: Modular Shapes through Lugae Bioplastic

Naturally, my love for e-textiles is one that I like to continue exploring especially when it comes to materials. That's the beauty of materials science. I love and follow the work of Sofia Guirdi (fellow Fabricademy graduate and textiles enthusiast peer!). She often combines textiles, biomaterials, and electronics to merge beauty and function. If you see this, Sofia, thank you and hello!

Sofia Guirdi: Fully Bio-Based Textile

Weekly Assignment

• Include some inspiration: research on artists, projects, platforms that work with biomaterials, local ingedients and resources
• Produce at least one crafted and one grown material:
  • 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.)

What You'll Need

• Gelatine Powder
• Agar Agar Powder
• Alginate Powder
• Sodium Chloride
• Calcium Chloride
• Glycerine
• Beeswax
• Dye/Food Colorant
  • Stable Dyes
  • Food Waste
• Steel Pots
• Wooden Spoons
• Strainer
• Glass Sheet/Acrylic sheet (for casting)
• 3D Effect Fabrics
• 3D Printed Molds (if you'd like!)
• Embroidery Hoops
• pH Strips
• Digital Scale
• Petri Dishes
• Graduated Cylinders
• Pipettes/Syringes

Preparing my Molds

I want to introduce a little electricity into these bioplastics so I'm going to attempt to embed some electronics into them through a process of curing and layering the bioplastic (gelatin, agar agar, and alginate) and conductive ink, copper tape, conductive fabric, and/or velostat.

I'll be using embroidery hoops, mainly, to mold bioplastics from 3D patterns I have. I'll be use a woven table placemat I bought from Portugal, a textured woven fabric from Los Angeles, a bubble wrap mailer, an acrylic sheet with copper tape and/or hot glue designs on it. Shown below, respectively!

Dyes for Bioplastics

I made 3 natural dyes for the bioplastics - pomegranate, black bean, and vegetable dye (I bought "Sustainable Stitches: Eco-Orange Vegetable Dye - Turmeric, Madder, and Pomegranate" for the latter).

Important thing to note is dyeing bioplastics is a fine-tuning process. More acidity or basic pH solutions can destabilize a bioplastic.

Gelatin - Sensitive to acid - Dyes within the pH range of 5.5-6.5 are ideal. Too acidic will make gelatin bioplastic more brittle.

Agar Agar - Somewhat sensitive to acid - Dyes within the pH range of 5-7 are ideal. Too acidic will keep color stable but it weakens the agar agar bioplastic.

Alginate - Very sensitive to acid - Dyes within the pH range of 5-7 are ideal. Too acidic will make alginate bioplastic very chalky.

Here's the pH level of each of the natural dyes so I keep it in mind when making the bioplastics.

I'll also be using artificial food coloring.

Gelatin

I made this recipe and a half so the ingredients are for a ration and a half.

IngredientsRecipe

* 24g (+ 12g) of Gelatine Powder (to solidfy bioplastic)
* 18g (+ 9g) of Vegetable Glycerine (plasticizer - makes more flexible)
* 200mL/g of water (mixes gelatine and glycerine)
* 100 mL Natural Dye or Food Coloring

1. Weigh/measure your ingredients.
2. Prepare your mold, preferably an acrylic sheet and find a ventilated place to let it sit for a couple days to a week
3. Bring the water to a boil. Once that's done, add your natural dye (or food coloring). In my case, I used the black bean dye I made the night before. I also added aluminum sulfate to it to enhance its purple color.
4. Add your glycerine followed by your gelatine.
5. Keep temperature below 80 degrees Celsius. Without a thermometer, I figured this to be one of the lowest settings on my stove, where the water is just heating with the small flame (no boil, light simmer). Stir very slowly to avoid making bubbles. Stir for about 20 minutes.

This is where my process stopped. In hindsight, I should have kept going but I just couldn't continue with the smell. Not to mention, this gelatine my mom gave me may have either been expired or contained sugar. I didn't want to attract pests at my landlady's house. Like I said, I should have seen it through regardless but I decided not to rather impulsively.

This was the very preliminary result.

Agar Agar

This is where I had most fun. I made an agar agar pomegranate dyed plastic casted on top of the textured woven fabric, moved on to gelatine, and went back to agar agar because of its versatility. I certainly had a preference for it. I then used my turmeric, madder root, pomegranate dye and I just loved the deep orange color.

This recipe is for 500mL of agar agar plastic.

IngredientsRecipe

* 7.5g of Agar Agar Powder
* 22.5g of Vegetable Glycerine
* 250mL/g of water
* 150 mL/g of Natural Dye or Food Coloring (Substitute amount of dye for equal amount of water. In this case, I used 250mL of water and the rest of what would make 400mL of water, I substituted part of that for my dye. This of course mainly applies to natural dyes since more natural dye is added for more saturated color whereas food coloring can achieve this in a few drops.)

1. Weigh/measure your ingredients.
2. Prepare your molds/casting surfaces. In my case, I placed my casting surfaces in embroidery hoops. Leave these in a well ventilated area.
3. Bring your water to a boil. Add your natural dye.
4. Add your glycerine followed by the agar agar powder.
5. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring gently to dissolve the agar agar.
6. When agar agar dissolves completely, lower the temperature to a low setting if you're using a stove (60-80 degrees C if you're using a temp controlled device).
7. Let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes. It should have the consistency of light syrup. More viscous mixture produces a thicker foil and less viscous mixture (watery) produces a thinner foil. I preferred a more liquid mixture to be able to spread it nicely on my surfaces so I simmered it for about 30min. You feel it out!
8. Pour mixture from center to spread and distribute itself evenly.

First, I poured my pomegranate agar agar on my textured woven fabric. It seeped through upon pouring. In hindsight, I should have let this thicken more then poured it.

I then 3D printed a ring to keep my gelatine plastic in after pouring on top of the copper tape. Since I nixed that material, however, I poured the agar agar on it.

I let it cure for a few minutes (10 minutes), until the mixture was firm and what felt like wet to the touch. I placed my electronic materials for a pressure sensor - 2 pieces of conductive fabric, velostat, and copper tape - on top of the 1st layer of agar agar that had superficially dried, reheated the agar agar to similar consistency, and poured another layer on top of the components.

I also loved the spills I made on the acrylic sheet so I used a pipette to make these little "buttons".

They're all in the drying stages but I hope to make them interactive once they're all dry :)

I also poured the rest of my 2nd madder root-dyed agar agar plastic onto the textured mold because I thought it could use some.

First Agar Agar on Textured Fabric

Agar Agar Electronics - 1st layer of agar w/ pressure sensor components on top of it

Agar Agar Electronics - 2st layer of agar on top of components

Agar Agar "Buttons"

The agar agar expectedly and unexpectedly seeped into the textured woven fabric I had in the embroidery hoop. After I saw this happen, I reheated my agar bioplastic and placed it on top of that first layer in the embroidery hoop. While the first layer was a bit of a fluke, the second layer picked up some texture. I think next time, I'll apply a thin layer of agar agar into the textured fabric, enough to fill in the holes but not enough to have second layer pick up the textre still.

• Failed Agar Bioplastic on Textured Fabric

• Agar Bioplastic Pressure Sensor - Success! (Hopefully)

int agarsensorPin = A0;     // analog input pin
int blueLED = 10;        // LED pin
int sensorValue = 0;    // raw sensor reading
int ledBrightness = 0;  // PWM brightness

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  sensorValue = analogRead(agarsensorPin);

  // constrain and map to LED range
  pressure = constrain(pressure, 0, 300);  // adjust 300 if needed
  ledBrightness = map(pressure, 0, 300, 0, 255);

  analogWrite(ledPin, ledBrightness);

  Serial.print("Sensor: ");
  Serial.print(sensorValue);
  Serial.print("  Pressure: ");
  Serial.print(pressure);
  Serial.print("  Brightness: ");
  Serial.println(ledBrightness);

  delay(50); // how often measurements are taken and printed on serial monitor
}

Alginate

I made more of this to possibly experiment with it. Hopefully!

IngredientsRecipe

* 24g of Sodium Alginate Powder
* 40g of Vegetable Glycerine
* 400mL/g of Water
* 400mL/g of Natural Dye (Black Bean dye w/ a dash of aluminum sulfate) - you don't have to use this, you can choose to use equal amount of water in place of this
* 20g of Sunflower Oil
* 10% Calcium Chloride Solution (10g of Calcium Chloride to 100g of water)
* Natural Dye or Food Coloring

1. Weigh measure/your ingredients
2. Place oil, alginate, and glycerine in blender with some of the water. Blend into a thich and homogenous paste. Add the rest of the water and blend again into smooth mixture.
3. Leave the mixture overnight to allow bubbles to come to surface and pop.
4. Prepare calcium chloried solution by dissolving 10g of calcium chloride in 100mL/g of hot water and place solution in spray bottle for the morning.
5. Prepare some space on an acrylic or glass surface.
6. Pour the alginate onto the acrylic sheet and use the squeeguee or acrylic strip to mold the liquid into a rectangular shape of about 3mm high.
7. Spray the sheet with generous amount of the calcium chloride solution you just made. 
8. Let it sit for a few minutes, then spray again if you see the liquid is starting to ooze out from the sides. The film that is created in the curing process can break from the weight of the liquid bubble. By respraying you can close these until the sheet is cured enough and stable to dry further.
9. The alginate can release quite a lot of water at this stage, so it's wise to place some kitchen paper around it to absorb excess water.

I've prepared my alginate and calcium chloride solution to continue in the morning :)

Here's what it looks like so far:

Lavender Alginate - Night Before Casting

This is Day 1! On a picture frame glass surface and on top of the bubble wrap mailer in the embroidery hoop.

After a week letting my samples dry, they did not turn out as expected. They dried out to the EXTREME. I want to redo the recipe and not dye the alginate. I did use aluminum sulfate to further treat my black bean dye.

Alginate 2.0

I attempted making alginate once more without any dye. It already looks better than before! The recipe comes from Fabricademy alumna Loes Bogers. You can find recipe information for it on her website here. As you saw, I flubbed my first alginate foil iteration but I figured I'd try once again without any dye.

Alginate 2.0 - Letting it sit overnight for bubbles to come to the surface

Alginate 2.0 - Step 2

Alginate 2.0 - Final

The alginate turned out a little too thin which is why when I tried to remove it from the acrylic, it tore in pieces BUT I mean I consider it more or less a success! Also make sure you, as previous Fabricademy students have noted, pour 3mm of thickness for the alginate. If it's too thin, it will dry even thinner and you won't be able to remove it in one piece like was the case for me.

Grown Biomaterial - Chia Seeds on Wool Felt

I didn't start early enough to gather my materials for growing mycellium or kombucha leather, but I love hydroponics and growing plants from other mediums besides soil. This isn't the official practice of regenerative agriculture - where the aim is to improve soil health by sowing crops that improve soil health to restore ecosystems - but its certainly in the vein of sustainable agricultural practices.

I was inspired by the work done at Cornell University in the Hybrid Body Lab. It's a project called the Living Loom: Investigating Human-Plant Symbiosis Through Integrating Living Plants Into (E-)Textiles that spun chia seeds into the spinning solution (a hydrogel) so that the resulting yarn contains seeds that will sprout when nurtured within the woven textile.

It also incorporates e-textiles which is, again, a passion of mine.

I used the following for this sample grown textile using wool felt I had left over from OS Circular Fashion week.

Tools

• Wool felt
• Chia seeds
• Glass container
• Watertight lid or plastic wrap to cover container (retain moisture)
• Natural sunlight

Steps

1. I made a very simple wool modular piece by hand. I soaked the wool felt in water and let the felt absorb as much water as it could. I then drained so it's damp and not soaking.

2. I sprinkled an even layer of chia seeds over 2 wool surfaces of the damp felt (just because). I misted them with water using a spray bottle. The seeds, because they become gel-like, stick to the felt.

3. I covered them with a zip-lock bag and some tape because I didn't have plastic wrap. I was going to use the lid but wasn't sure if it was watertight and I wouldn't be able to see through from the top. I eventually bought some plastic wrap, however. Poke holes in the plastic wrap.

4. I placed them in bright, indirect sunlight first but it was not the move. Chia seeds require a warm, dark spot to germinate. Think of a kitchen cabinet, top of a refrigerator, near a water heater, etc.

5. Mist the seeds twice a day, in the morning and evening, with a spray bottle full of water.

6. After 3-5 days, the seeds should sprout. Once this happens, remove the plastic cover and move to a place with brighter more direct sunlight and ventilation.

7. If you want to harvest them, they're ready when they're about 3/4 inches high (4-7 days, if everything was done right).

• Day 1

• Day 2

• Day 3 - Not much progress yet from what I can see..

• Day 4 - First sprouts!

• Day 5 - Growing!

• Day 8 - Growing and Growing! Somewhat unevenly on the brown wool felt but it's because the seeds were a bit too bunched together. I had to even them out with a spoon.

• Day 11 - Wow! :O

Overview of My Biopolymers + Recipes

Biopolymer Type	Ingredients	Recipe	Final Outcome	Notes
Gelatin	- 24g (+ 12g) of Gelatine Powder (to solidfy bioplastic) - 18g (+ 9g) of Vegetable Glycerine (plasticizer - makes more flexible) - 200mL/g of water (mixes gelatine and glycerine) - 100 mL Natural Dye or Food Coloring	1. Weigh/measure your ingredients. 2. Prepare your mold, preferably an acrylic sheet and find a ventilated place to let it sit for a couple days to a week. 3. Bring the water to a boil. Once that's done, add your natural dye (or food coloring). In my case, I used the black bean dye I made the night before. I also added aluminum sulfate to it to enhance its purple color. 4. Add your glycerine followed by your gelatine. 5. Keep temperature below 80 degrees Celsius. Without a thermometer, I figured this to be one of the lowest settings on my stove, where the water is just heating with the small flame (no boil, light simmer). Stir very slowly to avoid making bubbles. Stir for about 20 minutes.		I failed but maybe you won't! Make sure your gelatin powder is not expired and sugarless. This will make ALL the difference.
Agar Agar	- 7.5g of Agar Agar Powder - 22.5g of Vegetable Glycerine - 250mL/g of water - 150 mL/g of Natural Dye or Food Coloring	1. Weigh/measure your ingredients. 2. Prepare your molds/casting surfaces. In my case, I placed my casting surfaces in embroidery hoops. Leave these in a well ventilated area. 3. Bring your water to a boil. Add your natural dye. 4. Add your glycerine followed by the agar agar powder. 5. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring gently to dissolve the agar agar. 6. When agar agar dissolves completely, lower the temperature to a low setting if you're using a stove (60-80 degrees C if you're using a temp controlled device). 7. Let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes. It should have the consistency of light syrup. More viscous mixture produces a thicker foil and less viscous mixture (watery) produces a thinner foil. I preferred a more liquid mixture to be able to spread it nicely on my surfaces so I simmered it for about 30min. You feel it out! 8. Pour mixture from center to spread and distribute itself evenly.		Substitute amount of dye for equal amount of water. In this case, I used 250mL of water and the rest of what would make 400mL of water, I substituted part of that for my dye. This of course mainly applies to natural dyes since more natural dye is added for more saturated color whereas food coloring can achieve this in a few drops.
Alginate	- 24g of Sodium Alginate Powder - 40g of Vegetable Glycerine - 400mL/g of Water - 400mL/g of Natural Dye (Black Bean dye w/ a dash of aluminum sulfate) - you don't have to use this, you can choose to use equal amount of water in place of this * 20g of Sunflower Oil - 10% Calcium Chloride Solution (10g of Calcium Chloride to 100g of water) - Natural Dye or Food Coloring	1. Weigh measure/your ingredients 2. Place oil, alginate, and glycerine in blender with some of the water. Blend into a thich and homogenous paste. Add the rest of the water and blend again into smooth mixture. 3. Leave the mixture overnight to allow bubbles to come to surface and pop. 4. Prepare calcium chloried solution by dissolving 10g of calcium chloride in 100mL/g of hot water and place solution in spray bottle for the morning. 5. Prepare some space on an acrylic or glass surface. 6. Pour the alginate onto the acrylic sheet and use the squeeguee or acrylic strip to mold the liquid into a rectangular shape of about 3mm high. 7. Spray the sheet with generous amount of calcium chloride solution you just made. 8. Let it sit for a few minutes, then spray again if you see the liquid is starting to ooze out from the sides. The film that is created in the curing process can break from the weight of the liquid bubble. By respraying you can close these until the sheet is cured enough and stable to dry further. 9. The alginate can release quite a lot of water at this stage, so it's wise to place some kitchen paper around it to absorb excess water.		This one failed for me and it was because of my use of alum black bean dye. I would try natural untreated dye or artificial food coloring dye.
Alginate 2.0	- 12g of Sodium Alginate Powder - 20g of Vegetable Glycerine - 400mL/g of Water - 10g of Sunflower Oil - 10% Calcium Chloride Solution (20g of Calcium Chloride to 200g of water)	Same Recipe as "Alginate" Above	In-Progress!	This recipe already seems more successful!
Living Wool Felt	- Wool felt - Chia seeds - Glass container - Watertight lid or plastic wrap to cover container (retain moisture) - Natural sunlight	1. I made a very simple wool modular piece by hand. I soaked the wool felt in water and let the felt absorb as much water as it could. I then drained so it's damp and not soaking. 2. I sprinkled an even layer of chia seeds over 2 wool surfaces of the damp felt (just because). I misted them with water using a spray bottle. The seeds, because they become gel-like, stick to the felt. 3. I covered them with a zip-lock bag and some tape because I didn't have plastic wrap. I was going to use the lid but wasn't sure if it was watertight and I wouldn't be able to see through from the top. I eventually bought some plastic wrap, however. Poke holes in the plastic wrap. 4. I placed them in bright, indirect sunlight first but it was not the move. Chia seeds require a warm, dark spot to germinate. Think of a kitchen cabinet, top of a refrigerator, near a water heater, etc. 5. Mist the seeds twice a day, in the morning and evening, with a spray bottle full of water. 6. After 3-5 days, the seeds should sprout. Once this happens, remove the plastic cover and move to a place with brighter more direct sunlight and ventilation. 7. If you want to harvest them, they're ready when they're about 3/4 inches high (4-7 days, if everything was done right).		Make sure there's an even flat layer of seeds making contact with the felt. If they're too bunched together they will grow unevenly and/or take a while to grow.

References

• Prototyping Soft Devices with Interactive Bioplastics
• Loes Bogers' Fabricademy Site
• Viviane Labelle's Fabricademy Site - Growing Living Matter Textiles w/ Seeds