7. BioFabricating Materials

Research

Biofabrication is the craft of making materials, structures, and even living products by guiding biological processes rather than just melting, molding, or machining.

Kenya is embracing biomaterial production and majority of it comes from agricultural streams. Examples are use of banana stems to yield strong fibre for for non- wovens, banana wine, banana hair.

Invasive water hyacinth—often a nuisance—can be pulped into paper or formed into biodegradable packaging.

Sugarcane bagasse can be cleaned, refined, and hot-pressed into panels or molded packaging. Banana pseudostems yield strong fibers for non-wovens and laminates, while banana peels supply pectin for clear, flexible films. Rice husk and its silica-rich ash become lightweight fillers that stiffen bioplastics.

weekly assignment

get inspired!

• Fish leather- Rico Kanthatham

• Kombucha leather- Kohshi Kato

• Acetobacter xylium- Magali Uwimana

References & Inspiration

I was really inspired by past Fabricademystudents and their work they did on biomaterials.

Process and workflow

Through Anastasia's recipe, I was able to grow my soy bean leather.

Ingredients

1 liter of soy milk (preferably unsweetened and additive-free) 1–2 tablespoons sugar (optional, helps with fermentation) Starter culture: A small piece of nata de coco, or any acidic fermenting agent like vinegar (about 1–2 tablespoons), can help kickstart the fermentation.

Equipment

• Wide, shallow container (glass or ceramic works best)
• Cheesecloth or breathable cloth to cover the container
• Warm place for fermentation.

Instructions

1. Prepare Soy Milk: Pour the soy milk into a pot, and heat it to a simmer. Add the sugar, if using, and stir to dissolve.

2. Cool and Pour: Allow the soy milk to cool to room temperature. Then, pour it into a shallow, wide container.

3. Add Starter: Add the small piece of nata de coco or vinegar to the soy milk to start the fermentation.

4. Cover and Ferment: Cover the container with cheesecloth or breathable fabric and leave it in a warm, undisturbed place for about 7–10 days.

5. Check for Leather Formation: Over time, a thick, translucent layer should start to form on the surface. This is the soy leather.

6. Harvest the Leather: Once the layer has thickened to your desired consistency, carefully lift it from the liquid. Rinse it gently with clean water to remove any residue.

I had to first prepare soy milk from soy bean by soaking 100g of the beans overnight. I then blended in 2 litre water cooked it at 90 degree celcius for 30 minutes and seived.

I added vinegar to my milk to collect the whey which I then added 2 tbsp.sugar and left it to cool then covered it with a light towel.

After 7 days, I found my seedlings full of moulds, it was terryfing.

I removed the top moulds, I think I messed up a little while removing the mould. I might have tampered with other layers.

However, after removing the mould this is what I observed.

I'll leave it for more days to see growth, I hope the mould won't feast on them.

Acetobacter Xylinum

I prepared my acetobacter Xylinum using pineapple.

Acetobacter Xylimun is a bacteria capable of producing cellulose. Once I gget a sucessful culture I will incorporate it into my soya bean leather. Using pineapple fruit as my go to material is because pineapple is a good source of carbon for bacterial cellulose producers. It carries yeast and acetic acid bacteria.

Material and process

* Ripe pineapple
* Clean knife 
* 1 L glass jar (or bigger), wide mouth
* Boiled water
* 2-3 tbsp sugar

Steps

- Wash the pineapple with only water to remove dirt and maintain microflora.
- Peel the fruit; keep peels and core – these have plenty of sugars and microbes.- - Chop peels and core into small pieces and put into your jar and blend.
- Add water and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Sieve the pulp and cover and ferment the filtrate.

Waiting for 2-5 days to see the outcome.

Fish leather

Buying a whole fish and extracting it's skin was costly in terms of: - Fish Is expensive - Cutting out the skin would've been time consuming.

I ended up going to a market where they sell fish skin majorly nile perch and I was very impressed with the varieties of sizes and quality of the fish skins they had. I wanted a bigger to medium sized skin and I bought two both weighing 45 grams.

I started off by removing the remaining flesh and scales present.

I cleaned it multiple times, removing the exta flesh and scales that had passed the first stage.

I stirred in 300ml cold water with 3 drops of detergent.

In 450ml water, I added 5 tbsp of white vinegar together with 1 tbsp of salt and submerged the skin 2-3hrs while stirring occasionally to prepare for tannin. This was the end result.

I added one piece of the skin in 5 tbsp of coffee for tannin process. Shaking from time to time for about 7 days.

RESULTS