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A vegan flexible, transparent foil that can resist water and moderate heat quite well without transforming.
* **Agar - 5 g**
* Polymer (makes it hard)
* **Glycerine - 15 g**
* Plasticizer
* **Water - 250 ml/g**
* Solvent, to dissolve and heat the agar
1. **Bowls** to weigh ingredients
1. **Cooker** (ideally temperature controlled)
1. **Thermometer (optional)** if you don't have a temperature controlled cooker
1. **Mold** of about 20 cm diameter (or equivalent). Optional: you can also cast on a surface like an acrylic sheet but your sheet will be thinner
## Method
1. **Preparation**
- Weigh your ingredients
- Prepare the casting surface and find a place where you can leave it for a while, ideally near an open window where there's air flow.
1. **Mixing and dissolving the ingredients**
- bring the water to the boil
- optional: substitute part of the water with natural dye if you wish to use color
- add the agar
- bring the mixture to the boil while stirring gently, to dissolve the agar.
- when the agar is dissolve completely, lower the temperature to 60-80 degrees (make sure it doesn't bubble), and let it simmer and evaporate water for 40 mins while stirring slowly and continuously.
- the agar should have the consistency of a light syrup, you should be able to leave a "trace" with you trace your spoon across the pot.
- If your mixture is thicker it will spread slowly resulting in a thicker foil, if it's more liquid, it will spread wider, resulting in a thinner foil.
- Cast onto the surface
- Pour from the middle and hold still, let the liquid distribute itself, it cures quickly if it is thick.
Allow the foil to dry for a week for best results (or 3 days minimum). If you don't peel it off the surface it will shrink much less in width/length.
- Mold depth: 1.5-2.5 mm
- Shrinkage thickness 30-50 %
- Shrinkage width/length 10-20 %
Agar foil shrinks quite a lot, especially in thickness. The amount depends on the amount of water that has been evaporated/cooking time.
*Dissolving the agar while stirring, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Making a trace with the spoon, consistency of syrup, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Casted the sheet into a mold, about 2-3 mm filled*
- Substitute part of the water with a dye
- Add less glycerine for a more rigid, stiff foil
- Add fillers (debris, coffee waste) or fibres to make a composite, see also the [agar composite recipe](./agarcomposite.md)).
This is an adaptation of **Flexible bio-foil** by Cecilia Raspanti, Textile Lab, Waag Amsterdam for Fabricademy 2019-2020, Class pages, [link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lm147nvWkxxmPf5Oh2wU5a8eonpqHCVc/view). A longer cooking time is recommended to create a thicker foil.
### Sustainability tags
- Renewable ingredients: yes
This foil feels rubbery and flexible, and remains a bit sticky (more than e.g. the alginate and gelatine-based foil). It's not as sticky as cling film or cellophane, it's more comparable to a transparent PVC foil for example.
- **Texture**: smooth
- **Temperature**: cool
- **Shape memory**: low
- **Odor**: none
- **Stickiness**: high
- **Weather resistance:** needs further research
- **Acoustic properties:** needs further research
- **Anti-bacterial:** needs further research
- **Water resistance:** water resistant
- **Chemical resistance:** needs further research
- **Scratch resistance:** poor
- **Surface friction:** braking
- **PH modifiers:** none
- Name: Loes Bogers
- Affiliation: Fabricademy student at Waag Textile Lab Amsterdam
- Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Date: 16-03-2020 – 24-03-2020
- Outside temp: 5-11 degrees Celcius
- Room temp: 18 – 22 degrees Celcius
- PH tap water: 7-8
### Recipe validation
By Cecilia Raspanti, Textile Lab, Waag Amsterdam, 9 March 2020
### Estimated cost (consumables) in local currency
## Copyright information
### This recipe is in the public domain (CC0)
Yes
### This recipe was previously published by someone else
Yes, this is an adaptation of **Flexible bio-foil** by Cecilia Raspanti, Textile Lab, Waag Amsterdam for Fabricademy 2019-2020, Class pages, [link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lm147nvWkxxmPf5Oh2wU5a8eonpqHCVc/view).
- **[Title of publication 1]** by [First + Last Name Author]\([Affiliation/Institution]\), [Publication name or channel], [YYYY], [link](put URL here).
## Images of final product
*Agar foil, Loes Bogers, 2020*