until alginate

docs/assignments/week06.md

@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ This week, we cooked and cast gelatin-based bioresin, biofoil and biofoam, and a
 
 We prepared alginate plastic that we cured with calcium chloride, and lastly we grew some mycelium that we hope to cure and dry into fake leather (not vegan though!).
 
-My favourites? The egg shell foam, my alginate earring and button (and piercing and hand stitchingalginate in general). And the *process*! What a sensual week this was. I did not know what I wanted from these unfamiliar goos and mushes so felt a little lost, but eventually embraced and appreciated the fact I did not need to control the output for this week, just play, explore, and document findings.
+My favourites? The egg shell/gelatin potluck foam, my alginate earring and button (and piercing and hand stitchingalginate in general). And the *process*! What a sensual week this was. I did not know what I wanted from these unfamiliar goos and mushes so felt a little lost, but eventually embraced and appreciated the fact I did not need to control the output for this week, just play, explore, and document findings.
 
-![](../images/)
+![](../images/wk06_favresults.jpg)*Left: potluck foam with and without egg shell powder as filler, middle & left: piercing alginate plastics, Loes Bogers, 2019*
 
 *Conclusions and more questions/urges*
 
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ My favourites? The egg shell foam, my alginate earring and button (and piercing
 * Time is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get or: how my voluptuous, satisfying blobs turned into dry wrinkled raisins (with some exceptions!)
 * Making materials is a very sensual and satisfying, yet stinky experience. And then everything starts to shrink.
 * I am now known as the left-over queen (and couldn't cast a bioplastic sheet to save my life)
-* Biofoam with egg filler was my best surprise move this week
 * Making a bioplastic bottle appear out of an erlenmeyer bottle is a pretty good party trick
 * Further research urges: practice casting larger sheets so I can give myself surfaces and options to further craft with. Larger egg shell foams (formulate a non-potluck recipe). Making some of materials conductive, then insulating the conductive materials with alginate plastic.
 
@@ -30,12 +29,13 @@ My favourites? The egg shell foam, my alginate earring and button (and piercing
 
 This paragraph is a mix of lecture notes from the [lecture by Cecilia Raspanti, slides and info here](https://class.textile-academy.org/classes/week04AAA/) and my own reflections.
 
-###The Plastic Issue
+**The Plastic Issue**
+
 How long does your product need to function? Let the material follow function. A throw-away cup does not need to live longer than 45 minutes, why is it made of a material that takes forever to break down? 
 
 "Plastic is a substance the earth cannot digest." The 8 issues with plastics:
 
->1. It never goes away
+1. It never goes away
 1. Its breakdown pollutes ground water
 1. Threatens wildlife
 1. Poisons our food chains
@@ -48,29 +48,29 @@ Source: www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org
 
 So what we need are good alternatives. What I notice this week is that it's not easy to make or grow a material that lets itself be controlled easily. You can kind of see how plastic got very popular, you can quite literally bend it to your will, so when working with a design or engineering mindset, this is a pretty docile material. There's real urgency to developing techniques that allow us to use bio-based materials for a range of applications that also have aesthetic value. It seems like it's also still pretty experimental and/or relatively unknown amongst designers and industrial engineers. On the other hand, we can also learn to love the resistance of the materials we are trying to lead. Some will follow, others won't but this can have a beauty of its own we might start to be able to recognize (again). And maybe that will even make us realize how precious plastic really is.
 
-First things first though, some definitions:   
+**First things first though, some definitions:**
 
 1. *Bio-based* materials: They are made of organic or inorganic materials. Are they biological? Then they are bio-based.
-
 2. *Bio-degradable* materials: Can they be broken down by microbes under specific conditions that we - humans - create?
-
 3. *Bio-compostable* materials: Can they be composted *within* 180 days?
 
 There are different ways of categorizing: by what they imitate (leather, plastics etc), or by how they are made. You can also categorize them under RAW ingredients and MADE materials. 
 
-###Not new media, people
+**Not new media, people**
+
 ALL of these are heritage techniques, they were used long before we started making plastics (polymers). Credit always, and be specific about your modifications and local specifity of the conditions under which you are cooking the materials, or specificity of your local ingredients. Room temperature in Amsterdam and New Delhi are not the same. Also tap water may or not have a neutral PH value, can be alkaline, which can breakdown some materials but not others. 
 
-###\#backtoschool: What is plastic? 
+**#backtoschool: What is plastic?**
 
 Basis is of plastic is always a **polymer** with then added: 
+
 * plasticizer (for flexibility)
 * filler (to avoid shrinkage)
 * stiffener (e.g. fibers to structure and reinforce)
 * expanding agent (to create foams)
 * color/pigment (to modify color)
 
-###Processes that can be used in combo with plastic
+**Processes that can be used in combo with plastic**
 
 It's versatile.
 
@@ -87,27 +87,35 @@ It's versatile.
 * Digital extrusion
 * 3D mould
 
+**Basics for bio-based & bio-degradable materials**
 
-###Basics for bio-based & bio-degradable materials
 We want stuff that is bio-based AND bio-degradable but ideally also bio-compostable (within 180 days).
 
-Gelatine, agar, alginate, casein, cellulose, chitine or starch based plastics are a good start. These are the polymer replacements. Then we look for alternatives to modify the properties of the bioplastic, such as: 
+Gelatine, agar, alginate, casein, cellulose, chitine or starch based plastics are a good start. These are the polymer replacements. Each have their own properties that can often be seen as both pros and cons.Also look for alternatives to modify the properties of the bioplastic, such as: 
 
 * Glycerine = plasticizer
 * Egg shells, chalk = avoid shrinkage
 * Fibers and natural debris = stiffeners
 * Green soaps = expander (foaming) 
 * Natural dyes & pigments (like we did in biochrome week!)
-* etc. etc. 
 
-Each have their own properties that can often be seen as both pros and cons. 
+And let's not forget these basics: 
+
+* Some nice people to play and share recipes, pots and mixtures with!
+* A nice space that can get messy, with a lot of space for drying;
+* Patience and time.
+
+![](../images/wk06_people.jpg)*The bare necessities and/or totally joyful luxury, Loes Bogers, 2019*
+
+**Documenting**
 
-####Documenting
 * Tools
 * Ingredients
 * Procedure
 * Properties
 
+The recipes are taken from Cecilia's lecture slides (see link above) that also mention the tools needed. I only copied the ingredients list and mentioned additives, the rest can be found in reference slides. 
+
 ##Gelatine Plastics
 
 The gelatine plastics will shrink a bit. More water means more shrinking. Additives might help. Gelatine bio foil and bio resin are strong but sensitive to heat. Gelatine silicon is super stretchy and totally compostable. 
@@ -137,6 +145,8 @@ Bring water to the boil. Add glycerine while stirring slowly, add gelatine. Gent
 
 I made 6 separate mixing bowls. I added coffee cream (a teaspoon) half the bowls to make them opaque, the rest would stay transparent, then I added the purple, pink and turqoise colorant. The blue/green one is the bioresin. 
 
+![](../images/wk06_gelatin_silicon_resin.jpg)*The young ones in all their 2 mins old plump and juicy well-defined beauty. Image on the right (left to right): neutral cabbage ink, acidic cabbage ink, alkaline cabbage ink, Loes Bogers, 2019*
+
 *Casting and releasing*
 I cast both recipes into the lids of petri dishes and dried them while turning every now and then. 
 
@@ -160,6 +170,9 @@ The bioresin has a bit of texture: the soda ash I sprinkled on top immediately m
 
 The natural dye faded quite a lot in terms of saturation and definition: it became more "blurry" and less saturated. Still lovely pastels I think. Also the difference between the opaque casts (with the coffee cream) turned a little more transparent so the difference was not so big, in the end they looked alike quite a lot. The pink acidic ink lost a lot of color. 
 
+![](../images/wk06_gelatin_silicon_resin_3dys.jpg)*bioresin and biosilicon matured for 4 days (left to right: acidic cabbage ink, neutral ink, alkaline ink. Time shows we're not all that different at the core, in the end. And we all get old, unless we're made of plastic, Loes Bogers, 2019*
+
+
 ###Gelatine-based biofoam with acrylic paint and food coloring
 
 **Basic biofoam recipe:**
@@ -172,9 +185,9 @@ The natural dye faded quite a lot in terms of saturation and definition: it beca
 
 Bring water to the boil, add ingredients until dissolved. Then add a squeeze of soap and make it foam with a whisk. Keep whisking at max 68 degrees for 15-20 mins. 
 
-The foam was probably left too long before pouring so it started separating. One layer of foam and one layer of jelly. It was nice to play with and make shapes. The colors are very bright with these synthetic paints. The back was even more beautiful than the top: glossy and nice marmoring in the colors. 
+The foam was probably left too long before pouring so it started separating. One layer of foam and one layer of jelly. It was nice to play with and make shapes. The colors are very bright with these synthetic paints. The back was even more beautiful than the top: glossy and nice marble effect in the colors. 
 
-![](../imgs/)
+![](../images/wk06_foams_fresh.jpg)*foam samples, freshly cast and released on day 1 (left: pouring side, right: what the jellified bottom looks like), Loes Bogers, 2019*
 
 
 **Casting and releasing**
@@ -185,11 +198,9 @@ I mostly cast into petri dishes again, but also kept the left overs from the mix
 
  You can see quite well that the pigment had time to sink to the bottom in the mixing pot. Because there was more in it, it cured less fast, allowing the pigment to move a little longer. The colors are very deep and dark. You can see the speckles of pigment in most of them.
 
-![](../imgs/)*Here you can see the difference between the mixing pot casts and the petri dish casts, Loes Bogers, 2019*
-
 The thickness of the mixture even before curing allows you to create really nice shapes that blur together really nicely, especially when seen from the back where it also got a glossy jelly layer. It reminded me of planets and the galaxy ;)
 
-![](../imgs/)*Front/back view from some biofoam samples where I played with shapes*
+[![wk06_foams.gif](https://s5.gifyu.com/images/wk06_foams.gif)](https://gifyu.com/image/kJfW) *Front/back view from some biofoam samples where I played with shapes*
 
 **Shrinkage: 20-35%**
 
@@ -203,11 +214,6 @@ The food coloring in the foam did not leave stains (unlike the other places I've
 
 The thicker foam buds (from the mixing pots) feel squishy and soft. The thinner samples got more rigid, much less squishy but still a bit flexible.
 
-![](../imgs/)
-
-###Gelatine-based biosilocone
-
-
 ###Potluck gelatine-based foam with and without egg shell filler
 
 You can keep adding liquid and heat and keep manipulating gelatine-based plastics (it's not heat- or waterproof), so we made a potluck gelatine left-over pot. It turned out to be very foamy so there was probably a good amount of foam leftovers in. 
@@ -233,7 +239,8 @@ The thicker sample feels more squishy and foamy, the egg shells feel a bit like
 
 Because this was a potluck recipe it's unclear what does what. But adding egg shells to biofoam results in material that is firm yet soft, maybe something to apply in toys or furniture?
 
-![](../images)
+![](../images/wk06_eggfoam.jpg)*Eggfoam cast in petri dishes, with eggshell powder as filler (left and center), and without (right), Loes Bogers, 2019*
+
 
 ##Biofoils
 
@@ -268,13 +275,19 @@ Rice flour and tapioca can be mixed into the recipe raw and they will dissolve w
 
 I forgot to do this when using the wheat flour and got huge lumps. I thought it was a total fail but actually turned into a wonderful blistery textured surface that I released from the mixing pot and treasured anyway.
 
+**Texture and feeling**
+
+Thicker ones are still moist and cold, squishy/rubbery. The thinly casted foils with rice flour are rigid, and pretty brittle, whilst still a little flexible.
+
+ [![wk06_biofoilalkanet.gif](https://s5.gifyu.com/images/wk06_biofoilalkanet.gif)](https://gifyu.com/image/kJYz)*Agar-based biofoils with raw stiffeners (left to right:) wheat flour dumped in without dissolving, rice flour and tapioca dissolved cold and mixed in, Loes Bogers, 2019*
+ 
+ **Attempt to cast a large sheet of foil**
+
 The raw rice flour made the mixture thicker and easier to pour without making elaborate frames, but also shrank loads. This could be because of the rice flour, or because I poured it out onto a bigger surface, and a bit thinner, I'm not sure. 
 
 We also made a leftover pot with tapioca that we mixed into the recipe and then continued cooking a little longer so the tapioca was no longer raw. We added some natural inks that we didn't mix and Bela and I had a glorious pouring experience in purple. The next day it turned a light blue. It's now partially rock solid and partically sticky, so it's still curing...
 
-**Texture and feeling**
-
-Thicker ones are still moist and cold, squishy/rubbery. The thinly casted foils with rice flour are rigid, and pretty brittle, whilst still a little flexible.
+![](../images/wk06_biofoil_cookedtapioca.jpg)*Bela and me trying to cast a large piece of foil with cooked tapioca as stiffener and natural ink. It turned light blue since and is still drying, Loes Bogers, 2019*
 
 ###Agar/gelatin biofoil
 
@@ -300,9 +313,11 @@ The imprint shrank with it but it kept its definition (unlike the agar foil with
 
 Brittle and rigid, very little flexibility. The tapioca sample dried a lot slower, but is also surprisingly strong. I can break the rice flour sample easily but the tapioca one is a tough cookie!
 
+[![wk06_biofoil_gelatine_agar.gif](https://s5.gifyu.com/images/wk06_biofoil_gelatine_agar.gif)](https://gifyu.com/image/kJYH)*Gelatine/agar biofoil with food coloring and raw rice flour (left) and raw tapioca (right), Loes Bogers, 2019.*
+
 ##Alginate Plastics
 
-Alginate plastic is bioplastic that is heat resistant up to 150 degrees celcius. It can be made using the technique of *spherification* – where you drop liquid that contains sodium alginate into a calcium chloride bath, resulting in perfect balls if that's what you're after. Or through *reverse spherification* – where a high acid/alcohol/calcium mixture is dripped into a sodium alginate bath, typically resulting in blobs. But this all depends on your recipe I guess. Related techniques, using the same two components: 
+Alginate plastic is bioplastic that is heat resistant up to 150 degrees celcius. It can be made using the technique of *spherification* – where you drop liquid that contains sodium alginate into a calcium chloride bath, resulting in perfect balls if that's what you're after. Or through *reverse spherification* – where a high acid/alcohol/calcium mixture such as lactate is dripped into a sodium alginate bath, typically resulting in blobs. But this all depends on your recipe I guess. Related techniques, using the same two components: 
 
 1. sodium alginate/water/glycerine
 1. calcium chloride (curing agent)