Remixing Materials¶
Reflection¶
For the assignment in week 1, we are required to analysis three different materials in different context.
During this seminar, we learned about working with real materials in context.
There is a lot more hands-on experience and we are able to gain insights on how to work with bio materials. I have also learned a lot about fungi and have a new perspective of viewing mycelium as a material. It makes me realize how accessible all the ingredients are to make bio materials.
This experience has been very enriching as it makes me step out of my comfort zones.
As a group, we decided to use orange peel as the main ingredient. I was able to collect a large bag of orange peels from a local fruit vendor to execute the experiment. We have also explored different methods to work with the orange peels to give it a second life.
We were able to use the collected orange peels to start an experiment. First we sterilized the orange peels in a pressure cooker for about 30 minutes. Then, we added some mycelium and mix well. That was the first exploration that we tried making new materials with orange peels.
Besides that, we experimented with both wet and dry orange peels, mixing it with eggshells to form a dough like material to make our compostable flower pot. It is very interesting, as we also added tea leaves in one of the mixture to make our flower pot more ‘nutritious’. There have been a couple fail attempts, but we were still able to learn from our experimentations.
During the second week, we also had the opportunity to learn how to 3D print using bio-materials,moulding and casting.
I think both ways has it own merits, as 3D printing requires you to design and object from ‘sculpting’ perspective while moulding and casting requires you to think about the negative form that you will be designing. For the 3D printing, our group worked with orange peels and egg shell powders as the base of the bio materials. From this experience, I learned that it is crucial for the paste to acheive a ‘toothpaste’ texture in order for the bio-material to be extruded smoothly. While we also experimented to change the pigment of the bio-material using spirulina powder as an alternative addition, we failed for the first few attept because our dough is too rough. It is interesting to work with bio-material as there is a sense of instability and unpredictness, therefore we have to take all these into account when working with them to avoid failures.
It was very enriching to see all of our other peers work during the final presentation. As a group, one of the feedback we collected is using silicon mold to make our pots so that it is easier to shape it. Also, we can look into potentials to add other bio materials such as coffee ground and tea leaves if we want to make the compostable pots more nourishing for our plants. If we were to take this project further, we would be testing the compostable pots in context to see how well or how long it will take to fully disintegrate.