Remade in China Week 6 Journal

Find References

For references, I looked into decorative objects that could create that pleasing garden experience as well as something that the new garden would need.

This can be seen in this link.

• I feel that Nendo’s Sinuous Display was an interesting piece that could be applied to our final project. This is due to the nature of exhibition of this project as well as the applicability to the community as a railing which would make the garden more pleasing to visit. Due to the age of our community, having railing may also provide them a sense of safety to have something to hold when walking. Furthermore, we plan on working with the Art Ladies and have their work exhibited within the railing which would allow the space to be more artistic and more decorative in nature. Being a level of aesthetic, it would bolster the value of the garden which would allow more people to visit and utilize it as well as resolve the issues of littering from windows. Furthermore, from the point of sustainability, this railing is sustainable as there is little decay that happens to plastic railings that we may want to create. So long as the material is sustainable, the product will be sustainable. 

• Maison&Object is a piece by Elle Mexico using sustainable recycled plastic to create. This could be utilized in our project as something that essentially is a pot to store plants. As we previously were influenced to cooperate with the art group for our final piece, we may explore trying to create fake plastic flowers that will be in this pot for the garden space. This will reduce the necessity of trying to cultivate and grow the crop, reducing the responsibility and investments of the neighborhood that are needed. This would also create the garden space that we imagine to create. 

Studio Swine created a decorative object that appears aesthetic. Personally, I feel that the garden space needs decoration to create that sense of home. The garden has to provide this sense of serenity and peace which is something that decorative objects are able to create. For this one in particular, it creates a sense of effervescence and liveliness within the garden due to the organic structure of the decorative piece. While it isn’t symmetrical, the asymmetrical nature of this piece defers a sense of vibrance that can be applied to our piece. To create this, we would utilize trash to create sustainable art to liven up the garden atmosphere. 

Learn from China

For local craft techniques and materials that the Chinese have been using, I feel that one that is super vital to the culture of China is wood. Throughout history, furniture, especially ones that involve royalty and the upper class would be wood, particularly rare wood like yellow rosewood and sandalwood. This material is very constructible due to how easily it can be cut and altered. This would then utilize intersection techniques to interlock the pieces such as the mortise and tenon structure. This would then create works that appear to be very interconnected, like being created from a continuous piece of wood, especially if the patterns are matched accordingly. It can be replicated by plastic in terms of how construction works, but the overall scent that’s pronounced of wood cannot. 

Another aspect of local craft would be the use of bamboo. Bamboo is a material that can move slightly if a large volume, but could also be used to create more miniature objects if only thin layers are used. While it can be used to support a house, bamboo can also be used to create brushes and other softer materials. This sort of multidimensionality of the tool allows for this flexibility with the material that can replicate plastic in terms of stiffness and construction means, but it cannot be flexible and shaped according to will at times. This would be a weakness of this material, but plastic would be able to mimic this, especially if we use plastic as a sort of fabric. 

Last material I would talk about is ivory which is an animal material. This material is something that is illegal now, but it is something that was used for a lot of art, tableware, and etc. in China before. As a material it is something that is sculpted rather than something that can bend according to needs. This differs from plastic which can be morphed into the intended shape. Hence, for this material I would argue that plastic is more adaptable and suitable other than the fact that there is symbology behind using ivory. 

Observe

List

Bottle caps

Bottles

Plastic containers

Plastic bags

Phone cases

Masks

Leftover food

Used bottles

Plastic toys

Clothes (nylon)

I think that the specific type of trash that we will be using is the bottle caps and masks due to the easiness of acquiring this material. As it’s the time of COVID, all of us are still wearing masks. As long as we clean the materials correctly, there shouldn’t be any issue with using this. Furthermore, we will use bottle caps. This is something seen throughout campus which is easy to collect. 

This will then be recycled into a new material to create the pots or decoration we imagined for the project. Furthermore, we will also try to experiment with how large we can make the pieces for creating a railing for the community. If we have the necessary materials and enough materials, we could attempt that, but if not we will focus on the other proposals.

Updated Lab Report: Bioplastics

Introduction: Bioplastics, on the whole, contain fewer components derived from fossil fuels and are normally more compostable due to being created from sustainable sources. It is a positive move to replace fossil fuels with renewable resources that can be found in our environment. Bioplastics emit fewer greenhouse gases than petroleum-based polymers under the right conditions. Instead of using fossil fuels, bioplastics are created from sustainable resources. Corn, potatoes, rice, soy, sugar cane, wheat, and vegetable oil are all examples of renewable carbon supplies. By completing this lab, we learned that bioplastics are available and are more beneficial to our environment. We will also include the pros and cons of each plastic we created as an analysis of the applicability for our situation. 

Members: Angel Chang, Max Sun, Snow Chen, and Ken Wu

NetID: amc9985, sc8485, ks5378, kw2820

Time Frame: September 22 – October 20

Lab Report 1

Created Material: Potato Starch Bioplastic

Introduction or Purpose: To experiment making bioplastics using potato starch, a grown source of food in which potatoes can be utilized for creating sustainable products.

Ingredients and Amounts: 320 ml Water, 30ml Vinegar, 12 get Glycerol, 20gr potato starch, container mold area: 20cm by 8.5 cm

Tools: Mold(An Acrylic Box), Scale, Pot, Stove, Spoon, Measuring Glass, and Syringe

Methods:

Mix water, starch and glycerol together in a pot.

Turn on the heat to high and start stirring the mix.

When it starts bubbling up, continue stirring the mix for 2 more minutes.

After this, remove the pot from the stove, add the vinegar, and mix well.

Finally pour the mix into the mold.

We also added sweet potato powder to give it some color.

Curing time and temperature:

3-4 minutes-ish at 85 degree celsius. 

Results: (photography)

This is the end result of the bioplastic. The texture is soft and kind of rubbery.

For creating the plastic, we had to heat up the solution of potato starch, glycerol, and water through a stove, stirring it.

Towards the end, we added sweet potato starch to add color to our plastic. 

Physical aspect:

The bioplastic appears to be a pink purple square-look solid, with a few bubbles in it. 

Material observations according to external factors or changes over the time:

When the mixture is in the pot, as we continue heating it the solid starts to melt, and eventually we get a mixture that looks like glue, but contains floccule and air bubbles. 

When it gets cool, some of the air bubbles disappear. In addition, the overall texture (hardness/softness) is that it’s more soft. 

Conclusions:

The process went really well, something we could have improved is to control the amount of water. The amount of water we added was more than we needed. Since we don’t have a large mold, when we pour the mixture into the mold it is too thick, and it takes longer to set.

If we look at the results as of October 20, it can be observed that the material as decomposed a lot. This self-decomposition would then make the material only temporary as a plastic, but it wouldn’t be a more permanent material. Therefore to use this material, it may only be used for short times, possibly only as decoration as it cannot touch any water. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pros and Cons:

Pros – This type of material is easy to create as it’s sustainable. In addition, it can easily be molded into shapes for more flexible material.

Cons – This type of material isn’t exactly stable. From personal observation, it starts to open up and crack after a period of time, hence if this is utilized as a material of a project, it would need to just be a temporary material rather than a permanent material. 

Lab Report 2

Created Material: Gelatin Bioplastic

Introduction or Purpose: To experiment making bioplastics using gelatin

Ingredients and Amounts: 60 ml Water, 3.6 g Glycerol, 12 gGelatin, 10ml vinegar, Blue Pigment

Tools: Mold(An Acrylic Box), Scale, Pot, Stove, Spoon, Measuring Glass, and Syringe

Methods:

Add water, gelatin and glycerol into a pot.

Cook over medium heat and stir until the gelatin dissolves and the solution starts to thicken.

Remove the pot from the stove and remove the froth with a spoon if there is any.

Pour the mix into the mold.

Curing time and temperature:

3-4 minutes-ish. 85 degree celsius. 

Results: (photography)

The left one is gelatin.

As for the steps, it is the same as potato starch so no extra photos will be shown and commented on.

Physical aspect:

A blueish square-look solid, with a few bubbles in it. 

Material observations according to external factors or changes over the time:

When the mixture is in the pot, as we continue heating it the solid starts to melt, and eventually we get a mixture that looks like glue, but contains floccule and air bubbles. 

When it gets cool, some of the air bubbles disappear and we slightly cause it to disperse by hitting it. 

Conclusions:

The process went well, something we could have improved is to control the amount of pigment. The amount of pigment we added was more than we needed. Maybe also cut down the amount of ingredients, since we don’t have a large mold, when we pour the mixture into the mold it is too thick, and it takes longer to set.

The conclusion from October 20 would be that this material is still very very hard. I think that because of this little change the material would be more suitable for solid objects that don’t change too much. I would also like to experiment with using water on this material to see f it would dissolve. If it dissolves, then it would make it unsuitable for molds, however, if it doesn’t this material might be suitable for tables, chairs, and etc. Overall, there’s no change that really happens to this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pros and Cons:

Pros – This material is extremely dense and hard. It makes for a sturdy material.

Cons – If water is added to it, it might become decomposed. In addition, it’s hard to cut the material to the needs. 

Lab Report 3

Created Material: Carrageenan bioplastic

Ingredients and Amounts: 350ml of water, 16g of carrageenan, 3ml of glycerin, and algae powder

Tools: Mold(An Acrylic Box), Scale, Pot, Stove, Spoon, Measuring Glass, and Syringe

Methods:
Add water and carrageenan in to the pot.

Cook over medium heat and stir until it dissolves, then add glycerin, repeat the progress.

Add algae powder at last, repeat the heating and stirring progress once again.

Pour the mix into the mold.

Curing time and temperature:
about 3-4 minutes. 85 degree celsius.

Results: 
Carrageenan is the material on the right. 

Physical aspect:
A light green solid square with a few bubbles in it.

Material observations according to external factors or changes over the time:
When the mixture is in the pot, as we continue heating it the solid starts to melt, and eventually we get a mixture that looks like glue, but contains floccule and air bubbles.
When it gets cool, some of the air bubbles disappear. At the end, it becomes more of a cloth-like texture. 

Conclusions:
There wasn’t any issues during the process, we were first worried that water might evaporate due to the temperature, so added a little more than the amount that we needed, but soon we figured that it wasn’t any problem. Maybe next time we could swirl faster so the color could mix in more evenly and faster as well.

As of October 20, I feel that this material is super flexible and probably more useful than gelatin. While gelatin is super firm, this material can be bended, hence giving it more usage for certain functions that I want to achieve. If I reflect on the texture of this, it feels like thick textured paper. The only thing that I think is bad about this material is that the evaporation process causes it to have uneven surface. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pros and Cons:

Pros – The material is mendable which can be applied for a lot of prototypes that have organic shapes. In addition, the thickness is decent allowing the material to be stronger than something like potato starch.

Cons – The material is also very organic. It’s difficult to define the borders and how the material is shaped as the material will combine together in new ways.