Journal Post

Explain the work you did this week and what you expect as the outcome.

This week our main focus was on fixing the tong’s “wobbling” problem. 

To solve this problem, we thought about making “plywood ABS”, which is gluing an ABS piece to another, to increase the stability of the tong. 

We were expecting the stability of the tong could increase, the fact is it did increase, however, other problems were waiting to be solved. For example, the glue we had was not the best, the pieces may drop out.

We thought about screwing them together, but from the aesthetic perspective we didn’t do that, and we ended up using the glue. We actually thought about having a rubber material on the tong, from one perspective it can increase the fraction value, from the other perspective it also can make the pieces stay to each other. Unfortunately, the rubber spray we brought didn’t work, so we got rid of it. We ended up using the glue.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned about increasing the friction value, I also tried cutting many small slits along the tip, to increase the friction. The community said the idea was good, but we thought it would be hard to make it look nice while it also does its job. 

What are the next steps you will take to finish it properly?

1. we are going to make more ABS board for the last tasting period. 
2. try different sizes of the board, see which size gives the best outcome.
3. Try the “Plywood ABS”. 

 

What will you do if this doesn’t work? What’s your plan B?

1. if it doesn’t work, if it still doesn’t solve the wobbling issue, we will need to increase the width of the piece, to make the piece stronger and not so flexible, even though it might be wobbling. 
   

What is going to be your contributions to the team in the next few days until the final presentations?

After we solve the wobbling problem(hopefully we will) as a team, I will be making the video for the presentation, setting up and decorating the show board for exhibiting each prototype model we made. 

This is a garbage picker I found on Pinterest, which is pretty similar to the one that the community is using. The advantage of this model is its appearance and it actually requires less force to apply on the handle. However, the disadvantage of this model is it’s not so reliable, when using this model its tips often slide to the side. 

So, we thought about actually “degrading” the tong to as simple as it can be. With less fancy function, we could maybe make it more reliable and stable.

Here’s the reference of our first prototype:

And here’s our first prototype:

 

 

Feedback from the community:

1. The community is happy with our first wood-made prototype. 
2. They wish the handle could be better, for example the space on the handle is a bit too big.
3. They said the length of the tong is too short, we need to make it longer. We also need to invite the cleaning group member to come to test it, so that we can make sure it is about the right size. 
4. They are worried if the ABS version tong may be too heavy, we need to make it as light as possible. 
5. They wish that we can make it pretty and handy at the same time, otherwise the cleaning group Ayi may be embarrassed to hold it while they are talking to their friends. 

Q&A:

1. What do the volunteers usually pick up in their working sessions? how is the shape making the process easier or worse?

          Basically plastic bottles, leaves, and cigarette butts, so the end tips need to be signed in a way that can allow them to easily pick those trash up.

      2. what did they think of the handle? was it comfortable? what suggestions do they have?

          They said the hanld was comfortable to hold, but later we found out once the plastic is cut out, the edge is way harsher than the wood. We need to round the edges. 

      3. the average height of the volunteers, how do we decide the right length?

          A Ayi came and tested it, she was about the height as the cleaning group.

 

Next Step:

1. Improve the design the tip shape.
2. Reduce the size of the handle.
3. Set the size to fit the cleaning group’s average height.

Two Questions:

What did you learn about working with the community from today’s discussion (not including the design part)?

What I learned from working with the community was it is very important to hear from your clients, because only those who will use your product think the product is good, then it would be qualified as good. 

There’s an old saying in China “If you don’t listen to your clients, all work you do is in vain”. 

How are you going to apply the lessons to future collaborations?

In the future, I will first listen carefully from my clients, to make sure I truly understand what is their need. After I heard from them and made the first prototype, I should meet with them and hear from them their feedback. When I get the feedbacks I will continue to build up from there, and keep repeating this process until they are satisfied. 

 

 

 

Presentation Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KYhTUbCP1uSSWgNWSb7–lF-mx8B9gjZnLzbinFNBBE/edit?usp=sharing

Final Product(temporally):

Raw Material: ABS pieces.

Step 1:

We built two wood frames to hold the melted material.

Step 2:

Looked up the destiny of the ABS piece, and measured the size of the wood frames and calculated the volume. At the end we got the amount of mass for the ABS pieces we need. Which was 166g.

Step 3:

Measureing

Step 4:

Put the ABS pieces in the frames, label them in the oven.

Since the frames weren’t tall enough, we had to add the ABS pieces separately.

Step 5:

Compress the melted ABS pieces.

Step 6:

Form the shape and let them cool down.

(in the picture we put weights on it to apply force to the melted ABS).

Step 7:

Because the wood frame burned in the oven, it was hard to separate the melted ABS from the frame. So we had to cut the wood parts off.

Final Product:

Success and Failure:

The new material itself we made is a success, after a series of tests we made sure it is strong and reliable. It won’t brake easily, in fact I tried so hard and I still coulnd’t break it. 

The failure would be setting the temperature of the oven to be too high that it burned the wood frame, also left burned marks on the material’s surface. That’s also something we can improve in the future. 

My Pinterest Account Link: https://pin.it/4ALOQRL

• Find References

Interesting Sustainable Solutions:

Ideas I found on Pinterest:

1. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/914862411594989/
2. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/914862411594989/
3. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/914862411594989/

My Ideas

1. Collect abandoned blue jeans, and use them to make other types of clothing or artifacts. 
2. Collect plastic bags and reuse them to make “Plastic Bags”.
3. Break the waster paper and mix them together, use the dried mixture to make “new” blank paper that people can write or draw on. 

• List of trash that I can collect from the AB, the community, the dorms, or my house:

1. Plastic bottles.
2. Plastic Bags.
3. Package Plastic Covers.
4. Masks.
5. Plastic Food Container.
6. Plastic Gloves.
7. Empty Tooth Paste Tube.
8. Cardboard Boxes.
9. Tissues. 
10. Chopsticks.
11. Food Trash.
12. Aluminum Cans.
13. Paper Bags.
14. Wood Pieces.
15. Rubber Materials.

According to the preview studies I have done, I decided that I will be using the plastic materials I collect to make new materials. I will be melting the plastic material and adding pigments to the mixture, so I can create material that has the color I want. 

• Learn from China(Waiting for Update). 
  As part of your research for your final project, find local craft techniques, and find local materials that Chinese people have been using. You can also add them to your pinterest or tumblr account. Select the three most interesting and describe its potential. Is there any technique we can replicate using plastic? Do you think we can replicate those materials using plastic?
• Experiment(Waiting for Update). 
  Create a new material conducting a series of experiments based on what you have learned so far during the lectures or the references you found. How is this material relevant to your research? What is its potential? How could this material be used in other projects in the future? (Reminder: in two weeks you will present a bunch of experiments you have made to create your first prototype)

Bon Appétit               

Our idea is to speak up for the marine animals. Each year, thousands of marine animals died because they accidentally eat plastic garbage in the ocean. Why? because they thought these were food. So, we decided to make the kind of food that humans eat,  but made of plastic garbage. When humans sit in front of the table, looking at the “delicious” plastic food, hopefully, they would feel how these marine animals felt. 

We collected a bunch of plastic garbage, which includes bottles, cups, bags, and rings. Then we started brainstorming: what kind of food can we make out of those materials? they should be ubiquitous and easy to recognize. Eventually, we ended up making eggs, fries, pasta, and burger. The manufacturing part wasn’t too hard, we actually spent more time on coming up with an interesting theme. 

During the exhibition, we borrowed a desk from the cafeteria and organized the food on the desk. Everything we did was to let people feel how is it like eating plastic foods.

 

Our ultimate goal has always been to let people put their shoes in the marine animals’ shoes. To let them imagine how is it like eating plastics. 

We feel like that we were pretty successful in the way that creating foods that are highly similar to real food, at this point people would start thinking that these can be the kind of food that they eat daily. However, we thought that if we would have invited our audience to really come to sit on the chair and begin the process like they are really having dinner, it would definitely give them a better experience, and create a stronger impact. 

The biggest difficulty was finding the perfect materials. For example, we had a higher expectation on the appearance of the burger bread, but due to the limitation of resources, we couldn’t make it to reach our expectations. 

The takeaway would be to do a pre-exhibition before the real exhibition so that we can make reflects on where we could have improved. Like said, we wish that we could invite our audience to come and sit in front of the table, and really begin the process like they are going to have dinner. There’s not much that I would change, besides if we could, we would find a better material for the burger bread and do more interactions with our audience. Because the goal is to let people feel how is it like to eat plastic, so that it may raise a sense of empathy.

Community Research

 

I have to admit it is impressive that now we developed technologies to make bio-based plastics, instead of using the traditional ways. Compared to the traditional ways of making plastics, bio-based plastic is way more green and sustainable. Every material that is being used is renewable, they can be decomposed in a shorter time. Not only, according to the reading, but also the process of making bio-based plastics also requires less energy, compared to petroleum-derived plastics, making bio-based plastics use 20%-30% less energy. I believe bio-based plastic is a milestone on our way to save the earth. 

Last week Marcela taught us how to make small bags made by plastic bags, of course, bags that were thought to be “trash”. This workshop was incredibly inspiring, I can definitely seek to make further development from there.

As plastic bags will be the main source of my art installation, I will be collecting abandoned plastic bags. I recently found that there are plenty of bags in the staircase in my apartment, and there will be new bags each day. I believe I will get enough bags in just a few days. Plus I order deliveries every day, I can finally find a better place for them. 

Here are the references, or my inspirations so called.

               .                       

Here are my design drawings. 

 

My concept is to let people realise that what they think is garbage, can actually make something useful and beautiful. The product is also not hard to make, so hopefully someone would think making a bag like this is fun, and start collecting the plastic bags, instead of throwing them away and let them damage our earth.

 

It was nice to meeting Mr. Yan and hear his stories, to know his personal experiences. I could imagine what he does is not easy, but I never thought it was be that heavy. According to Mr. Yan, he needs to be sweeping streets at 5:30 am each morning, having his breakfast next to the trash beans and carry around 300-500kg or even a ton perday. 

Mr. Yan also said that sometimes he won’t even care too much about garbage sorting, if he could let it be, he will just let it be.

Before meeting with Mr. Yan, I never knew that copper worth 70 Yuan per kg, I could have send the copper box I threw away to the recycle station instead of to the trash bean. Honestly, I never thought the private recyclers could make 15,000 yuan per month, I was kinda shocked haha. But, what does for living is hard, and should be respected. He deserves the price.