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Name: Eva Solo

Date: 16/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy

Part 1 Brainstorming

Part 2 Inspiration

Part 3 Development

Part 4 Repetition

Part 5 Consideration

Through the first five parts, I used the journal entries to describe the entire production process from the brainstorming to the polishing of the frisbee and part 6 summarises the development concisely with complimentary visual aid. 

Part 6 Documentation

Section 1. Statement

With the inspiration of Patagonia’s Logo Disk, a frisbee from 15% recycled plastic, Sofia and I attempted to take this model to the next step and create a frisbee from 100% recycled material. Our primary focus was to share some of the knowledge relating to discarding waste with the demographic of children, as we agreed that effective societal change can be best implemented by changing generational outlook on waste production and usage. Alongside the final ‘product’ of the frisbee, we also created a step-by-step guide on how to reproduce our creation which also included some foundational understandings of trash and its recycling to create something completely new by up-cycling waste. Our updated hypothesis for experimentation was ‘What qualities of the frisbee will allow it to be its best extent of aerodynamic?’ We looked into shape, weight, and sizing of the physical form to provide the best suited information for the guide to avoid an extensive trail-and-error when reproducing. Through this project creativity is also heavily involved, at least in our case, as we had to think of innovative ways to tackle obstacles at hand. Overall, the evaluation bellow provides a better in-depth look of the post-production assessment and the margin for improvements if more time was available.

Section 2. Description

The Frisbee

As mentioned, the Logo Disk was our primary inspiration in the realisation of a 100% recycled material frisbee. As it takes up to 500 years for plastic to decompose in landfills, we acknowledge the damage we create every time we forget our refillable water bottle and have to buy a new one from the store. What if we could use some of the plastic we would otherwise throw away towards creating something brand new. Giving plastic another life is a great way to practice up-scaling and further introducing Reusing into our daily routines instead of  constant carless consumption.

No. 2  HDPE plastics are high-density polyethylene and are most often used to produce milk containers, cleaning containers, as well as bottle caps. No. 4 LDPE plastics are low-density polyethylene and are used for bottles, bags, wrapping material. These two groups are used in the production of our frisbee and can be mixed together when melting. 

The aim was to create a frisbee shape that could be thrown from one person in the direction of another, and get to its destination without excessive efforts (a lot of strength etc.). We love frisbees because they are a fun way to get active outside and create quality socialising time in the community. Through our project we are not only aiming to educate kids how they can up-scale waste, tap into their creativity of DYIing, but also go and be active outside when the internet is creating a perfectly entertaining bubble for anyone with a connection. 

The Guide

The goal of creating a guide was providing some foundational understanding of recycling to kids as well as step-by step directions how this frisbee could be recreated. We looked into the website ReuseThisBag which provided simply worded definitions about the environmental impact of waste and decided to source this in our guide as a lot of inspiration was drawn from the website in the aesthetic formatting. Further commentary how this phase of project realisation can be improved is described in the evaluation section bellow, as it came to be the place with the most potential for alterations. Through the guide, we want to share our experience and create inspiration for others to use similar techniques in up-scaling and/or creating art from waste. 

Online Guide

 

Section 3. Production

A brief overview of the production steps (Pt. 4 describes our production in more detail) : collecting plastics (#2 and #4), cutting the material, shredding the pieces using the shredder, waxing the pans that stand as a mould to prevent plastic from sticking to the pans (as visible in error in the image circled black) , placing the shreds into the bigger pan – covering the base, placing second pan on top and stuffing the sizes, placing both pans into the oven for the first 10 minutes to weight down the melting plastic, take the second pan out, wait 40~50 more minutes, take the pan out, place the smaller pan back inside, place wooden cubes to create height before placing under the press, press down and wait 30-40 seconds, taking the pans out from under the press, allow time for cooling (~5 minutes), cut around the diameter of the curve for any sticking out pieces, use the drill to even the sides, use sand paper to smooth, use sand paper conveyor belt ti further smooth a flat surface of the curve, place sticker on the front, PLAY!

 

Section 4. Experimentation

While combining the knowledge from the Precious Plastic lecture tutorial on making stools, as well as the MIT case study on the Physics of Frisbee, we tested the recyclable frisbee production through four trails. Each aimed to focus on different qualities that would allow this prototype to be its best level of aerodynamic.

In the images for each trail, I added a self-assessed scale on the evaluation of how aerodynamic the frisbee is. The results were based on: general feel in the hand (weight; size), how precisely it flew in the directed direction, feedback from user testing. 

Trail 1. [First Trail, Test Trail]

In our first trail, we added too much material in the base of the pan with the hopes it would smoothly curve up when pressed down. We were no yet familiar with the press mechanism and had to rely on body weight to squeeze it down as much as possible. The result was thick and not equally curved throughout. It was also indented inwards (while it would be preferred to scope outwards when looking from above), the stickers in the image, as well as the side angle are good indications of how the shape formed without using a press. 

Trail 2. [Curvature&Weight]

We began this trail with the addition of plastic bags (that were #2 and #4 groups) with the shreds, to reduce the weight, but quickly learned that plastic bag melting properties were very different and melted a lot quicker. We continued this trail with just the shredded pieces, but instead of filling the base densely, we laid a fairly thin coat down and stuffed the sides with the second pan present. This is where the idea of placing the second pan into the oven for the first 10 minutes came. This trail was fairly successful, but the thickness of the base and the sides were not even, although the weight was radically reduced. 

Trail 3. [Shape]

In the third trail, we focused on achieving the shape of even and balanced material throughout the whole shape. This trail reminded me of Ben’s point during the feedback session in class ‘It might look like a frisbee, but will it fly like one’. This one definitely flew well, but I would not give this to a child due to the danger it could cause due to it being very heavy. 

Trail 4. [Size]

This trail was overall the most successful in achieving a smaller shape (used a metal bowl as the pressing mould part), as well as the evenly distributed light weight. The aesthetic of this frisbee was altered due to some burning marks and made it quite undesirable in appearance, while the best in its aerodynamic qualities.

Section 5. User Testing

We played with the frisbees ourselves, and had a great time, but were still determined to get some feedback from the targeted demographic of children. Although we originally considered 9 to 13 years of age to be our focus, we primarily chose this with the intent of the children trying to recreate the process. When it came to playing with it, all age groups are very welcomed! We found two girls (ages 7 and 9) who wanted to test our creations. Due to the time restrictions on uploading video, I added the trimmed version of a successful catch we all were very proud of! Post-play, we asked the girls how the frisbees felt, and got the response that Trail 2 and Trail 4 were our most successful developments due to the way they ‘felt in the hands, and when throwing’ which I associate with the weight and sizing of these particular trails.  

UserTesting

Section 6. Evaluation

Frisbees ranked by how successful we deemed each trail:

If more time was available some changes could further push this project in the direction of environmental awareness for a better result. Although, we were pretty close in getting what we wanted for the frisbee aerodynamic qualities, another trail could encompass the shape of T4, the approximate weight of T2 and a better developed aesthetic look (eg. T3). Where I see the most place for improvement is the realisation of the guide. The majority of our focus over the last month was geared towards the hand-on experimentation, and the guide lacked the same level of consideration. Firstly, I would acknowledge that experimentation of this complexity cannot be simply created at home and for the ‘guide portion’ of the project – would propose holding a workshop in our lab. The same guide could be used (although I would change page 3, and instead of using sourced facts would create my own summary) and taken home. With this example the steps could be described more vaguely as there would be assistance for the kids to lead them through the process, and more emphasis could be directed towards retainable information about the environment. Keeping this in mind, I don’t think a themed aesthetic would be too overwhelming as that was my main concern when just realising an online version for families to look at by them selves. 

We did user testing for our hypothesis of the flying qualities, and I asked my nine year old brother to read over the guide to see if it is accessible in language, but another improvement could be actually taking a child through the process themselves, hence the workshop idea. This development would slightly change the trajectory in how we are presenting the information and the purpose of understanding it. As the process has around a one hour wait for melting the plastic in the oven, during the workshop this time could be spent for interactive learning. I was considering how much more informative and interesting events are that make me do things myself, and yes we would already be making the frisbee, but the physical product is only the representation of the larger ideas Sofia and I have been actively discussing. Maybe the ‘guide’ could have some ‘workbook’ pages, where some of the environmental statements had a blank gap, and during the discussions children could learn the facts and fill in the gaps. This goes back to the conversation with my mom (psychologist, who works with children) and how she explained her effective techniques in explaining mindfulness practices to six year olds. 

 

Section 7. Conclusion

In conclusion this has been a very rewarding experience due to the commitment I dedicated towards the realisation of the initial idea. I combined my interest of arts, environmental awareness, and the demographic of children to participate in the production of a project that truly meant something to me. This opportunity also allowed me to personally grow in terms of collaborative work, as Sofia and I made a great team and shared a lot of compromises to overcome relevant issues. The Re-Frisbee was also monumental in using the science knowledge I had retained in the sphere of visual creations, which further inspired me to open my perspectives when scouting for materials for my own projects in the future. Just reflecting on my outlook of creating during the duration of this course, as well as sharing the experience (instructions) with the larger audience instead of just the final product, has levelled up my confidence as a creator. I realised it’s not just about how you finalise your progression, but how you can share the process. This was my first fully hands-on experimental project for an environmental cause, and I have to thank Andy for introducing us to so many new machines and techniques that I will most definitely be exploring the next opportunity I have. The journal entries during the weeks capture it better than I can summarise here, but I further pushed my design thinking to produce radical ideas that can later be simplified into achievable steps for the betterment of our planet, whatever the creation. I feel how the information from this course, as well as the production of Re-Frisbee, has evolved me as a global citizen and a team player when on the topic of the environment, and I am very excited to see where my life takes me with this new direction I have sourced through our IMA community. 

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 16/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy

Swap Event

A few of us that were unable to join the squad for the Beach Clean up we hosting the Clothing Swap event. We were not able to fully realise this idea this time, but I took away a few notes for future. We concluded this attempt by placing all of the items into the IMA lounge tables with a free for all sign. Although, as I was leaving I did not feel like we were able to fulfil what we originally planed, a few weeks later I saw some of these items being used in Interaction Lab final projects and so saw some  benefit of our gathering.

I was considering how an event as such could be developed to create a community gathering. First of all, I think we (although unintentionally) chose a good time to create a clothing/item swap, as the end of the semester is usually the time everyone is cleaning out their possessions before traveling – at the end of the Spring semester could be an even more affective time period. Second of all I was thinking why I had no items to bring – well, though taking Sustainable Fashion, and now Remade In China, I have become a much more conscious consumer, only buying what I really really want, and in turn being a lot more satisfied with my purchases. An even as such, could give a great platform to communicate some of these ideas I have retained through taking sustainability courses, although I’m not sure how it would be received by people wanting stuff, but if the information could be packaged carefully without sounding preachy I think this would be a wonderful opportunity. Third of all, I think we never got to gather to discuss what we expected from this event thus not being able to realise it well. Some design thinking would have benefited the final out come for sure.

 

Neighbourhood Observations

This semester was my first time living outside of school dormitories in the city of Shanghai, as well as my first time in Puxi. I quickly realised how the scenery had changed in terms of people circulation, and with that waste production. The streets of my neighbourhood were lively and active at almost all times of the day, and the unattended waste multiplied by the hour till it was all swept away in the early hours of the morning before the people filled the streets. The more we learned in class, the more curious I was to observe my immediate environment and the perspective of the residents around me.

One observation that particularly intrigued me was this idea of ‘mod mentality’ when applied to chucking unwanted trash on the streets. For example, once the initial piece of trash was left on the side of a gate, more people were inclined to do the same creating a cluster of trash. The most surprising was the fact that a trash can wasn’t even 5 feet away, and clearly visible from the cluster. Questions: Are people not even looking around? Why does ‘they did it first’ count as a viable excuse when it comes to littering? Is there any though process in terms of knowing the streets are getting cleaned daily, so someone else will pick it up? 

I shared some of these thoughts with my peers and alongside some great discussions I also repeatedly got the response ‘that’s someone’s job’ which at first aggravated me. I was boarder-line disgusted with the idea of privilege in terms of distancing self from basic responsibility, counting environmental protection as a core human requirement while living on this Earth. With that I further targeted the observation of the people in change of cleaning up after others. I walked the streets at different times of the day, seeing the most activity at the hours ranging from 6pm to 8 pm / 3 am to 4 am for the AI work in my neighbourhood. They never seemed bothered by the misplaced trash, and seemed to have accepted that with clearing the bins they also take care of miscellaneous left items at street corners. I think the best way to show our gratitude of waking up to a clean city environment is to AT LEAST place all of our trash into their intended place. 

I also observed how waste circulated in my building, as well as my complex. It was interesting to see how the majority of the residents obeyed the trash take-out hour rules and if there were still trash left by the station before it opened at the beginning of the semester, by the end of it – almost everyone walked down during the 6pm to 8 pm window. I took a stroll through the different flours and as 余 asked, a lot of the residence left their raw materials (mostly plastic in form of bottles, glass in forms of bottles, and cardboard in form of boxes) outside their doors before 6 am during some time of the week. I used this as my morning exercise for two weeks, by-daily.  

On a side note, I often found banana peals, apple stems, and gum pieces just randomly chucked on the streets. I remember from the time I was little, adults indicated that when in nature some of these may be left as they would later biodegrade into the soil. I don’t support any time of littering now, my the mere audacity of chucking a banana peal onto concrete where it clearly doesn’t even follow the soil fertilising idea is so obscure to me.

I was also really interested in seeing how a large amount of cardboard is transported, as they first pour water onto the mass to create weight and compact the material before packing it onto the three whealed motorcycles. 

Here are some (raw/unedited) photos I took during this process:

This one lady said she was ‘太大了’ (too old) to carry the weight of trash, so she diligently pushed her chair on wheels down with her trash overtime I saw her heading to the trash station. This also privilege-checked me, this time for my able-body and how much of these daily activities I take for granted, I told her where our apartment was and offered help if she ever needed it. It was great to reflect on this semester not only for what I have learned in class, but how I was able to involve myself in the broader community through these activities. 

Art

Using the potato starch recipe I also created some visuals in the physical as well as the digital realm:

Using the material I produced in Week 12 Journal Entry ,I visualised how I see plastic polluting the Earth till it slowly dims all of life.

I used this material on paper to lay coats of watercolour, and later altered the imaged in Photoshop. The material is also spread in pieces throughout the canvas in a ‘battle’ with pieces of plastic. Recycled plastic bags, wraps, and packaging material were also used in the process, as well as cigarette buds. As we discussed and read a lot about sustainability and what steps we can take, I needed another outlet to understand what I was absorbing. Visual creation, for me, describes the world and its mysteries with the best degree of accuracy when language can’t quite connect all of the points in my mind. 

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 06/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

After completing all of our trails, we continued the conversation of the children’s DYI guide for the project to be scalable to some extent. We both agreed, that this procedure was a lot more complex in the making than expected, and that a child even with the help of an adult, as well as eliminating all of the trail and error we went through, would not be able to easily create this recyclable frisbee. Due to time limitations, we decided to continue with our original idea because in theory if someone wanted to perfectly replicate this recipe and had access to machines, like the shredder/press/oven, they could attempt it for sure. For the guide, we wanted to include some easily worded definitions relating to environmental awareness. For example the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) is a great example of the type of information that has the possibility to stick in a child’s memory, even if the grasp of the context will come later in life. My mom is a psychologist, who works with children, so I also consulted with her about the best methods to provide information for kids. Our target audience ranged from ~8 to 13 years of age, so we did not want to oversimplify, even if in our eyes this age group is considered ‘much younger’. The first draft seemed slightly too immature to me, so adjusting the text was also a trail and error. I had my nine year old brother read over the awareness section in the intro, as well step-by-step guide, and asked him to reexplain what he retained. Although he did point to not being familiar with most of the concepts in depth, he was able to restate it pretty clearly, and with the consideration and parents should be working with their children on this theoretical DYI, I wanted to keep some of the language that could also be beneficial for adults. I considered theming the guide by some of the popular cartoons or movies, but I am currently in the process of developing my design aesthetic and prioritised consistency through out the pages over crazy graphics I usually implement. 

This project, for me, was very special, because it not only touched on the very important environmental knowledge I have gained this semester, but also was geared towards children – which in my opinion is the way to change societal understanding about the environment, and how we should be taking care of it. I wanted to make this project aesthetically appealing, and will be discussing how this consideration produced a guide that looked good, but could have been better.

I don’t only want to blame time, as we did as much as we could over the last month, and if we had another month we would have probably still came out with improvements that could be implemented with more time, but currently I can only reflect on what I took away from this process and where I see place for advancements.

Short summary: [Developed in Final Documentation]

• Guide content  —> creating our own Fun Fact page, instead of using a pre-made one (can still inset link to useful informational pages for kids about the environment)
• Guide aesthetic —> Gathering more info on children book/journal aesthetic, and creating a theme more favourable by a younger population: colours, characters
• Reproduction —> one step forward from Guide to creating a Workshop that would follow our guide in the lab with all of the necessary equipment, and safety measures.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 05/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

We shared our progression in class, and mostly got the feedback relating to our original hypothesis: Will it actually fly? or Will it just resemble the appearance of a frisbee?

For Trail 2, we focused on the weight of the frisbee, considering the possibility to mix the #2 and #4 plastics from bags with the bottle cap sample. Sofia cut up a reasonable amount of plastic bags, and we used the reminding of our first batch of shreds to replicate the procedure. 

1st take away from Trail 1: 

Instead of filling a dense bottom layer, we filled it quite thin, estimating about 1/3 of it to remain in height. Placed the second pan in, and stuffed the sides for the curvature. 

2nd take away from Trail 1:

We placed the second pan in the oven for around 10 minutes to weight down the plastic, and allow it to form the shape we want.

Let’s just say, the plastic bags were not an affective way to reduce the weight of the frisbee:

But, the initial placing of the send pan to form the shape, was a great idea, as well as the side stuffing, so we replicated the steps only using hard plastic bits:

The weight of the frisbee was light,  and I questioned it’s durability if it would break easily if a wall was hit. It did fly, and even better than the first one, so the shape evolved, and we did our third trail using the same steps, but more material. As we did run out of the shreds, we took a few days to collect plastic and were ready to use the shredder ourselves. Although for the first round, we forgot to dry the newly washed containers, we were quickly reminded, and proceeded without reminding water. It was a little scary at first using this machine, and this is where for the first an idea of ‘recreation’ popped into my head. We were attempting to create something children could make, but no child should be left with a machine as such, or even sizers to cut through such thick plastic (^continuation about this in the next journal entry).  

Trail 3:

• We once again, preheated the oven to 180°

• Did the routine of prepping the pans with wax, and placing the shreds on the bottom layer

• Placing second pan inside and stuffing the sides. This time we were very generous with the amount of material we used to test how the ticker sides would influence the aerodynamics.

This trail came out looking ‘most-like a frisbee’, but from what I gathered from the MIT study it was the least successful for aerodynamic qualities. Personally, I really liked the aesthetic of this trail, and appreciated the pattern it produced.

Trail3_sunlight

For Trail 4, Sofia took over the production to test one more attempt for a smaller diameter. She used the ‘inside pan’ (which was smaller) as a base, and a metal bowl for the pressing in. This trail would also be more difficult to use the press for, as this is how we have been using the press with block formations:

To attempt to adjust to these circumstances, the bowl was left in for slightly longer in the begging (when were were first forming the shape) in the oven. This sadly burned the frisbee surface, and it got tinted brown – but the shape was the best one yet! It was small, even, and looked like a children’s frisbee. It was really interesting to see qualities from each trail that were great, and elements that were not as successful. I will further discuss the post-analysis in my final documentation. Over the four trails, we managed to get 1) the shape  2) the sizing 3) the weight, although not all in one frisbee.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 05/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed creating the potato starch plastic replacement and have been continuing exploring this recipe as my first attempt was somewhat burned. I identified the mistakes in the first trial due to the temperature being too high, the stirring tool was not effective (used the end side of a brush, so the scope was small in diameter), and the pan was too large for the amount I was working with. 

To tackle these issues,

I replicated the steps using:

• 100mL of water
• 10mL of vinegar
• 10g of glycerol
• 14g potato starch

which is double the recipe, as I wanted to create more density. I only turned the pan on as I was ready to place the blend inside, and only turned it to low-height. I also attempted to heat the material in the beaker first to see if the consistency would begin changing, but after the first minute the colour stayed the same, and I poured the contents directly on the pan, followed by swift stirring with a proper wood stirring tool.  This tool allowed me to push the mass with a large scope, thus preventing immediate burning.

 

Due to a larger mass, it took around 2 minutes to stir the blend into the consistency I wanted. I turned the pan off and began gathering my materials on the test plates. The reminding material in the pan pealed off seamlessly and perfectly resembled plastic. Its properties were: flexible, quite strong as I tried to tear it, and translucent to some extent. 

I placed the main batch of materials on top of the oven to dry during the following week.

The results were great in comparison to the first attempt, as the material was consistent throughout and the same in pigment.

The reasoning why I was so drawn to this recipe was the aesthetic appeal, and my liking of this slime-like texture. I was thinking about creating some visual art with this batch and will continue to share my progression on a future journal entry.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 04/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

Reading Response

Andy Couturier’s writing in The Abundance Of Less Breaking The Trance of “The Next Better Thing” reiterates the consumption habits of our ever-so developing society. The example from the conversation with Asha Amemiya about wanting to buy the newest version of a computer, because its even better than the previous one, flashed me back to conversation with my dad long before I had a grasp on how customer marketing worked. When the iPhones started popping out every year he always used to and still says ‘the phone is not much different, the price exceeds what its worth, and yet it is one of the most popular items, its sort of a status symbol to pull out the newest version in a business meeting or gathering of friends, on top of that the phone is extremely fragile and a few drops result in the need for screen replacement services – that too exceed the price of tech repair by a large percent’. His considerations never resonated with me as much as it does now, I moved past the societal need for ‘proving myself’ through my possessions and can make (somewhat) objective decisions when it comes to investing large sums of money. As the text described the impact of growing up in India, I also considered the locational impact of the youth. A child forming their core beliefs in a materialism based society or even household cannot be expected to just understand minimalism and how that can be a much more rewarding way or living. I have to say I too was a child thriving off my possessions, seeing a day at the mall as the most exciting activity of my childhood and now I can account a lot of my change to detaching from this type of life and moving to China. I am not saying change cannot be implemented based on location, but for a long time of my adolescence I felt out of place and did not understand why buying did not bring me the joy it once did. After I moved here and familiarised myself with other types of lifestyles and struggles, my core beliefs started shifting too and I can not find happiness from within and my what I create. This reading further inspired me to consider my immediate circle of my family and how I can bring them the impact I am experiencing through my education: my brother is nine years old and I hear a lot of the same articulations on his future goals as I did his age, he often references that he wants to be ‘known’ and when I ask him for what reasoning he replied ‘for having a lot of money’, I tried not to laugh but it was comical to see that level of certainty in something – I know he will move away from. I sat my parents down and had a conversation that just by taking his iPad away because ‘you should learn to entertain yourself’ is not enough, we – as the older people in the family – need to provide him with tools or options on how he can spend his time. I see how much technology has affected his life, and I am currently trying to damage control – why? Because it is so important for children to receive that level of satisfaction from own doing/ participating / creating, rather than a score at the top of the video game ranking. Children should not be overlooked, they should not be ‘let free’ till they form a comprehensive brain to start explaining these concepts to them – on self-worth, environment, and human relationships. By learning how to communicate these concepts to children we will be growing generations of inspired individuals that prioritise more than just instant-gratification. The issue I see is that the industrial world, or corporate, doesn’t want communities like this, they need brainwashed and dull souls trapped in the consumption cycle to fulfil their human-purpose by possessions. Can we ever break free, if we are programmed to go the opposite way? This makes me consider how grateful I am to be born in a time where I can access education, learn, and make my own informed decisions, while simultaneously trying to battle again the urges that formed in my childhood, such as impulse purchasing. 

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 04/12/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

We gathered as much #2 and #4 plastic as we could find around school, cutting every last bit from the bottle necks. We also cut the larger containers into smaller pieces, to help the shredder be more time efficient.

For our first trail, we first needed to shred the plastic containers we collected and got a tutorial from Marcela as she helped us with our first batch. 

As we were ready to melt our contents, we realised we’ve been toying around with the idea of using the big pans in our lab as a mould, but they truly were way too big. We were on a mission to scout the 8th floor for any possible form that could stand as our mould. As we walked around and discussing where else we could find something like this without investing our own funds, we were pointed to a lone box in the corner of our IMA lab, with a tag FREE FOR ALL. What are the odds? We find two small pans inside, one perfectly fitting in to the other. For a moments I questioned if this is actually happening, and if we really were able to just take it for our project, with the assumption that we would have to break off the handles and basically make them unreturnable. After a confirmation from a fellow, we were ecstatic to give our first trail a go. As we waited for Andy to help us take the plastic handles off the metal pans, I felt looseness in one of the handles and began picking at it will it broke off. The other one was held together with a screw, and by using a screw drive I was able to undue that one too. I’m not sure if it was the excitement from finding the pans, but I felt very handy to complete this task myself. I sanded the metal dents on the inside pan of our mould and our pans were ready for the oven!

Waxing the inside of the bigger pan and the outside of the smaller one, will allow the plastic form to slip out easily and not stick to the surface which would damage the flat shape when removing from the mould. After we took the steamy pan out from the oven after ~50 minutes, we placed the smaller pan  inside and tried to figure out the press mechanism. We realised we should have confirmed the instructions before we took out the pan, and were now in a race with time before the plastic began hardening from the cooling. To not risk loosing this trail completely, we both attempted to press our body weight onto the pans, squeezing it as low as we could. This got, I would estimate, ~20% of the job done and we were left with a thick surface, barely any curve – shape. 

 

From this trail, we understood that the melted plastic is a lot more thick than expected, and it will not just ‘squeeze’ upwards to create a perfectly circular curve on all of the sides. We did get slight curvature, so we tested throwing it. It did travel distance in the air before landing, and was durable when fitting the floor, but we both agreed it felt too heavy when realising from hand. Giving this trail to some friends got comments along the lines of ‘if this was for a heavy weight disk thrower, than sure, definitely not a children’s frisbee feel’.

We took all of the feedback, as well as the mistakes we could pin point ourselves, and moved forward to the next trail.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 27/11/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

Reading Response:

The readings further pushed my suspicions on the thoughts about the marketing process to the consumer. Companies see as nothing but opportunity to extract money, and as it seems only care about our health when a regulation is in place. In Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic: Plastic and the work of the biodegradable, the quotation “It seems that the closer a plastic object comes to our body, the more acutely we evaluate it” (108) directly reminded of the Bag It documentary when the man investigated the toxins that enter your body just by using commonly produced self-care/hygiene products that we not sustainable. In this case I reference sustainability in terms of utilising naturally produced materials. It is true that the closer in proximity we are to something, the more we care about how it affects us, but this goes back to the individualistic perspective on waiting for a disaster to HAVE to change your lifestyle, instead of CHOOSING focusing on prevention for the larger community at hand. What we don’t see is an immediate cause-effect consequence when we pollute our world. The basic satisfaction of clicking a button, feeling the physical touch, hearing the click, and seeing what it activates – is my basic understanding of interactivity and human relation to it. When we pollute the world, the process is a lot more gradual. Even considering how the air pollution from the West/East is currently affecting the ozone levels in Africa is an example that needs to be broadcasted on a much more global levels so we can make decisions based on global effect. In the reading Cradle to Cradle – A Question of Design, I further formulated my thoughts on minimalism and why it resonates with me. I have very recently adopted some of these perspectives, and although I am not a radical activist for this cause, I see a lot of benefits that it brings me on an every day basis. The text highlighted that the designers might take some of our considerations into their design production, but overall they are creating products (almost only) to be thrown away very quickly after purchasing. This perspective fuels the fast market and continues to deceive us into the material realm. My observations from adapting a minimalistic approach resulted in my purchases being made very mindfully and with a lot of consideration for necessity. Besides saving money, I noticed how much joy I can receive from activities not involving material gain. This has been a delightful realisation as I noticed a shift in my quality of life and life priorities I invest my energy in. When I used to be small, I remember thinking that as long as I earn my funds, I will be satisfied with my life. This is almost difficult to admit now, as I have changed my view on the world and my purpose in it so drastically. All of these changing also made me feel a lot more in control of my own path. I stand by my decisions or purchases confidently because I know I invested thought in my actions.

 

CNC Maschine Tutorial:

This week we also familiarised ourselves with the CNC Machine. Andy took as through a tutorial on how we can use digital fabrication to achieve different elements for our projects. I was considering how 2 dimensional surfaces can be meshed together for a 3D  shape, similarly to the legs of the stool. Further Considering my on going development of the kite, I was thinking how I can place surface together for durability so the workshop was very useful for my ideations. 

 

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 27/11/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

• Kites:

As I wanted to create something with an aesthetically developed appearance, I considered kites as an option for my project. They are very popular amongst children, from what I have observed in Shanghai, so I thought creating a tutorial on how to create a fully recyclable kite would be a way of introducing sustainability awareness geared towards this demographic. 

As I began breaking down the different parts of the kite infrastructure, and how I could create these elements using waste, I had a conversation with my Professor.  She rose a very important point that I had not considered yet. I was so exited to jump start to the hands-on portion of production, I had not thought how much more waste a lost kite could create, and would go to the complete opposite side of impact from my intentions. Marcela mentioned Patagonia’s project ‘Logo Disk’, which is a frisbee created from 15% recycled plastics and the seed was planted in my head.

• Frisbee:

Following that conversation, I broke down the main elements that my project would represent: 1) Consciousness towards Up-Scaling 2) Recyclable materials 3) Children as the targeted demographic — DYI / Creativity 3) Modifying an already existing idea (Logo Disk) towards reaching the next step of sustainability: 100% recycled plastic frisbee + as a bonus I am able to explore artistic expression [as I think melting plastic creates a perfectly unpredictable pattern].

As I was bouncing some ideas aloud, Sophia was interested in developing this idea forward, as she already was focusing on creating awareness for children. I usually tend to prefer working alone, but from our initial conversation we shared a lot of the same perspectives, and she was genuinely as interested in creating this idea, rather than ‘an assignment’. as I was, so we decided to proceed.

• Proposal:

For our final Remade In China project, Sofia and I will be creating a one-hundred percent recyclable frisbee, from plastic waste. After reflecting on the Precious Plastic lead lecture, where we created a stool, as well as some consultations from Marcela and Andy, we created an outline of steps, keeping in mind our hypothesis: “A frisbee, created from shredded and melted plastics #2 and #4, will be aerodynamic, meaning will be able to fly.” To go along with our ‘final product’, we also want to make it scalable, meaning we will be creating a DYI (*do it yourself) guide that families can potentially follow at home. 

Steps:

1. Collect Plastics #2 and #4. Gather our own waste, which includes bottle caps, coffee cup lids, packaging from shampoo/conditioner/detergent containers, as well as the same type of waste around campus.
2. Shred the plastics, we collected, in our plastic shredder.
3. Find a mould. Potentially considering using two pans, although the ones we have in the lab are too big in diameter, so currently scouting for an alternative. 
4. Prepare for melting: wax mould, pre-heat the oven, place plastic shreds into the pan, place pan into the oven.
5. After ~60minutes, press down with another pan using the press and wood cubes.
6. Allow time for cooling.
7. Shape the melted material: cut corners, sand surface, scope the inside to control the thickness density – as balanced weight  throughout the area is the number one element that will determine the aerodynamic qualities. I was reading this article from a study at MIT which discussed the physics of frisbee, and although some of the calculations seemed more complex than what I was looking for, circular balance – was what I took away. 
8. Test it’s flying ability.
9. Evaluate the possibility of recreation, self-evaluate our biases (eg. we have gained a lot of new discoveries over this course, and if we want to produce a guide to make this frisbee, with the addition of awareness information, we cannot look over the fact that others might not know the information that comes to us as foundational basics now).
10. Repeat, to asses validity of hypothesis.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 21/11/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

• Initial Ideation

As the end of the semester is approaching and I began thinking what sparked my curiosity this semester the most, and what I would like to look into further. 

Reflecting on my exploration for this course, the first thing that came to mind was Richard Brubaker’s talk at the very beginning. After he shared his views and progress on the waste development in China, I realised what drew me in the most, and simultaneously made me care, was the geo-location he was referencing. Living in a place so foreign from anything your past experiences have brought you leaves you with two options: immerse and try to understand, or leave. It isn’t the easiest task to quickly gather local information without the issues of language or cultural barriers, but hearing someone who genuinely cares what he does and more importantly why he does it allowed me to take that perspective on also.

Setting up the art trash installation was also very meaningful for me, as I was able to, on a small-scale, combine my previous interest of visual arts and my new curiosity about ecological awareness. Likewise, as I was able to replicate this combination while creating the trash wearable, I was able to fully be in control from the proposal to the end product which taught me more about the importance of developing meaning and doing things with a purpose.

Another really important message I continue to develop over the weeks is: consume what you need to consume. Which in turn allows me to consider the final project in the light of sustainability and actual use. 

PLASTIC, – I have never taken the time to understand a material my life basically depends on on a daily basis, and thus I can draw a loose assumption that I am not the only one. With this in mind, I want to use the opportunity of this assignment to create a project that speaks to people that don’t have the ability to obtain the volume and depth of the plastic pollution/toxicity issue at their finger-tips.

Firstly,

Art piece only using plastic / biodegradable materials and the techniques we explored during the workshops. Every time we are able to create something in the lab I get so excited and for this project, or just myself, I want to practice these techniques and create more from the plastic melting, moulding, and mixing recipes to create biodegradable material. The workshop we participated in last week was amazing and I knew I want to try and create more of the materials and see how they interact with each other. Although I am still in the ideation phase of this proposal, I think it would be a great opportunity to take the time and experiment with these materials, consider how I can not only replicate but convolute something new using the skills and the information I learned. With this piece I would like the send the message of awareness – but not just a surface level; you should recycle because it’s good for the planet – but something that could evoke empathy out of the viewer and potentially make them think about their actions.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/15/lucy-siegle-ethical-art-paint

This article dived deeper into the art field and discussed how artists are now becoming more aware of the process of creating rather than just the end-product. A lot of waste can be produced while exploring your ideas, and I would want to record the process from start to finish in creating a physical piece that, to my best ability, is minimal waste, eco-friendly, and can translate an ideas clearly though just the visual.

This idea for me is something new, as I tend to lean towards abstract creations that could be interpreted in an array of directions, but considering all that we’ve covered, I think it is important this piece is very clear in its message and can be easily understood – of course following the supplementary material (background info / aim / process) for those curious to understand more. “If you can’t explain it to a five year old, you don’t understand it” is something that has stayed in my head ever since I started leading about science, and I think it is a great mark to keep in mind for this project as I think about my target audience.

Potentially even focusing in reaching the younger audience as a priority, because I believe that’s where the change has the most effect in being implemented for the prosperity of our future environment.

 

Secondly,

As I mentioned my interest in the location we currently are living in, my other idea was to conduct local research starting with the investigation of Precious Plastic and their works in Shanghai. The talk we listened to as well as the stool workshop was very meaningful to me because I saw other foreigners come to a new place and focus on problems higher than them selves. I would like to learn more about this particular operation and further see to what extent I could make this transferable globally. I say this because as I checked Precious Plastic World Map, I was actually able to locate a few spots in Lithuania but they were only messages of interest and no action. I want to explore how concepts of eco- awareness can be translated to an audience oblivious to the global issues and how groups, like Precious Plastic, was able to obtain not only a global reach – but also local effect! I would attempt and talk to as many local Chinese people as possible to see if they have ever hear of an organisation as such, and if not what their understanding of trash waste is. To further ask how people obtain information and explore the ways an audience can be expanded. I have recently visited XNode, an international start up company based in China. From that visit I saw a pattern on  startups with a focus on sustainability and were selected by XNode and why those particular companies were predicted to be successful in China. As this is more researched based, I would document the research with the final statement, and based on the results of my sample, create a way to share it that would be accessible and effective in relation to why I have conducted this study.