Bio-Sequins: A Potential Alternative for Sequins Decoration in the Fashion Industry

Inspiration

My partner Ben is a fashion study student and he shared a great interest to find out a potential alternative for plastic sequins in the fashion industry. As I researched, I find out that sequins are polluting our planet.

“Sequins are a short-term hit with long-term consequences, none of them good,” Dr. Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at Massey University in New Zealand, told the MailOnline.” –“How your favourite sequin dresses are actually destroying the planet”

The problem is that all the sequins existing in the current fashion industry are all made of plastic. During the washing and using, those plastic sequins attached or sewed onto clothes may fall down and drain into the ocean, which will make great damage to our environment. As we learned the idea “accumulation” in our weekly reading if sequins are going to keep accumulating, it will be a big issue in the future. Besides, as my partner, Ben shared his knowledge about the fashion industry, those plastic sequins used in the fashion show will be thrown away immediately after the show, which is really fast-fashioned and polluting. Ben and I love fashion and we are all inspired by bioplastic. Hence, we decided to have a test on the potential alternative–bioplastic sequins.

Process

Experiment#1

In the first experiment, we wanted to try out our bioplastic, testing whether it works or not. 

Recipe:

• Gelatins: 48g
• Glycerol: 12g
• Coldwater: 250ml

Tools:

• Pan
• Heater
• Spoon
• Spoon scale
• Molds

Experiment Steps:

• Mix gelatins and coldwater 
  • kept stirring it and gradually it turned to something like jelly.
•  The heating process
  • turned on the heat
  • kept stirring again
  • it gradually turned back to liquid. When it completely transformed into a liquid
  • pour glycerol into it and kept stirring.
• Pour to mold
  • When there were some whitish appearing, pour the liquid into the mold.
• Some changes
  • Because the color of this bioplastic is deep, I decide to add more 50ml cold water into the rest of the liquid.
  • I kept heating the second test. I want to know what will happen if I add more water.
• Waiting for dry
  • I place these three products on the table in 823. They need at least three days to dry out. Let’s wait and see the result.

Photos:

  Preparation

Cooking process

Pouring to the mold

Waiting for drying (the left one is the testing one which I add more water)

Result:

The drying process lasted 5 days. Because the mold is too thick, so the drying process is too long. So I decided to take the product out of the mold and cut them into several small pieces.  Finally, I got something good:

Successes:

1. The recipe works! We got something really similar to plastic but it is purely natural.
2. The smaller one is lighter in color than other experiments result. It means that the color of bioplastic can be modified by adjusting the amount of water.
3. It is hard enough for laser cutting or other crafts.

Failures:

These products are thick, strong, untransparent plastic and they feel like the hard plastic board, which is the same as my expectation and imagination. But we faced a lot of issues:

• The mold is too thick, it takes too much time for drying and the final product is too hard to used in clothes making.
• The color looks bad
• It should be a flat sheet which is big, thin, soft enough for artmaking.

Follow these feedbacks from the first try, we dig into the next experiment.

Second experiment

Materials:

• Gelatin 150g
• Glycerol 50ml
• Coldwater 750ml
• Flower Buds
• Lavander

Tools:

• Pan
• Heater
• Acrylic boards (2)
• Gram scale
• Spoon
• Measuring bowls
• Stirring stick
• Strainer

Experiment steps:

1. sure out wet and dry ingredients and separate via bowls & beakers
2. Split the water into 2 equal parts (1 is to be boiled, the other is to be kept in room temperature)
3. Create the rose/flower water (dye/fragrance) by boiling water and petals until the desired color is reached
4. Strain the liquid and remove all excess petals
5. Mix the hot rose water with the room temperature water and add gelatin *before gelatin is added*
6. Mix in the gelatin until a thick consistency is reached *try to reach a consistency that has NO clumps/chunks*
7. Heat the pot with the mixture until a white foam/bubbles in the mixture begin to form and accumulate (DO NOT BOIL)
8. Strain the mixture again or use a spoon to remove the white foam/bubbles
9. Pour the mixture onto the flat acrylic sheet *Make sure there are no spots or hols, and try to remove air bubbles if possible (Make sure to lay a protective layer underneath the acrylic – the process is messy and very HOT)

Photos:

The gelatin in the lab had been used out in the first experiment. I got more from Deli life supermarket.

We boiled the flowers to get some color first.

Making process: this time we removed the whitish on the surface, and we got the final product without the white surface as last time.

Pour the liquid to Acrylic boards.

Result:

This time we only used three days to dry out completely. We got the textile which perfectly meets our expectations.

Successes:

1. We got a sheet which meets the our expected improvement from the first try: big, thin, soft, transparent.
2. We tested it in a laser cutter and it won’t burn. It means that we can use this textile for sequins making.
3. Thanks to the flower buds, the final products appear a little bit red. It means that we can modify the color by adding natural color

Failures:

1. The materials are too soft. The product from the first try is too hard. We still need to find a medium hardness.
2. The materials can be resolved in constant water washing.

Test:

We used the material we got to laser cut. This is the AI file of our laser cut.

We tested the material with Andy, we need to know if it will burn or not. 

The thickness is 0.5mm. We got two sheets. We did a plan B, which is we just laser cut one of it and the rest one can be shown if we mess up the laser cutting one.

This is the testing process. We tried to laser cut several rectangles and tested different settings: frequency, power and speed:

And we found the best setting for the laser cut :

Perfect Settings: 
Speed – 100%
Power – 27%
Frequency – 30%

“Things to note:

There was ALOT of smoke. Sis, turn the fans ON. Watch out for air bubbles, they were a bit tougher to cut so try and get as much air bubbles out as possible during the pour/drying phase. We also used flowers to organically try and color the dye (it barely worked) but some petals were left in the mixture even after running it through a sieve. The flowers or organic material left in the bioplastic has the risk of burning in the laser cutter, so exercise caution. “

–Citing from Ben’s report

Laser cutting images:

And we got:

Implements

I was asked many times in the IMA show: “How you can apply this thing in practice?”

Here is how I answer from IMA Show:

“We can use this material for sequins making in the fashion industry. For my experiments, I used three bags of gelatin powder and glycerol from the lab. Gelatin powder cost me 30 RMB and we eventually can get two boards of sequins. This is really expensive for the fashion industry. For now, I think it can be used only in some fashion shows and art pieces because people will not consider the cost in these two cases. However, for industrial levels, I still need to have more time for experiments and calculating the cost. But I am still optimistic about it. For my experiments, I used gelatin for food and I bought them from the supermarket. They are absolutely expensive. But if I use industrial gelatin and I bought a lot once time from a gelatin factory, the general cost will go down largely. Also, for future production, we can come up with a method to utilize all the materials to improve the efficiency of using and we can get more sequins from a single try”

The use of bioplastic sequins can be a mature system not only in Shanghai but in the whole fashion industry around the world.

Future improvement

If we have more time, we will try to solve two things: color and dissolving issue.

For coloring, this time we used limited flower buds to color our bioplastic. But as we can see, the color is almost invisible. So if we have more time, we will try to use more color materials to color our bioplastics. Also, we will try different types of color materials. In IMA show, one guest told me that we can try an electric coloring material. That is really interesting.

For the dissolving issue, Ben told me that he brought one piece of bioplastic to shower and it dissolved. But I put my first experiment product into water and test. The result is that it won’t dissolve. So I think the thickness of bioplastic can be a big issue. If we have more time, we will test different thicknesses by using molds in different thicknesses.

Educational meanings

Our project is not aimed at education, but I think it will bring awareness to everyone who buys clothes with sequins. Especially if some fashion companies take our project into consideration and develop a mature sequins making system, they can use the title of bioplastic as a sign for marketing. They will bring the bioplastic products to more consumers, and it will gradually raise the awareness of sustainability among people.

Personal Reflection:

The most valuable thing I’ve learned is that bioplastics can actually be made and used, not just as an environmental concept. In class, I always felt that bioplastics were still only a concept and far from the actual production. However, through my experiments and research, I found that bioplastics could be immediately commercialized and had a profound cultural impact on society. Take my project as an example, as long as the cost is reduced and the product quality is regulated according to customers’ needs, we can see bio-plastics in stores. In addition, from the perspective of the experiment, I think we can learn a lot from the failure and shortcomings of an experiment. These experiences will guide the next experiment and will be the key to its eventual success. 

Special thanks to my excellent partner BEN TABLADA and our cuties professor Marcela!

Reference:

https://materiom.org/recipe/22

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/sequins-damage-environment

Gelatin bioplastic experiments#2 || Ben&Kenneth

Date: December 6th, 2019

Group member: Kenneth&Ben

Position: 822

Updates from the first experiment

In the last experiment, I tried to test the gelatin recipe. The experiment result is several hard, yellow plastic pieces.

For the first time, I used a thick mold for drying and that is the reason why it takes 5 days (approximately) to dry out, which means become harder and solid.

So that gives us inspiration for the second try. For the second try, we try to use an acrylic flat sheet as the mold so that our bioplastic will be thin enough and we will have a faster drying process ideally. 

Experiment Process

Materials: Gelatin 150g | Glycerol 50ml | Coldwater 750ml | Flower Buds |  Lavander

Tools: Pan | Heater | Acrylic boards (2) | Gram scale | Spoon | Measuring bowls | Stirring stick | Strainer

Steps:

1. sure out wet and dry ingredients and separate via bowls & beakers
2. Split the water into 2 equal parts (1 is to be boiled, the other is to be kept in room temperature)
3. Create the rose/flower water (dye/fragrance) by boiling water and petals until the desired color is reached
4. Strain the liquid and remove all excess petals
5. Mix the hot rose water with the room temperature water and add gelatin *before gelatin is added*
6. Mix in the gelatin until a thick consistency is reached *try to reach a consistency that has NO clumps/chunks*
7. Heat the pot with the mixture until a white foam/bubbles in the mixture begin to form and accumulate (DO NOT BOIL)
8. Strain the mixture again or use a spoon to remove the white foam/bubbles
9. Pour the mixture onto the flat acrylic sheet *Make sure there are no spots or hols, and try to remove air bubbles if possible (Make sure to lay a protective layer underneath the acrylic – the process is messy and very HOT)

Test#1

According to my research, there is a fab textiles lab in Barcelona. They tested a bioplastic recipe before and successfully used the bioplastic to make fashion accessories. I think that the textile matches the description I mention in my proposal: durable, elastic, strong and soft. Therefore, I start my first try.

Ingredients: 

Gelatins: 48g

Glycerol: 12g

Coldwater: 250ml

Machines:

Pan

Heater

Spoon

Spoon scale

Molds

Experiment steps

1. Mix gelatins and coldwater 

Then I kept stirring it and gradually it turned to something like Jam.

2. Heating process

I turned on the heat and kept stirring again, this time it gradually turned back to liquid. When it completely transformed into a liquid, I pour glycerol into it and kept stirring.

3. Pour to mold

When there were some whitish appearing, I pour the liquid into the mold.

4. Some changes

Because the color of this bioplastic is deep, I decide to add more 50ml cold water into the rest of the liquid. And I kept heating the second test. I want to know what will happen if I add more water. 

I pour the liquid into another mold.

5. Waiting for dry

I place these three products on the table in 823. They need at least three days to dry out. Let’s wait and see the result.

Appendix:

https://materiom.org/recipe/22

Reading reflection

After reading, the most impressive thing that I learn is that the designing process of the industrial revolution was not fully considered. “It took shape gradually, as industrialists, engineers and designers tried to solve problems and to take immediate advantages of what they considered to be opportunities in an unprecedented period of massive and rapid change”. The formation of the modern industrial system was not designed systematically. Instead, the birth of it was for solving problems in production and getting profits. All the drawbacks were the result of the immature design process. The example of this imperfect designed system was a model of product: “Cradle to Grave”, which means one product is generated for a limited used and goes to “Grave” and will not be recycled. This type of design dominated the modern industrial system.  The name “cradle to grave” is really impressive to me. Products of this model are wasting, polluting and unrecyclable. The alternative is the “Cradle to Cradle” model. By contrast to the designing process of the industrial revolution, we need to consider the end and the future of one product during the desing process.

Future plan:

As I mentioned last week, I want to explore more about bioplastic in textiles sphere, I research more on the bioplastic recipes. I found one interesting and want to try. That is the recipe for bags. Here are my next steps.

1. Collect and buy all the material required
2. Test 1: Make a real textile out according to the recipe, make some adjustments based on the result
3. Test 2: Research more bioplastic, try to find the ingredients or cooking method which can make the final product more flexible, soft-feeling, and durable.
4. Test 3: Make molds for big bioplastic piece.
5. Production: Using the final version bioplastic piece to make a bag.

Experiment needs:

• Gelatin
• Glycerol
• Water
• Balance
• Pan
• Heater
• Spoon
• Mold
• Sewing machines (for bags making)

Reference:

https://materiom.org/recipe/22

http://fabtextiles.org/tag/bioplastic/

Response to Biomimicry

Janine Benyus observed the principles of nature that may guide us to find new solutions:

That makes me think of the possibility of mimicking natural processes to protect the environment. Previous reading “Bio-thinking” mentions the concepts that in order to solve the pollution, the most effective way is to control the origins. In the case of biomaterials, making innovation in this field can control pollution from the beginning. Here are two of the most impressive nature principles for me:

1. Color without pigments: The example of chameleon makes me pay attention to the solutions that I never noticed before. For coloring, maybe we can create some biomaterials similar to chameleon skin or cells so that we can get rid of toxic pigments.
2. Cleaning without detergent: Getting inspiration from the natural clean process, maybe we can also design some self-clean materials for cloth and surface material.

Nature could be “model, measure and mentor” Nature could be our study target. There are so many natural processes that we can mimic for production. Because they are natural processes, they are safe and environmentally friendly. We can learn from nature not only the materials but way of solving environmental issues. Besides, what I also learn is that biomimicry is a framework for design rather than the replacement of natural solutions. There is a designer working flowchart shown in the reading, similar to the design thinking process. I noticed that the framework of biomimicry is used from the design section to the test section. So actually biomimicry is the way we judge and test our solution design. We can compare our work to natural processes/solutions. That is how biomimicry should work in the process of finding new solutions.

The truth about bioplastics：

Actually this article does not bring a big shock to me because I have already guessed that bioplastics also have many flaws. I remembered that in the last week’s lecture, the guest professor of our school mentioned that they planned to buy biodegradable cups for café but people from New York told him that it is impossible to solve that plastic in Shanghai because there are many requirements for triggering the degrading process. For Bioplastics, first thing is that they are really expensive and hard to generate. I learn a fact from this reading that it will make more pollution if we cannot properly deal with the waste of bioplastics. Also, because the degrading process needs mature industrial factories and devices, it is difficult to make bioplastics universal in nowadays society. Anyway, bioplastic is the trend and direction of the future. Many companies and countries are working on the alternatives of bioplastics as the reading shows. We cannot stop our pace even though there are many obstacles to using them.

Response to experiments:

Team: Cassie, Kenneth, and Ben 

Ingredients: 

• Agar-Agar 15ml (increased to about 16 later on)
• Glycerol 5ml (increased to about 6ml later on)
• Water 250ml (increased by 50ml)
• Alginate 5ml (increased to about 6ml later)
• Coffee Grounds 0.5 Cups (unchanged) 

Working flow: 

Step 1: We took approximate ingredients by using cups and weighting spoon and then mix them all together. The problem is that we use too many coffee grounds and it caused the issue that other ingredients are not enough.

Step 2: The “cooking” process is long. We chose to use a heating pan to “cook” our coffee. We directly chose the maximum temperature to heat because the heating process was quite slow and there was no obvious chemistry reaction happening at the beginning. During the heating process, I used a big wood shovel to stir. I kept stirring until I saw bubbles appeared on the surface of the liquid and heard the sound of bubbles exploding.

Step 3: We used steel bowls as our mold. Ben and Cassie applied vaseline on all sides to prevent the material from sticking once it was dried. We pour all the liquid into the mold and use another steel bowl to press it. We did not press that much because it might break the final product. We waited a long time for the coffee mixture to dry down. As a result, we decided to use an oven with a low-temperature setting to cool it down. 

Photos:

The final picture is the record of changes in our experiments.

Video:

Final project proposal:

1. Alternative materials for weaving crafts in Shanghai.

As I mentioned in the last lecture, we are using bamboo as materials for weaving. In this week’s research, I find out that nowadays in the weaving crafts industry, people are using plastic for materials. It is not only in China but also in the furniture industry around the world.

So my question is:

What plastic experiments I do can create a good, recycling material for weaving crafts in China?

In the experiment, my goal is to test and make a soft, strong and durable materials for weaving. It should be easy for weaving, strong for shaping and durable for using. As the experiment, I have so far, the product of fusing four layers the bubble wrap is similar to my imagination, but still not strong and thick enough for furniture design. I will keep testing it.

2. Alternative materials for the fashion industry.

I got this inspiration from my daily life observation and my midterm project. In my daily life, I can often see many types of clothes such as short dresses and jackets, looking like plastic bags. In our midterm project, we made a wearable thing. But it is not really “wearable”. It is an art piece but not designed for human dressing. But the clothes look like plastic bags drive me to think: What materials should I add when I fuse plastic bags so as to make a really wearable cloth for the fashion industry? To make sure it is doable, I have research on the current fashion industry. Balenciaga has a plastic design for a shirt.

They use  polyethylene – the same plastic used to make carrier bags to make this shirt and it is absolutely wearable! So I will keep searching and testing for the recipie of making this kind of materials.

Reflection on Reading:

• Collective Responsibility Social Innovation in China

This reading answers my question about social enterprises in China: “how they survive without making profits from a business”. We have many guest speakers from social enterprises in China such as UseDem, Collective Responsibility, and Precious Plastic Shanghai. When they came to give a presentation. I always have the questions that “where your money from” and “how you make money”. Now I understand that those social enterprises are companies. They make their own business model and make money from it. The only difference compared to normal companies is that the profits they get from businesses are all put into social innovation and devote to social impact. In the past, social enterprises were hard to survive because everyone was dedicated to making money. Even the country tried to sacrifice the environment for economic growth. So there were few corporations between SEs and government. For now, it is better because the focus of the country has shifted to environment protection and the friendly relationship between SEs and government is emphasized. However, as the reading says, “Both structures and processes are still in the early phases, with lack of sophistication models, highly risk-averse, and fear of trusting others to protect the brand or vision. ” It means that the current status of Chinese SEs is immature. We are still on the way of promoting social innovation. Interestingly, I find out that our guest speakers all come from foreign SEs. That is just what the reading mentions, for now, “the most successful examples of social franchising in China are also foreign models that introduced and established by China-based social enterprises.” I am looking forward to seeing more successful local SEs make a greater social impact on Chinese society.

• Multiple-Helix Collaboration for the Development of a Circular Economy

This reading mainly shows different roles in social innovation. I was impressed by the Government, the Public, University. Here are some quotations that I take down showing the function of each role in social innovation.

Government

–“The reason behind the need for government investments is the very large amount of financing necessary to drive the development of new technologies and systems from the first prototypes to the stage where technologies become inexpensive general purpose technologies.”

–“For this reason, governments and other high-level decision makers need to keep abreast of development, which leads to a demand for ongoing monitoring of progress and a bird’s eye view of the different steps in combination with attention to detail. ”

University

–“Universities and research institutes play important roles in this development from the early stages when cutting-edge research contributes to identifying opportunities and to the development of technologies and business offerings, to later stages when companies need to hire an increasing number of engineers, people with business degrees, and specialists in other fields.”

–“Another role carried by universities, schools, and companies specializing in training is to supply companies and organizations with competent personnel and providing training services for professionals.”

Non-governmental organization

–“These organizations take on important roles in the innovation system: organizing clusters of companies and partner organizations, running projects for research and training, and identifying opportunities for development. Non-government organizations can function as a tool for companies or interest groups to get things done that are outside of the scope of company strategies and activities, and they are often focused on driving activities in a particular area of development. ”

Individuals

–“Now and then individuals play important roles in development projects, as people are the consumers and users of products and services. Through purchases, people every day decide which companies to support.”

So I get the conclusion that social innovation should include all the aspects of society into the corporation. 

Reflection on Workshop:

I really love this workshop. In this workshop, I took part in the plastic segregation for the first time. I realize that what types of plastic are usually recycled and what types cannot be recycled. For the product guest speaker made, I was really impressed by the thick colorful card.

 \

So it is type four. It is unique because it gets a special texture and it feels smooth. I want to text it in the future.

Learn from China:

I think we can replicate plastic into the local craft techniques: weaving techniques. The weaving of Chinese folk crafts is world-famous, and various representative weaving techniques have been spread since “hemudu” culture period. Archaeologists proved that the folk craft in “liangzhu” culture period two or three thousand years ago already had a reed, bamboo, and other woven fabrics. Slowly folk craft appeared more kwai, brown, willow, hemp weaving. So I think we can use plastic to be the material for weaving techniques. We can use the heating iron to melt many layers of plastic to make a strong fabrication for weaving. 

Interesting Plastic Solutions In “Bio-Thinking” Framework:

1. Environmental-friendly Recycled Plastic Material in the Sneakers Industry 

I discover interesting solutions in the sneakers industry, which is my favorite hobby. So as I mentioned in the first class, many sneakers brand had the techniques for recycled materials.

For example, Adidas collects plastic materials from the ocean. Adidas uses all recycled materials for shoes. “Adidas says it has been working on this project for the past six years, and the goal with it is to do its part in generating less plastic waste”. The quotation from a news report(link is at the bottom) shows the intention of Adidas- to reduce generating less plastic waste. That perfectly matches the Bio-thinking framework “Design is the key”. We need to improve the “eco-efficiency ” from the design. For the big shoe industry, the promotion of recycled materials can fundamentally reduce the use of materials for making shoes. 

2.Plastic Packaging Alternatives ( Substitute Materials, Bio-everything in Bio-thinking frame)

There are many alternatives materials for packaging. What I find out are:

1. Plant-based plastics
2. Mushroom root
3. Mushroom root
4. Seaweed water bubbles
5. Shower-friendly paper
6.  Stone paper and plastic
7. Palm leaves
8. Corn starch and sorghum loose fill
9. Edible six-pack ring
10. Silberboard – metallised paper
11. Wood pulp cellophane
12. Prawn shell plastic bags
13. Milk plastic

Most of them are bio-degradable and environmental-friendly. More details in the link at the bottom. That matches with the framework in Bio-thinking, “Substitute Materials” and “Bio-everything”.

3.  Patagonia Worn Wear Project.

Patagonia has a Worn Wear Project. The owner of Patagonia clothes can return their clothes back to Patagonia and Patagonia will help them recycle it. This project is good communication with consumers, which can help the consumers to have a sense of recycling and protecting the environment. That is just what Bio-thinking thought: “The product communicates information that leads to a better environmental performance, usually by changing the behaviour of users”.

Patagonia ’ve made progress on recycling the high-quality polyester and nylon used in many products—in 1993, Patagonia was the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to transform trash into fleece. They are constantly evaluating new materials and reevaluating existing ones. When the best available materials aren’t good enough to meet the need, they work closely with our suppliers to develop outstanding new fabrics.

Reference:

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/31163665

https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/17/adidas-futurecraft-loop-recycled-running-shoes-sustainability-speedfactory/\

https://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2018/07/02/13-plastic-packaging-alternatives/

https://www.patagonia.ca/reuse-recycle.html

Midterm Project: “Bag Yourself” Formal Dress

By Haoquan Wang Kenneth

Artist statement

Background & Inspiration

     We are all familiar with plastic products because we use them every day. Plastic is everywhere in our life, especially plastic bags. There are various kinds of plastic bags around us and we use massive plastic bags per day. We all know these facts and know the bad influence caused by the plastic bags but most of them only stay in the theory and pay no attention to it. I was shocked in the first class of Remade in China. We watched the documentary “Bag it” and I started to realize how plastic bags matter and how “plastic” my life really is. Because that was the first time that I began to notice that so many things around me are plastic products and our world is literally a plastic world. Before I just know that we have many plastic products in our life but not everywhere. Plastic bags for food, plastic bag for clothes, plastic bags for delivery…… I will use plastic bags for different kinds os usage but I didn’t realize it before. After that, I researched my friends and found out that they hadn’t realize it as well. Therefore, I thought that it is necessary to make the public know not only the fact that we use a huge amount of plastic bags but also the fact we are not just using simple “plastic bags” but “plastic bags for different function”. To make them aware of this issue can be a great promotion to raise the awareness of plastic life as I think.

     I got the inspiration for making a dress because clothes are the first thing came to my mind when I saw the requirement of “wearable”. At first, I wanted to make pants but it was beyond my ability. So I chose to make a formal dress. After talking to professor Marcela, I got the idea that I need to make a formal dress because what I want is to make people aware of how many and what kinds of plastic bags we are using so as to encourage them to take action in their lives. For the public, they should take the plastic issue serious and it should be a formal thing. Following this thought, I came up with my project name “Bag Yourself”. I hope that everyone can “bag” the idea of plastic into their mind just like they dress themselves up formally with beautiful clothes.

Research

     For the research, the first thing I did is to research on the data of plastic bags use so as to prove that we indeed use so many plastic bags, which is beyond people’s common sense. The consequence of the ignorance of plastic issue will be dangerous for human beings. I get many shocking numbers:

“Worldwide, a trillion single-use plastic bags are used each year, nearly 2 million each minute. The amount of energy required to make 12 plastic shopping bags could drive a car for a mile.” 

“Currently 100 billion plastic bags pass through the hands of U.S. consumers every year—almost one bag per person each day. Laid end-to-end, they could circle the equator 1,330 times.”

–From Earth Policy Institute

     Also, as one of the examples of the dangerous effect of plastic bags pollution, the documentary “Bag It” also shows the number that the plastic bags flew into the ocean kill 100,000 marine lives per year.

     Besides the researching data, I also recorded the kinds of plastic bags I use in my life and highlights the kinds, which I haven’t noticed before or even I didn’t know they are plastic. Here is the result: package for food, the package for delivery, the package for clothes, the package for trash, etc. They are too common and frequently used by us. And we always throw them away after getting what we need inside the bags. That leads to the result that we did not realize we are using plastic bags and what kind of function we are using for. I take it for granted that they should be there but actually they are artificial, which means they don’t exist in the world before. In addition, I didn’t realize that the soft packages for holding fruits are plastic.

     For the making process, I research how to make a dress on YouTube. What I got and follow is the video below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De__8EfcqIg

Inspired by the creator, I decided to make the dress by making the top and the bottom of the dress separately. 

Making Process

• Materials

  I mainly use black plastic bags for my project. So the first thing I did is to try my best to collect big plastic bags as many as possible. I mainly collected materials from the corner of the fabrication lab.I mainly collect bubble wraps, plastic bags of food delivery, plastic bags of package, transparent plastic bags and plastic bags for suitcase. 

• Dealing with the raw materials   
  • Bottom

     I firstly deal with the material for the bottom. In my design, I need a huge black plastic cloth for dress, and it should be strong enough so as to be melt by heated iron and fuse other plastic bags into its surface. So I chose the plastic packages of delivery, which is stronger than normal plastic bags. I cut them and stretched them onto a flat surface.

Then I fuse them into a long piece of cloth.

However, the thickness of that cloth was still not enough for melting as I tested. So I made the decision to melt bubble wrap onto the inner side because bubble warps have two layers. 

I use both long bubble wrap and a small circle wrap.

After that basic processing of raw materials, I put my bottom dress material onto the model and use heating iron to make the flat piece a conjunct bottom dress and use pins to stabilize it. 

To decorate the bottom dress, I covered the coarse surface of the package plastic with big trash plastic bags and small trash bags to make a second layer like waves.

These extra trash plastic bags comes from my research on NYUSH trash sorting. I asked Ayis and knew that Ayis will change the trash plastic bags in the trash bin at a certain frequency even though the plastic bags are not full. So I asked them to provide me the plastic bags which were polluted, clean and going to be replaced every day. By this means, I collected many black plastic bags for decoration.

Here is a small design: I cut the logo, symbol, and even QR codes on the plastic bags off and melt them into the inside of second layer plastic bags, meaning that people usually only know that they are using plastic bags (the surface plastic bags) but cannot realize plastic bags are everywhere in every aspect of life (many icon, symbol, logo from different plastic bags melt onto the inside of second layer plastic waves).

examples:

• • Top

      I have an easy design for the top. I used the same method to deal with raw materials, to make and to stabilize the body model. The thing different from the bottom is that I chose a transparent, soft feeling but strong in quality plastic bags.

I made this into one tube top. Besides, I used plastic bags for the suitcase, which felt like leather, to make a belt to connect the top and the bottom. I cut a long piece off leather from the whole bags. However, thing is that the piece was two-layers but not one layer fabric for belt. So I used sewing machine to sew it into together.

The last design was the slogan on the chest: “We only have one earth”. I found this slogan by accident on one plastic bag.

Conclusion

          We don’t need to overemphasize the harm of plastic bags, because we have heard many reports or theories about it, and we all know what the consequences will be. But the reason why people are still indifferent to plastic bags issue is that they have gradually lost their awareness of their use. People take it for granted that using plastic bags is normal. It’s hard to change. What I hope is to bring the awareness and consciousness of using plastic bags back to people.

Reference

“Bag It” documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1612246/

Plastic Bags Fact Sheet: http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/press_room/Plastic_Bags.pdf 

I MADE A DRESS OUT OF TRASH BAGS! (Inspired by Amber Scholl)：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De__8EfcqIg

Experiment reflection:

In the workshop, I choose the heat-press machine to try. The reason why I choose the heat-press machine is that I think it is easy to control and manage the time and temperature. I think it will be a great help for my midterm project. I pick a yellow plastic bag to press. I cut the bottom and the head as we were taught in class.

At first, I try to use 100-degree Celsius to press the plastic bag for ten seconds. 

But the truth is that this heat and time were not enough. So I decided to turn up the temperature and lengthen the time, which is 130-degree celsius and 25 seconds.

and it worked this time. The two-layers plastic bag was pressed into one piece. But the thing is that the temperature may be too high or the heating time may be too long, causing that the texture of the plastic piece turned out to be shrink as the picture shows.

Besides the basic heat-press process, I also choose a different type of plastic to melt them together.

I took the symbol in the middle and cut them down. Then I used the same setting that I deployed just now to press the recycling symbol into the yellow piece and it worked.

Conclusion:

I will pay attention to the temperature and time next time because it may destroy my materials if I take improper heating temperature and time. What I should do is to check the proper heating setting by testing with a small change once a time.

Midterm project:

For my midterm project, I wish that I can design a formal skirt. I get inspiration from the artwork in the fabrication lab on the 8th floor and one art piece that I saw when I went for an art show.

At first, I really want to make a jacket or pants. But to be honest, I have no idea how to do a jacket or pants. It is too challenging for me to finish my project if I don’t even know where should I start. So I decided to pick an easier one–formal skirt. But it doesn’t mean that making a skirt is easy. It is still a difficult job for me because I also have no experience in it. 

For the art piece I saw, it provides me the inspiration that the design of shape and wave for a skirt is beautiful and it is possible for me to accomplish this design with trash, especially plastic and paper. That will be amazing if I can make a similar one.

For the potential materials, I think the high-density black plastic bag and the transparent plastic bag which is a little bit hard are the perfect materials for my project because, with these features, I can create much design of shape and wave. Besides, it is also much more possible to maintain the whole shape of the skirt.

The response to Mr.Yan

From Mr.Yan’ talk, I learned many facts of Shanghai’s trash sorting which are beneath the daily work of trash collectors.

• The first thing that I learn and also I have already known before is that the residual trash is the largest category of trash in our daily life. 
• Even the computer and the wood table without metal legs can be recycled
• There are few toxic trash
• The daily routine of trash collectors: start from 5:30 a.m to clean the trash for morning truck at 7:00 a.m. End their work at 11 p.m
• The policy of trash sorting brings great convenience for trash collectors–trash is cleaner.
• There are still part of people who don’t follow the rules, and their unwillingness to follow rules and education from trash collectors will affect the work of trash collectors

The most impressive thing that I heard about is that the policy of trash sorting has not affected their income. In my preconception, the policy of trash sorting may lead to the regulation and systemization of the trash collection industry so that the private sector of trash collectors will be affected. But actually the thing is that the trash sorting makes the work of trash collectors easier and more effective.

Mr.Yan has been in this industry for over a decade. He shares that when he drives the collector car on the street he is extremely possible for being stopped by police. He wishes that there will be some official action helping them work better.

Art Installation 2

We shoot a video in the cafe and we want to use the form of short video shown in the cafe, where is the most chilling, relaxing place and the site people will produce trash. We want to use a humors way to educate the community of NYUSH how to correctly manage the waste they produce.

The video is about the correctness of trash sorting. Our team member Sophia acts as a people who knows how to sort the trash correctly. The first two shots are that Sophia stop the wrong trash management and teaches what is the correct trash categories. The third scene is the praise for the right trash management in a humorous style. 

Link: https://youtu.be/Hn0xO8FjnNI

or Google drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aCjze3GMP-ZZQAo8CVH07kSne-KHTiQt

Take away from reading

1. PICs provide a uniform system for the identification of different plastic polymer types, helping recycling companies separate different plastics for reprocessing, and in most countries, all plastic products are required to use them(correct my misunderstanding).
2. Plastic #1(PETs) and Plastic #2(HDPE) are commonly recycled.
3. The recycling rate is quite low as we all know and the reason for it is the difficulty of sorting and separating.
4. It is costly and difficult to separate them when they are mixed.
5. More mix in input, lower quality in the output.
6. Glass, aluminum, uncoated paper, and #1 #2 plastic are readily recycled.
7. Money is the only reason why they are not recycled.
8. The cost of recycling has surpassed the cost of making new recycling, with the rise in the price of oil, the cost of making new plastic will rise up and it will be fine in the future.
9. The energy of producing biodegradable plastic is high.