Uncategorized

Design is the Problem by Nathan Shedroff

I think we do look at nature for a lot of solutions and inspiration in the ‘human world’. There is much left to observe and understand. There is a philosophical term called qualia that means we as humans are unable to take an animal form because it is physically impossible to feel the same emotions and expressions of going about being a certain animal. 

 

“Biomimicry teaches us to evaluate design solutions by comparing them with nature’s principles and processes.”

 

Experimentation:

During class, we experimented by following one of the examples which was the Chitosan 12% – Still Behavior. It consisted of:

-water 100 ml

-vinegar 10 ml

-chitosan 12 grams 

-glycerol 2.5 grams

We were tasked with mixing all of the components together in a blender and then after we noticed the mixture began to get thicker, we put it into a mold so that it can take its final form. 

 

 

 

 

 

For my Final Proposal:

I want to attempt to recreate a material out of styrofoam. I noticed there was so much styrofoam the day that we did a beach clean up that I want to focus my attention on a solution on the issue of waimai boxes, taobao waste, and other polyesters. 

I want to create legos for kids and for adults out of this material so that it can be used to create an even bigger picture of collaboration. Lego is one of the few large companies that are completely sustainable and will run 100% ethically by 2030. Here is their website. 

Creating these legos will already be an accomplishment, but maybe I can distribute them to children around Shanghai and see how they play with them. Then gain some more user testing from documenting those kids and how they play with the legos.

 

In Class Experiment: 

For our in class experiment, we tried to make a plastic alternative, bio-plastic from agar agar, glycerol and water. We measured each portion with a measuring spoon and mixed it in a glass cylinder and put it on a burner to heat it up. We heat it up to about 80 degree celsius and poured it into a flat pan and wait for it to dry. While we were heating the materials up, we had to stir the whole time which was pretty tiring. 

Final Product!

After reading the this weeks reading, I realized that though bioplastics seems like it is a good alternative, however, it is still not the best. There are multiple problems that comes with bioplastic. Bioplastic production itself could result in a greater amount of pollutants, due to fertilizers and pesticides used for growing the crops and the chemical processing that needs to turn organic materials into plastic. Another hazard is that it actually needs high temperature to break down so there are only a certain amount of facilities in the world to break bioplastic down or else they could release methane when they end up in landfills deprived of oxygen. A more concerning issue is that since bioplastic is basically made out of food, there will be a fight in food production in terms of what amount of food can be eaten or made into plastic. The most important issue is money. Making bioplastics in general are a lot more expensive than making plastics out of fossil fuel. This is the ultimate reason why it is quite impossible to switch to bioplastic unless people could find a way to do it much cheaper than how plastics are made now. 

 

Final Project Proposal:

For my final project, I would like to work with something along the lines of the extrusion machine that precious plastics has made. I believe there will be a huge demand for materials like the 3D printer material and just having strings of plastics in general would be helpful. Moreover, if plastic could become an alternative to sewing, then it would reduce a large amount of plastic waste. 

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.

 

Inspiration:

Whilst researching, I stumbled upon “Tomorrowmachine”. This is a Swedish company who came out with a line of sustainable food packaging called “This too shall pass”. They also used all natural materials such as sugar, wax, oil and agar. This set of food packaging really caught my attention as it not only decomposed together with the food, but it had an incredibly creative, innovative design. 

A Look at Creative Food Packaging

Proposal:

For my final, I really want to focus on food/beverage packaging. Just from a quick Google search, no matter which site you go to, food packaging always comes out as the top of the list of plastics in oceans and our natural environment. It is something that I also find extremely frustrating in my everyday life. Now that I do my own grocery shopping every week, I am reminded of how much unnecessary plastics that grocery stores and companies package their food in.

Idea #1 — Fruit Styrofoam Packaging

During last week’s lecture, our group conducted an experiment involving agar and made a thin sheet of plastic. I’m hoping to use this concept to recreate fruit styrofoam. One of the pieces from Tomorrowmachine’s  line of sustainable packaging features a juice box made out of agar. It was very jelly-like which would be the perfect material to protect fruit.

Hypothesis:

Is it possible to make agar bioplastic that thick and have it be able to be wrapped around the fruit?

Is there a more innovative way to protect fruit, reducing the amount of materials needed to be created?

Can this fruit styrofoam be reused into something else before it is decomposted?

 

 

Idea #2 — Milk Casein Cup holders

Tessa Silva-Dawson currently makes a series of cups, vases and other vessels using this the casein of milk. From the images shown on her website and online, it’s quite surprising how she made these beautiful pieces all from milk. Hence, this is not only something that is more sustainable, but customers would be willing to purchase it just from the design of it alone. 

Tessa Silva-Dawson uses milk as substitute for hydrocarbon plastics

One of the most convenient, but another very wasteful form of packaging are beverage cup holders. Professor Marcela herself is working on potential ones right now using coffee for the 2F cafe’s metallic cups. I also want to try to make these cup holders, except using the milk casein. I did some research on this bioplastic in another week where this method has actually been used before our modern plastic. Hence, I know that this is a solid way to make bioplastics. What would be problematic is whether or not this material is the best as a cup holder. 

Hypothesis:

Would this material be suitable as cup holder?

How would it fair with very hot or cold drinks?

Would additional cloth or other materials be needed?

For this week’s lecture, we were divided up into groups to make different kinds of bioplastics. Our group, consisting of me, James and Joyce, were in charge of creating bioplastics out of agar, glycerin and water.

The process of it was simple and straightforward enough. We combined all the ingredients together then heated this up to 95 degrees Celsius, stirring all the way through the whole process. Then poured thinly onto a tray to dry for a couple of days. We found that this method of making bioplastic is extremely easy, but also extremely time-consuming. At the end of class, we were not able to get our agar solution to 95 degrees, just 70 degrees. We have yet to see how this might have affected our bioplastic.

From this experiment, I was excited by the thought of this new, innovative alternative for plastic. Yet, I also wondered why this is still not often used or produced by companies as there is already some solid research on these bioplastics. It wasn’t until I read “The truth about bioplastics” that I realised there were still a lot of unresolved problems. For example, although bioplastics are still much better than regular plastic, it still needs high temperatures in specific composting facilities in order to break down. This required investment in these specific composting facilities and many countries do not have the money or the resources for this — creating a barrier for poor, developing countries.

Moreover, there is also the issue of many of the bioplastics still emitting greenhouse gases as it involves the production of crops. It would also be competing with the food industry and would need vast amounts of land in order to produce the crops. From this article, it is clear why these bioplastics are not able to be fully manufactured in a large scale as further research still needs to be done.

Bioplastic experiment

I decided to experiment with the cornstarch bioplastic recipe by adding crushed dried tea leaves to add texture.

The original recipe:

7.5 g of cornstarch

5 g of glycerin

5 mL of vinegar

50 mL of water

Combine and stir on medium heat until transparent and thickened.

I added only 1 g of crushed dry tea leaves but if I were to experiment again, I would add more to make the mixture more fibrous.

After the bioplastic thickened in the pot, I used a spatula to spread it onto an acrylic sheet to dry. The next day, the bioplastic had dried, but there were holes where it was spread too thin. The other areas were only 1 – 2 mm thick and the volume decreases by a lot when it dries.

From the readings, I understand that bioplastics and biomaterials are not a panacea to environmental issues. While biodegradability and raw material sourcing are at the core of bioplastics with the framework of cradle to cradle, there are still other factors such as energy and cost that heavily influence production and manufacturing. I would say that cost is the main driving force in a majority of business decisions, and without a way to make bioplastics more cost & energy effective, they are still in an experimental phase.

For my final project, I would like to continue with my experimentation with plastic bags and traditional crafting techniques. The reason is that there is still so much excess plastic to be used and recycled in the world, and in order to make progress and create new things, the existing problems should be addressed first.

With my midterm, I experimented with ways to create materials out of plastic, such as rope, “pleather”, rivets, and o-rings. While these materials were used effectively and had a purpose in my project, the piece I created only served as an awareness statement. I will experiment and try to improve both the materials and the functions of them.

Ways to expand on my current experiments and research:

• Build a braiding/rope making machine: https://youtu.be/ddenqErLL0Q
• Build a plastic bottle cutting machine: https://youtu.be/TRy2sD_k57g
• Make plastic bottle rope: https://youtu.be/OINRkRf3aFs
• Crochet using plastic bag rope
• Weave using plastic bag rope
• Make Chinese knots using plastic bag rope
• Experiment with heat pressing plastic bag/bottle rope

I am also very open to collaborating with another person using the techniques I have learned. I often find that it is easier to think of new concepts when there are more people with different perspectives involved.

Design Solutions | New Materials 

My goal for the final project is to create new materials or processes that will help other artists create something new or shine light upon issues regarding sustainability in a creative/artistic fashion. 

Inspiration: BioPlastic Textile 

So after doing some digging, I found a few companies that are currently revolutionizing the textile and fashion industry. Their work within this sector can be implemented on a global framework but issues within R&D, Scalability, and funding are all elements that they continue to struggle with. 

Bolt Threads: BoltThreads is a sustainable textile manufacturing company that utilizes science and innovative processes ti create materials/textiles out of natural materials. The company began its venture in 2009 after a partnership between 3 scientists and an idea to take spider silk and integrate its natural and strong properties(durability, flexibility, softness, elasticity) in textile manufacturing. They have since expanded their product line from Microsilk (spider silk), Mylo (mushroom leather), B-Silk Protein (Silkworm Cocoons) for skincare purposes. 

Modern Meadow: Similar to Bolt Threads, Modern Meadow is a manufacturing company that utilizes natural materials without the use of animal agriculture – hoping to reduce the need for animal dependency in various industries. Their core product is known as Zoa, is derived from collagen-producing micro-organisms to create a leather-like textile. They are also working on projects to use spider silk, mushrooms, and bacteria bricks as a means to create natural fibers/textiles. 

Proposal: 

Although I don’t have access to the incredible R&D or equipment that these large companies have, I really want to create my own textile that is naturally sourced. My goal is very similar to these companies’ mission statements for reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry. By creating my own organic textiles, I can reduce the amount of excess textile waste and the dependency on animal agriculture in the creation of materials like leather. 

I recently conducted an experiment using the Bioplastic Agar Mixture. In this experiment, I wanted to incorporate more ‘natural’ materials by incorporating plants into the recipe. I added dried green tea leaves as a binding agent and I want to run more experiments with other plant life such as like flowers, stems, and etc. 

I plan on creating thin layers that are transparent, hoping to take two pieces of the textile and ‘sandwiching’ organic plant matter between them. I originally got this idea from laminated flowers, but instead of using plastic or vinyl an organic material will be used. After creating this textile, a garment will be created to show its potential as a fabric substitute (hopefully) OR I can try to take this material and use it mimic/replace an already existing art form. I want to make a statement piece this time (maybe) LOL. 

Hypothesis: 
Is it possible to create a bioplastic material that will hold other organic matter in it? 
Can I create a textile that doesn’t look like horrendous? 
How can a bioplastic material be used to create/replicate/showcase an art form that has been done for centuries? 

 

Design Solutions | New Materials 

Inspiration: 

After several workshops using melted plastic as a primary material, I wanted to create something using this technique and was relevant to China. I was really inspired by the workshop that was hosted by Adele, and during the workshop, she created flat plastic sheets that were malleable and stood out to me. It looked like the beginning of something or parts of something bigger. Maybe I’ve been spending way too long in Art/History museums that these flat discs resembled like part of armor to me. 

China is known for these metal armors that were used in battle or plays and are an integral part of Chinese history. I’ve attached some photos below as a reference. 

Photos:

Ideally, I want to take plastic sheets that I make and create something similar. I wanted to create a piece that juxtaposes China’s history and its consumption of plastic and the country’s waste management as a whole. To do this, I would create several plastic sheets of uniform sizes (I can try) and create a similar armor made entirely out of plastic. I would be utilizing the techniques learned in class and experimenting with various types of plastics (acrylic, P1, P2), and silhouettes. 

The plastic sheets would ideally be made within this form factor and attached together to form a final piece. My goal is to show people that plastic has just as much history as the one’s their country (China) celebrates. It’s important to note that these ancient relics have been preserved for generations, but plastic has a longer lifespan than the metal itself. I want more people to understand the drawbacks of plastic in a visual display that is integrated within Chinese culture.

Plastic:

 

Hypothesis:

Can plastic be used to create an armor-like silhouette?
Can plastic be used as a means to shed light upon issues ingrained within a country’s cultural perspective?

 

Bioplastics Experiments

In class, Ben, Kenneth and I tried out the used coffee grounds recipe. We realized a bit after we mixed all the ingredients that Professor Marcela had mentioned that the recipe called for a bit too much used coffee grounds, so we added an extra 50ml of water and 2-5ml of agar agar to try and balance everything out.

It was then poured into a large metal bowl as a mold, with another bowl on top.

I checked back on it this past Monday and was surprised to see it was still wet. Professor Marcela suggested putting it in the dryer, which, after about a day of drying looked like this:

Still needs to dry, though!

I decided to experiment more with the used coffee grounds, with different ratios of ingredients. Before I saw the drying result I thought that the reason it was so wet and jelly-like was because we put too much water. For the second experiment, the ingredients were:

• 15 ml agar agar
• 5 ml glycerol
• 250 ml water
• 5 ml alginate
• 0.3 cups coffee grounds

This time the mixture seemed to be a lot thicker and clumpier as I was stirring it all together. I poured it into one of the small tins. It still needs to dry, but after about 17 hours of drying it looks like this:

I still had a lot of the mixture left over and didn’t want to waste it all, so I poured in 20 ml of water to try and get rid of some of the clumpiness. This seemed to make it super jelly-like as it dried a bit:

I poured this mixture into a plastic cup I had, and after about 17 hours of drying it looks like this:

 

Final Project Ideas

Idea 1: Reconstructed Waimai Packaging

The convenience of waimai has made it extremely popular in Shanghai. One of the problems with it, however, is the amount of waste that is produced from all of the food packaging. Services like eleme have already made steps toward trying to reduce this waste, such as making it mandatory for you to specify whether or not you need single-use disposable tableware. What if we could reduce the waste further through packaging created from bioplastics?

Idea 2: Sleeves for hot drinks at the cafe

When you order a hot drink from our school’s cafe, it comes with a cardboard sleeve so that your hand doesn’t get hot. We’ve already made progress in reducing cafe waste through the reusable metal cups, but what about the sleeves? The sleeves could potentially be created out of plastic waste using the molding techniques we have learned, but I’m wondering if there needs to be some sort of coating to prevent the hot drink from altering it.

Workshop Reflection

Recipe (Ingredients):

1. 4 gram Agar Agar
2. 2.5 ml Glycerol
3. 420 ml Water 

Our group’s work is to make Agar bioplastic. Our ingredients include Agar-Agar, glycerol, and water. The process of mixing them is easy, however, we failed to get the result till the end of the class since heating the mixture to 95 degrees celsius (Instructions: step two: put the pot on the stove and heat the mixture to 95 degrees or to just below boiling. Keep stirring the whole time) causes too long. Our final temperature reaches around 73 degrees, and there was already some solid, but humid and soft things coming out. We also need to keep stirring to make sure there are no bubbles in the liquid. The process of making the bioplastic material needs waiting, and the cost of time is truly high. Indeed, as Biomimicry has argued, “nature’s solutions are more efficient, more sustainable, and create no waste”.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s more, since all the materials come from nature itself, and the Agar bioplastic we create can be fully degraded, it is proved that “nature can serve both as a source of inspiration and a source of materials and processes that we can use and emulate to create better more sustainable solutions”. However, according to The truth about plastics, “while bioplastics are generally considered to be more eco-friendly than traditional plastics, a 2010 study from the University of Pittsburgh found that wasn’t necessarily true when the materials’ life cycles were taken into consideration”. The creation of the bioplastic costs too long, and the final product, the agar bioplastic does not seem to be something that can last very long either. I guess that’s also why bioplastic is still under the stage of discovery, but not to production, or use in our daily lives. 

Step three:

Pour liquid onto a flat surface or mold… Let dry for 1-2 days, depending on temperature and humidity levels. 

Week 11 update experiment result: In the class the following week, we received our final agar plastic. Because there was too much water in one container last week, we split them into two containers. However, the one with more shallow water surface produces less bio-plastic and it is too soft that it breaks when we tried to take it down. Another one tends to be much stronger, hard to tear. I think when doing the experiment, two factors are that we need to really boil it, at least to 95 degrees, and we cannot expect too little amount of ingredients to produce solid plastic. Therefore, plenty of raw materials is especially important.

 

 

 

Final proposal

Questions:

What do I think I can do/invent to improve Shanghai (the range can be smaller, e.g. our school building) trash sorting/city developing? 

 

1.Bio-plastic for the plastic bags in the trash bin in the subway station and other places, especially for household trash (but the cost is too high)

Why this: After Shanghai has published its trash sorting policy, in most neighborhoods household trash cannot be thrown away with the plastic bag. But for most families household trash are wet, dirty and with a bad smell, so it is hard to deal with it. Some people can take trash within the container and pour them into the trash bin, but it is not feasible for people who go to work every day. The related department said they have thought about using degradable plastic bags, but those bags can only be degraded under certain conditions and usually takes 1-2 weeks, therefore it cannot be mixed with the household trash, and the cost of degradable plastic is also too high. 

 

 

 

A report of 破袋(not using the plastic bag) for household trash

where household trash goes

About household trash in Shanghai

What we need: a kind of bio-plastic that is durable (so it won’t break) but also easily degradable, while the cost is low enough, which means the ingredients need to be cheap. If the degradable is hard to achieve, we can only consider the situation when landfilling household trash.

Possible materials: Agar bioplastic – simmered

 

2. Using recycled paper to make a notebook/print/souvenir/decoration (at NYU Shanghai store or bigger range and when people finish the notebook they can use the old one to change for a new one with a discount, also provide some services like having an e-document for the notebook)

Why this: Everyday there is so much wasted paper (academical trash) being produced inside the ab and students like purchasing notebooks from the campus store. If we build a circle between these two, the circle will save a large amount of paper. 

remaking paper DIY

What we need: used paper, board (to place paper pulp)

Week 11 update: I decided to take this one as I am going to do in the following weeks.

Hypothesis: By remaking paper, it will gradually build a circle of paper using inside the school, as well as contributing to other areas that can use remade materials (not 100% achievable but I will test). 

 

3. Home-made clay/ beer spent grain composite / Cork | agar – starch Cor03 to make degradable flower pot that can truly grow plants, which can replace the plastic pots on the street. 

 

 

Why this: To avoid the use of one-time plastic, and help the flower grows better

What we need: the ingredients from the recipe

 

Experiment 1

 Coffee | Agar | Alginate Co01

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) 

Step 1: The first in the process was to mix all of our ingredients together. This step was probably the one that took the most time as we ended up changing the number of materials. The coffee felt like it was too much for the amount of liquid and powder ingredients, so in order to create a more solid structure, we increased the others. 

Step 2: The heating process also took quite some time but was enjoyable. Working with coffee was great because it smelled great in comparison to the other group’s experiments. We did find it difficult to find the right temperature and consistency for the ‘batter’ to be poured into the mold.

Step 3: We used two stainless steel bowls and applied vaseline on all sides to prevent the material from sticking once it was dried. The last step was to wait for the coffee mixture to dry and create a bowl-like shape. As a result of its size, the bowl took quite a bit of time to dry and was later placed in the oven on a low temperature to cool and solidify. 

Photos: 

Experiment 2

Agar Bioplastic (Heated) + Dried Green Tea

By: Ben

Ingredients:

4gr Agar Agar (Adjusted to 5g)
2.5ml (Glycerol Adjusted to 3ml)
420 ml Water (Adjusted to 400ml)
Green Tea 5g (beaker measured)

Step 1: The first step in this experiment was to measure out all my ingredients. I adjusted the measurements because I added a new ingredient – green tea. I wanted the tea to act as a binding agent, to add color, and as a textural feature. The tea might’ve needed more ingredients to meld the materials together to form a solid structure.

Step 2: Step two was mixing all of the ingredients together via the blender. The blender allows for an even mixture and to crush the tea into smaller more manageable pieces.

Step 3: I needed to heat the mixture to an approximate 90 degrees Celcius. This process was the most time-consuming – I heated the mixture in a beaker over the hot plate, so next time the best plan might be to heat it in a pan over the conduction stove. 

Step 4: After reaching the optimal temperature (90degrees Celcius), I poured the mixture into various circular molds – with each mold having a different ratio of liquid to solid green tea leaves. I wanted to experiment with the end result of transparency, color, and texture. I will now wait 1-2 days for the drying process to occur. 

Photos: