2_ Pedagogies and Sustainable Practices in Digital Fabrication
Digital fabrication providing foundations for a mindset change in the educational environment.
For this first week... (WIP)
On the second week we explored making with sustainability in mind. We learned about biomaterials as an alternative to other kinds of materials and got to experiment with different formulas and methods of making our onw biomateials.
The activity - laser cutter, lab, white coat and everything!
Preparing the mold in vector form
Cutting the mold with a laser cutter
Removing the mold from the laser cutter
The mold
Preparing everything in the lab
Mixing the ingredients for the Agar-agar based bioplastic
Water!
Assemibling the mold
Pouring clear and green liquid bioplastic into themold
Orange bioplastic in mold
Time to wait for the bioplastic to dry (for several days)
Once the bioplastic is in the mold, one have to wait for several days for it to dry enough to be ready for removal.
We prepared 2 different formulations, varying the amout of glycerine introduced in the mix. We also usad two different "coatings" for the mold, one with the bottom covvered with fabric and the other without any cover at all.
After more then a week, the material seems to be ready for removal.
Ready to remove bioplastic from molds
Volume of the material has reducen significantly
Separating the two parts of the mold
Peeling off the green mix of the bioplastic
Small parts of the mold got in the mix
Taking the orange mix off the piece of fabric
The bioplastic shows exhibits some transparency
See-thru plastic - green mix
See-thru plastic - clear mix
Three different versions, three transparency levels
Now, how do I use this in class?
More to come!
For the third week.... (WIP)