The Drawdio was originally created by Jay Silver, from the MIT Media Lab in 2008. This is a remixed version that I created for you to play with. This uses a 9V battery and a 555 timer circuit. It generates sound based on a variable resistor that can be a pencil or another conductive material, such as a banana.
Hello,
Earlier this week Janni and I worked on making some bio plastics. The Instructables walk through we used was: http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-BioPlastics-Environmentally-Friendly-Plast/
Other students used this one also and from the reviews last week did/did not have issues so we decided to try it out.
The first recipe we tried was straight from the Instructable:
1 cup Corn Starch
1 cup Water
1 tbs Canola Oil
The plastic was slightly jelly-like post 1:15 in the microwave –
For our next plastic we tried experimenting with other things in Janni’s refrigerator, which ended up being an egg, (since eggs can be used in cooking as a binding agent).
Ingredients:
1 cup Corn Starch
1 cup Water
1 tbs Canola Oil
1 tbs of Vinegar
1 Egg
The consistency of the egg plastic was gelatinous; a few days later it is still jelly like.
For our third plastic, we used the original formula but experimented with adding a dye. All that we had was tattoo ink, (which actually gave it quite a nice color).
This plastic has dried very hard and solid. It has maintained the color very well and does not seem to have shrunk very much after several days. It seems to be the most successful of all experiments.
Harlie and Janni
For our 3D Print assignment, I was interested in creating an object that would consider the the translucent qualities of the plastic filament and at the same time, serve a practical function.
Initial ideals were to print:
A stand alone “white board” calendar
A mobile
A light fixture
A candle holder
and
A circular disc with patterns that could be attached to a projector to distort projected images.
Eventually I decided to go with a candle holder, as I was interested in how the flickr of the flames would create shadows and patterns (analog forms of projections) and I wanted to explore the illumination quality of the PLA plastics (recommended for first time printers).
I wanted a simple and aesthetic to the candle holder as I knew I was new to Maya and was fond of minimalist designs in an increasingly over consumerist world. Bruno Munari and Alex Calder were two individuals I greatly admired for their design decisions and aesthetics.
Referencing Calder’s mobiles and Munari’s wind chime I decided to make a candle holder out of three distinct parts. It was hard to get the right thickness for the cylinders on maya as I did not wanted it as thin as possible so the flame could be seen slightly through the walls of the holder. I make a few sketches and measured out proportions, followed by translating that into Maya via the Polygon mode.
After presenting the class, I would like to re-print the candle holder in a different material, as I did not take into account how the fire retardancy of the PLA Filament.
Check out this product that can be adhered to the skin. Their idea to use make-up to cover the panel is not a very creative solution to designing for the body and wearable technology, but it does show and interesting idea for your final project. Perhaps you can think of materials that have an electric potential.
I decided to go the basic route with the bioplastics (cornstarch, vinegar, water, glycerin). However I didn’t have glycerin and improvised using Crisco. The breakdown ended up being:
1 tbsp Corn Starch
4 tbsp Water
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp Crisco
The left picture is what they looked like after an hour. The right picture was after they had been left for 12+ hours. I experimented with leaving each of them on the stove for different amounts of time. Left in for too little time, it never ever dries ever. It actually crumbled. How sad. Tried some left in a minute or so longer and it was sturdy but cracked a lot. The one left in a minute longer than had been recommended was the sturdiest and cracked the least. Still, none of them were very promising. The crisco gives it an interesting texture but it seems to make it too oily which is what most likely caused it to crack. For my next tries I would like to use less vinegar and no crisco. See how that goes. Or just try a new material.
We experimented with the following recipe, using different proportions of ingredients for each batch
Batch 1
1 table spoon | Corn starch
1 table spoon | Water
1 tea spoon| Glycerin
1 tea spoon | Vinegar
Batch 2
1 table spoon | Corn starch
1 table spoon | Water
2 tea spoon | Glycerin
1 tea spoon | Vinegar
+ Added color
Batch 3
1 table spoon | Corn starch
1 table spoon | Water
4 tea spoon | Glycerin
1 tea spoon | Vinegar
Batch 4
3 table spoon | Corn starch
1 table spoon | Water
1 tea spoon | Glycerin
1 tea spoon | Vinegar
Batch 5
3 table spoon | Corn starch
1 table spoon | Water
w/o | Glycerin
1 tea spoon | Vinegar
Ingredients Properties
Vinegar | Less brittle
Glycerin | Flexibility / Moldable
More Starch | More rigid
More Water | Less consistent
For my first two experiment, i ended up to create my own recipe mixing many other recipes that i found from different websites;
1 table spoon corn starch
4 table spoon water
1 tea spoon glycerin
1 tea spoon gelatin
1 tea spoon vinegar
When i started to cook, ingredients that i put in the pot started to solidify immediately. It took like 2 minutes it went liquid to gel and became like play-dough(the video that we saw in the class (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7KCzldr75o). It was really easy to give a form and work with. For my other experiments, i added orange juice to give some color to the bioplastic.
Also, to give different shapes, i put some of them into my laser cut piece to give a square and rectangular form. I rolled the other parts to give a shape of a ball. The material was really easy to give a form, as i said, it was like a play-dough. So, i ended up giving some curves as well to achieve a snail-shell look.
that’s the one i added orange juice
I used a base recipe of 2 tbspns corn starch, 8 tbspns water, 2 tspns glycerine, 2 tbspns vegetable oil, and a couple of pinches of gelatin, and then made a few variations where I tweaked the amount of ingredients a bit..sadly they all came out roughly similar, a gooey blob that came apart easily. Perhaps more corn starch next time? Im also going to experiment with baking, all these were made in the stove.
I tried to overreach and made a mould for a mask which I thought would be amazing, but it came apart and now all I have are blobs, one of which I have captured and will display in class.
Fascinating Material
After watching the presentation in class, I was very interested in the idea of home-made bioplastics, and the possibilities for household use. I began watching several videos regarding corn starch-based and milk-based homemade bioplastics recipes. At the same time, I was considering what I might make.
What Purpose?
I began searching around for what sort of things could be made of this material, but i kept coming across items like jewelry or utilitarian items like storage crates, blended-material bags, and other things i didn’t find particularly useful to me. So, then I thought, I should create something I need. And suddenly I had my idea.
Need To Eat
I’m moving soon, and my roommates have already moved out, taking nearly everything with them. I have one pot, a cookie sheet, a wooden spoon, and absolutely no cutlery. So, instead of going out and spending a bunch of money I don’t have on a new set of cutlery, I’ve decided. to create my own, designed how i want.
Reasearch
It didn’t take long to find a good amount of video instructions on how to mix various bioplastic recipes. After looking around, I found this one pretty easily. I think it has also been linked here in another post.
How to Make Corn Starch Bioplastic
I chose this method because I had tried the milk-based method and, well, it didn’t go well. Actually, it caught fire and ruined a pot. I decided to not take pictures. Besides, it’s more complicated and not necessary for my project. So, for my next attempt, I’ll be trying the cornstarch method.
So I attempted a very simple mixture for bioplastics that included corn starch, canola oil, and water and I wasn’t completely sure what I was expecting. However, the outcome of it was surprisingly gelatin-like but also cracked and very brittle. Here are some photos of what happened and I think I would like to attempt variations with the mixture and see what would be the result.
