Bio Dyes and Biofabrics


  1. We prepare the fabric with alum. We have used cotton fibers
  2. Add 50 grams of alum in hot water and stir until dissolved.
  3. Introduce the fabric and let it soak for at least an hour, altough it is much better if you leave it more time.
  4. Remove the fabric and dry.
  5. We cut with laser so that they were all the same size.

Dyes:

We decided to try some flowers and leaves:

• Onion leaves

• Hibiscus

•Coffee

• Red Plum Leaves

• Juniper

•Green Tea

• Laurel

• Turmeric

• Cornflower

• Pollen

• Spirulina

•Algae

We made teas with all of them.

We submerged pieces of cloth with the alum and we verified that the color was not fixed much, so we decided to reduce the infusion. In this way the colors were better fixed in some pieces and reserved them to try to extract shades.

The tests we did were:

  • Submerge the fabric in the first infusion a few seconds
  • Submerge the fabric in a second infusion a few seconds
  • Submerge 12 hours in the second infusión

We then altered the pH of the infusions with bicarbonate and checked the changes that in some cases were surprising.

Last, we added vinegar in order to see changes and check the different shades.

img_5601.jpg

The final result has been very varied and surprising, the color that I liked the most is the hibiscus because the color changes have been very varied.

The cornflower, spirulina and seaweed did not give us very good results.


BIOPLASTICS

To create bioplastics we follow this recipe:

  1. 100 ml of water with hibiscus
  2. 24 g gelatin
  3. 8 ml of glycerin

Preparation:

  1. We heat the water with hibiscus and add the gelatine.
  2. Stir until disolved
  3. Then add the glycerin and stir
  4. Before it cooled, deposit it in a container with the desired shape.

Searching on the internet I saw a recipe for bioplastics and I wanted to try, it was a disaster, you should not do this.

  1. 15 grams of starch
  2. 60 cm3 water
  3. 5 cm3 vinegar
  4. 5 cm3 glycerin
  5. (Coloring (optional)

img_5648.jpg

It's the first time I've done this and I've loved it.

I could not do anything better because of lack of time but this practice has given me ideas and I would like to experience more in the future.


KOMBUCHA(Scoby)

Kombucha is a sweet tea drink produced by fermentation, in our case we are not going to use it as a drink, so we lengthen the fermentation to get it to grow so we can produce thin layers of cellulose. Our kombucha is a gift from Veronica Hegar who delighted us with a great afternoon of knowledge and delicious Korean tea. Thank you very much.

7/sep/17

We start by moving the Kombucha (scoby) to a new container, we need:

Process:

  • For 3.5L of water: 8 bags of black tea and 290 gr sugar
  • Boil water
  • Introduce tea bags and let stand 10 minutes.
  • Add sugar gradually and remove
  • Let cool.

While cooling the tea we wash the kombucha under the tap. IMPORTANT: have clean hands and NO rings, bracelets …

  • Introduce into the new container with part of the initiator liquid that is the tea in which the kombucha (mother) is already fermented.
  • Add tea with sugar.


container

size

amount

of tea

amount

of sugar

water

amount

amount of

starter culture
1 liter 2 teabags 55 grams 3/4 liters 120 milliliters
2 liter 3_4 teabags 115 grams 1/5 liters 240 milliliters
3 liter 6_8 teabags 225 grams 4 liters 480 milliliters

The ideal place for fermentation should be a warm zone with a temperature between 21ºC and 26ºC. It is important that you do not give direct sunlight.

Cover with a piece of cloth or paper and a rubber band.

Process

Sep 21, 2017

After two weeks we changed our scoby to a larger recipient.

Oct 19, 2017

Oct 23, 2017