Weaving

I decided to explore weaving as a potential process for rice straw. Rice straw has been woven into textiles in the past and has permeated slightly into consumer culture in the past through straw hats, fans, bags, etc. Straw mats and larger textile products may provide a larger market for this specific material.

I tried plaiting rice straw. It turned out to be a long, but satisfying process. Rice straw is weavable when wet, but it can turn brittle after it dries. Braiding the straw helps in making sure the individual strands don't break.

I also tried creating a smaller sample of woven rice straw that involves plaiting multiple strands at a time.

I think the biggest challenge right now is continuing the strands and making sure that there's a way to make larger woven pieces. Right now, the samples are limited by the length of the rice straw. There is the possibility of overlapping strands when weaving or knotting, sowing or adhering them together. That might be the next step. Hopefully I can also create a better loom so that I can reduce the amount of time it takes to make a sample.

Rice Straw Art

The people in this video are making gorgeous art out of rice straw. The pieces are slightly shiny, because of the rice straw's texture. Check it out:

Fiberboard

For our trip to Costa Rica next week, we're preparing presentations for EARTH University that will explain the potential of the agricultural materials we're working with. This an 11x17 explaining the processes and uses of different types of fiberboard.

Under the Microscope

On Thursday, we went to the nature lab to look at rice straw, bagasse, etc under the microscope. We were introduced to the lab's compound and stereo microscopes, include the protoscope, which is a hand-held microscope that takes photos of the examined object.

The rice hull had a glossy outer surface, and a square-like structure. The rice straw, on the other hand, was entirely linear in structure. The straw itself isn't a perfect cylinder. It has multiple ridges that probably aid in delivering waste and nutrients to the tips of the place. The bagasse is linear as well, but individual strands are broken (think Pantene Pro-V commercials where they show how it repairs damaged hair).

The sugarcane waste was really interesting. Our professor showed us that the internal substance was made of a purple, hexagonal, foamy material. It was very different from the outer surface of the sugarcane, which is hard and wood-like. It looked like sugar crystals, although it may serve a different purpose than the part of the plant traditionally extracted as "sugarcane."

Experimentation

The past two weeks have been spent experimenting with mostly rice straw and sugarcane waste. The results have been pretty interesting.

Initially, I soaked the materials in water. It didn't change the structure of the rice straw, bagasse or rice hull as much as I thought it would. The rice straw, however, was more bendable, as was the sugarcane waste.

Next, I tried creating wheat paste. Wheat paste is a natural adhesive that is commonly used in crafts such as paper mache-making. To do this, I mixed cold water and flour. Separately, I boiled a couple cups of water. Once the water boil, I quickly poured the mixture in, stirring for about an hour. I let the whole batch cool for another 3 hours, stirring consistently every ten minutes. Once it completely cooled, I added sugar and stirred more to mix it in. I then refrigerated this, which turned it into a jello-like substance. This was then applied to ricestraw and sugarcane waste.

Once the wheat paste completely dried, which took a couple of days, the rice straw stuck together pretty well. It's hardened quite nicely. I'm trying to see if sugarcane waste will accept it the same way.

I took a lot of rice straw back to my room and separated the core of the stem from the sheath, which is the outer protective covering that expresses a leaf-like quality.

I asked myself, if I didn't apply any adhesive to the material-making process, what would I do with it. The first instinct was to tie it and use the fiber's vertical strength as a textile or rope. I eventually found that it would have a lot easier to tie them if I had done the entire process while the rice straw was completely soaked. Maybe weaving is easier this way too.

I also worked on specifically compressing the rice straw sheath with wood glue as an adhesive. This is rice straw compressed:

This is sugarcane waste compressed:

Compressed bagasse:

Compressed rice hull - which failed, because it's surface rejects bonding. The fibers are nonlinear and have a glossy coating.

I'm currently layering compressed pieces in hopes that I can create a stiff fiberboard from them. The sugarcane waste has a lot of promise in this direction. It has a relatively high sugar content which allows it to adhere well, and its fibers want to bond to each other, unlike rice hulls.

Inspiration from unusual places

While walking down the hallway on my floor at 15 west, I noticed something familiar about the ceiling above me. The ceiling, I realized, is essential a compressed mat of fibers - not too dissimilar from rice straw fibers. It's a pretty generic ceiling cover, but it works for the building and environment. I bet the materials we have in studio - bagasse, rice straw, sugarcane waste and maybe rice hulls could be compressed in the same way.

I went to Staples a couple of days ago and found a notebook that states it was made of 80% sugarcane waste. I think this was pretty interesting, so I looked online at other notebooks that have been made from sugarcane waste. O'BON is another company that makes sugarcane notebooks. The pages of the notebook are white, unlike many "eco-notebooks." I like what they've done and sent them an email asking them if they could elaborate of their notebook-making process. Let's see what happens.

La comunicación de Costa Rica

We're going to Costa Rica at the end of this month to visit EARTH University (see first post). The class is research the country to understand its history, economy, environment, in my case - communications - and much more. Below are two infographics that illustrate the country's main lines of communication and media and how it compares to the rest of Latin America.

Sources:

http://arts1091.unsw.wikispaces.net/Costa+Rica
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cs.html
http://www.costarica.com/retirement/cost-of-living/internet-service/
http://www.costarica.com/retirement/practical-info/cell-phones%3A-how-to-get-one/
http://www.therealcostarica.com/technology_costa_rica/cell_phones.html
http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2008/september/11/nac03.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1166587.stm
http://www.therealcostarica.com/radio_TV_media_costa_rica/radio_TV_cable_costa_rica.html
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/costa_rica.htm
http://www.infocostarica.com/general/communications.html
http://www.costarica.com/about-costa-rica/useful-information/communications%3A-phones-&-internet/
http://www.intercultures.ca/cil-cai/ci-ic-eng.asp?iso=cr
http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/costa_rica/costa_rica_communications.html
http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-arts-entertainment/radio/
http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-internet-cyber-cafes/
http://www.pressreference.com/Co-Fa/Costa-Rica.html
http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-news-media/
http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-society-culture/
http://www1.american.edu/initeb/jn0859a/html/it_landscape_of_costa_rica_-_t.html
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Costa-Rica-INFRASTRUCTURE-POWER-AND-COMMUNICATIONS.html

Baskets, Combs and Fish Nets

We visited the Peabody Museum at Harvard today and got to see some pretty interesting objects made from banana leaf, straw, clay and materials from North and Central America as a way to inspire us into thinking about what the sugarcane and rice by-products we'll be experimenting with could be used for.

A lot of the objects were woven, which reminded me of my grandmother's house in Ningbo. All of her chairs are woven, as are her mattresses and pillows. I really enjoyed being around them, even though they may or may not have been comfortable for me.

I think the word that would characterize the makers of the objects we saw would be "resourceful." They really knew how to make what they had into useful, functional objects that could act as protection from the rain or a carry-on bag. There were definitely aesthetic considerations to each object, such as the intricate patterns in the weaving of some of the baskets or the alternating colors in straw mats. But ultimately what impressed me the most was how practical they were.

Having said that, my favorite object from the collection was a basket that had metal pieces strung around its outside edge. When the curator picked it up, it made chime-like sounds that gave me a very strong sense of the kind of place it could have come from. As we couldn't touch any of the artifacts ourselves, it was helpful for us to experience them visual and aurally.

GOOD infographic: Making Progress on the MDGs

While browsing GOOD infographics, I found this one graphic on the progress countries have made on the 1st (ending poverty and hunger), 4th (child health) and 5th (maternal health) MDG goals. It's encouraging to see that even though many of these countries have a long way to go, they are improving in these specific areas.

Vestergaard Frandsen

In order to better understand what makes entrepreneurship successful or unsuccessful, the class is looking at organizations or companies are considered social entrepreneurs. I chose Vestergaard Frandsen, a for-profit company that works off of a humanitarian design approach. They provide water filters, mosquito nets and shelter to people in developing countries and emergency situations. Take a look below:

 

 Click to enlarge.  

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Videos of PermaNet and LifeStraw distribution: