Week 8

Final Project_CRISPR

GMO (Genetic Modified Organisms) have been known for a while, but a lot of us do not know that CRISPR food are on our dinner tables as well. CRISPR stands for “clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”, and it is a technology where scientists use the protein Cas-9 to alter certain genes in a genome which finishes the “gene-editing” (Vidyasagar).

Final Project Prototype

For my final project, I attempted to build a biodegradable PCB (Printed Circuit Board) using banana fibers and wheat gluten according to a process described by researchers in the Jyothy Institute of Technology of Bangaluru (1). According to their research and experiments, this combination of materials gave results up to the standards required for PCB while being a sustainable alternative. Banana fiber is one of the strongest naturally occurring fibers (2).

Week 8: Kaitlin Bryson & Project Update

Project update

This week in class, I enjoyed getting familiar with the works of our guest lecturer, Kaitlin Bryson. It was really helpful seeing her work as it perfectly aligned with our class goal and the final project. It gave me a better reference as to how artists, who are trying to limit their waste, produce their next artwork. My favorite works she presented were her mycelium pillow and the work she did with students in Nepal.

Week 8: RE:Proposal

My original idea was to grow a book from mycelium and that has not changed. The initial proposal lacked substance, both for the project and for the book itself. “What is the book about?’ was a question that plagued me since I decided on this project, a conceptual gap that was never fully bridged. For me, it was like discovering an interesting technique, yet not knowing how exactly to apply it to my work in a meaningful way.

 

Week 08: Indigo

In week 8 we learned about indigo, its processes and its properties. I was firstly surprised that most of indigo throughout history comes from a single genus of plant Indigofera and more specifically the Indigofera tinctoria. It’s interesting to me that India, and other Asian countries were the source of indigo dyes for centuries tracing back all the way to the Bronze Age. Unsurprisingly, something like this would remain a luxury commodity for as long as it was localized to Asian countries.

Week 8: Shibori

In March 1st, we had a textile artist named Amy Taylor who works with natural dyes and taught us the process of working with natural indigo dye. In her presentation, she showed different cultures who’ve worked with dye all the way back to the 8th century. It wasn’t until 1856 that a teenager who accidently created synthetic dye while trying to develop a cure against malaria.

Week 8

 This week we watched The Origami Revolution, it explained the ancient technique of folding 2-dimensional paper into complex 3-dimensional structures and its mass potential in scientific development. Back in high school, I wanted to become an architecture student and I first started making models with paper. While researching folding techniques I realized the countless possibilities of shapes, forms, and structures that can be created with origami. So from then my understanding and practice of origami have been closely tied to architecture.  

INDIGO | Week 8

This week a guest named Amy Taylor visited our class and gave us an indigo dyeing workshop. She showed us different techniques to create various patterns and designs on the cloths, a Japanese method. By manipulating, folding, twisting, and tying up the cloths in different ways, we can create a limitless variety of designs. One of these techniques is placing a string of twine across the fabric, then rolling the fabric around the string into a strip. Then, the fabric is scrunched around the string and looped into a donut shape. The result of this method is a spotted gradient.

Week 8 Indigo

This week, we discussed the history and contexts of dyeing in the textile/clothing industry and experienced a wonderful hands-on demo of the indigo dyeing process by Amy Taylor.  The shibori techniques we used I found especially interesting; They also in a way remind me of origami folding or the paper snowflakes I used to make in elementary school, and how something complex or unexpected can emerge sometimes almost randomly from a series of simple steps.

Week 8

Amy Taylor’s workshop on Natural Dyeing was so much fun! It really brought me back to the days when I was a kid and I made tie dye things. It was fascinating to learn about all the different natural dyes and how they could be combined and used with different materials to achieve different effects.

 

Week 8 : Indigo Dye

This week, we had the wonderful Amy Taylor come in to give us a thorough talk and workshop on indigo dyeing in our class on Thursday. Thus, this blog will be broken down into three components: a discussion on the hands-on dyeing process itself, a response to the talk on natural dyeing processes in relation to ecology and environmentalism, and finally other artists within this realm that I can add to this discussion of Earth-friendly fabrics.

 

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