Does anybody know if there’s a traditional composite material that behaves something like fibreglass? As in fibre/fabric laid up in a binder of some sort to make a stiff material in arbitrary forms.
Paper mache is one but it’s too weak (I think, maybe there's a super version?). I'm considering things like cotton or flax in casein glue or pine resin... but I doubt it will work.
(And my last casein glue experiment stunk like rotten milk for weeks!)
@john Casein-based glue? I feel like folks used to get surprisingly robust results with textile/fiber and a paste made mostly of maybe evaporated milk? It was a 60s/70s theater thing.
When I studied urushi, paper, wickerwork, cloth, whatever could be coated with a mix of urushi, a paste used in making the paper doors (and maybe hanging wallpaper?), and sometimes bulked out with some kind of powder (rice flour would do). It might last longer than you'd like though. Urushi can and does last a very long time.
@john I think grass-and-mud structures technically would fit the bill of a fiber layered and glued with natural binding material, but I suspect that doesn't work for your project
@john I have a very vague memory of the documentary about the glider built in Colditz using something like ground up millet, painted onto fabric, to form the skin for the fuselage and wings
@fritzoids It isn't, but I suspect it's probably not practical for me to work it at scale I want. I'd need to do a lot of joining and I very much doubt I have the skill!
@paris I’v considered animal glues. Two things put me off - I'll need a lot of it to use it in a composite, and they are very susceptible to moisture, right?
I should clarify, the point is to be biodegradable, I already know I can mix epoxies with flax fibre for a pretty strong composite, for example. But epoxies aren't biodegradble. #maker#makers#LowTech
@john probably, although I think there's some doubt if they did use glue or not. I thought of another example after I sent the last message: I think there's some evidence of leather and wood shields, there was a series of videos I watched that seemed well sourced https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=tod%27s+workshop+shield (hope the link works, on mobile)
@futurebird A part for my bike. Depends on how strong I can make it, but either just a mudguard, or a mudguard/rack/seat/battery-holding/trailer-towing complex.
@john I think micarta can be made by layering ordinary construction paper (in rainbow patterns if you like) and painting on slow-cure clear epoxy resin. It’s stronger than wood with similar flexibility and workability. Resin can also be combined with fabric for similar results?
@john I have not tried this, but depending on the application maybe encaustic paint could be soaked into fabric— it also cures and lasts forever— but it’s not very strong and will always be sensitive to heat.
@john Ahh… urushi is amazing— but should you choose to work with it get all the protective gear, you see I used to be one of those lucky people who were not sensitive to poison ivy— and at first it seemed that I was not susceptible to urushi either… but I guess there is a threshold and after so much exposure I developed an allergy to the stuff and now I can’t work with it anymore— basically simple plastic gloves are not enough. The cure process and time is outrageous but the results are ✨
@JonnyT@futurebird I had not heard of cow gum until now, but it looks like it's a latex glue. So I think it's biodegradable, but the latex glues I have stay really flexible (good for some things, not for what I want this time). Also they degrade in UV, which isn’t ideal, although could probably be worked around.
@john@futurebird Now I've thought on it a bit more, I may have the wrong glue. It was more likely to be the milky, watery one. You'd soak the paper in a tray of the glue and apply the paper wet to the surface. When it dried it was rock hard.
Can't recall what that glue was, sorry, but it was widespread in arts classes in the 70s.
@john Oh yes, we definitely used a starch glue for similar purposes. Sticky, gloopy stuff. It was that one or the milky one that you could put on your hand, leave to dry for a bit and then peel off to give you a translucent skin with your palm/finger prints, Mission Impossible style.
@john I'm not sure how it's called in English (or Dutch for that matter ), but artists working with textiles use a specific kind of glue to fixate shapes. I looked it up: one of those is called Paverpol textile hardener
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