Knotplex

Testing Knotplex recipes
Knotplex text We are also looking towards other settings; such as adding temperature, other materials which can be used as a binder.

23/03/2022
INGREDIENTS 185 g Japanese knotweed (155g fine + 30g rough fibers) 200 ml water 160 g hide glue

SETTINGS 7 ft 45 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° Heat the glue granules until it completely absorbs the water and has a sticky, homogeneous texture. 2° Measure the fibers and protein and add them to the hot glue. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the setting. 4° After the pressing time, put the sheet in a drying mold.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON I wonder if the proportion glue/ fibers has something to do with the unequal surface. Maybe if I used less glue, the fibers can have more space to settle.

24/03/2022


INGREDIENTS 185 g Japanese knotweed (155g fine + 30g rough fibers) 300 ml water 160 g hide glue

SETTINGS 8 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° Heat the glue granules until it completely absorbs the water and has a sticky, homogeneous texture. 2° Measure the fibers and protein and add them to the hot glue. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the setting. 4° After the pressing time, put the sheet in a drying mold.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON It looks like this result has a more equal surface. The glue is more divided and the fibres are more smooth. Yet there was a lot of glue that under pressure came out of the mold. So maybe we need to use less glue.

N° 1
In this result I want to test another type of glue. Just so we exclude question about other glues. INGREDIENTS 192 g Japanese knotweed 100 ml water 112 g fish glue

SETTINGS 7 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° Measure the fish glue and add the water until it's a consitent mix. 2° Mix the glue with the fibers. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the setting. 4° After the pressing time, put the sheet in a drying mold.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON Using Fish glue in this application was a bad idea. The fibers didn't attach to each other, which results in just a pile of Japanese knotweed and some dried glue.

N° 2
In search of another binder, I only used casein and water as a binder in this cold process. The result was a good first step towards finding a binder in a cold process. INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 120 ml water 40 g Casein

SETTINGS 7 ft 90 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° Measure the fibers and the casein. Mix them together. 2° Add water and stir until the mixure become foamy. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the setting. 4° After the pressing time, put the sheet in a drying mold.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON The casein could replace the hide granules. The process needs to be more explored to find a better recipe that fits our requirements.

N° 1
These experiments where INGREDIENTS

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON