Knotplex

Knotplex is a product of Knotfactory, next to Knotpot.

Testing Knotplex recipes
Knotplex, our first semi-finished product based on Japanese Knotweed. During this research, we do not focus on product applications, but on the different characteristics of the material when changing the recipe. We chose a plate, as this being a simple and representative shape to explore the recipe and compare characteristics.

During the research we explore settings such as temperature, pressure, matrix and binders.

N° 1


INGREDIENTS 66 g Japanese knotweed 120 ml water 20 g casein 50 g hide glue

SETTINGS 8 ft 20 minutes pressing time 80°C heat press, one side

STEPS 1° We shredded the hide glue and mixed it with the casein 2° We added the 66 g of short fibres of Japanese Knotweed 3° We mixed it with 120 ml water 4° We put it in the press (between baking paper) for 20 minutes, and 80°C, only the bottom side of the press was heated.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON take the plate of of the mold and let it dry into a drying mold, to avoid sticking to the mold.

N° 2


INGREDIENTS 50 g of short fibers and 10 g of long fibersJapanese knotweed 105 ml water 30 g casein

SETTINGS 8 ft 2x 15 minutes pressing time 80°C heat press

STEPS 1° Mixing all ingredients except the long fibers. 2° Make layers: mix of ingredients, in the middle: spread out long fibers, another layer of mixed ingredients. 3° Press for 15 min each side.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON use less water? good idea to turn plate half time to heat each side. More filler needed to fill the holes in between the larger particles.

N° 3


INGREDIENTS 66 g Japanese knotweed 120 ml water 20 g casein 50 g hide glue

SETTINGS 8 ft 30 minutes pressing time 80°C heat press, both sides

STEPS 1° mix all ingredients 2° press each side for 15 minutes in between mold and baking paper.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON with only 80°C in stead of 140° we have a very good result of a plate made with only casein.

N° 4


INGREDIENTS 50 g of short fibers and 10 g of long fibersJapanese knotweed 200 ml water 30 g casein

SETTINGS 8 ft 20 minutes pressing time 80°C heat press

STEPS 1° Cut the larger fibers in fine strips. 2° Mix all ingredients 3° Put in mold and press for 20 minutes

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON try to press both sides heated? how can we test the effect of the longer fibers?

N° 1


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 100 ml water 40 g potato starch 40 g chalk

SETTINGS 7 ft 45 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 2


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 120 ml water 40 g potato starch

SETTINGS 7 ft 20 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 3


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 90 ml water 40 g potato starch

SETTINGS 7 ft 20 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 1


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 126 ml water 104 g hide 40 g algae powder

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 2


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 100 ml water 60 g hide 40 g algae powder

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 3


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 90 ml water 70 g hide 40 g algae powder

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 1


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 40 ml water 40 g potato starch

SETTINGS 6 ft 15 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 2


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 90 ml water 70 g hide 40 g chalk

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 3


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 100 ml water 60 g hide 40 g chalk

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 4


INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 126 ml water 104 g hide 40 g chalk

SETTINGS 5 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

19/04/2022
We decided to work with a code name that's created by their own specifications. That’s why the code name is quite long. But when you understand the knowledge behind it, you can unravel every ingredient that's been used simply by seeing the code name. These following tests claim the new code name.



N° 1
INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 100 ml water 60 g hide

SETTINGS 4 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 2
INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 90 ml water 70 g hide

SETTINGS 4 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 3
INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 126 ml water 104 g hide

SETTINGS 3 ft 30 minutes pressing time

STEPS 1° 2° 3° 4°

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 1
These experiments where inspired on a recipe from Precious Plastic. The sheets are pressed during a hot proces. INGREDIENTS 100 g orange peels 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Dry the orange peel and crunch them so it becomes like coffee grounds 2° Add the measured water to the orange grounds and mix it thoroughly. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON This test didn't turned out to what was expected. It didn't came out in one piece and felt more friable.

N° 2
This is a test with only water and Japanese Knotweed pressed under heat. INGREDIENTS 100 g Japanese knotweed 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Add the measured water to the Japanese knotweed and mix it thoroughly. 2° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 3° After 20 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON The heat from the hot process does something to the structure within. This test contains only water and Japanese knotweed, yet after serveral week it crumbled.

N° 3
In this test we wanted to add protein in a hot process. We already used this ingredient in a cold one and that turned out in a interesting test. Therefor we added some protein from protein shake in to the mixture. INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 40 g protein 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Add the measured water to the mixture with Japanese knotweed & protein and mix it thoroughly. 2° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 3° After 20 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON This experiment was quit interesting. The protein became hard in comparingson to the test with only Japanese Knotweed.

N° 4
We combined eggshells with a protein mix to explore the properties compared to the test with only one of the ingredients. INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 40 g protein 30 g eggshells 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 40 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Add the measured water to the mixture with Japanese knotweed, eggshells & protein and mix it thoroughly. 2° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 3° After 40 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON This test result compared to the test with only one ingredient shows us that maybe eggshells aren't a great addition to the recipe. The test with only eggshells and Japanese Knotweed crumbles also and is very brittle.

N° 5
In this experiment we searched for a filler that can be collected in a local setting. Eggshells for example is a large waste stream. INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 30 g eggshells 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Add the measured water to the mixture with Japanese knotweed & eggshells and mix it thoroughly. 2° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 3° After 20 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON Same conclusion as test 4. Adding the eggshells makes the test more brittle ans fragile.

N° 6
This experiment contains a mixture with coffee grounds. Coffee grounds is also a bigger and local waste stream.

INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 40 g used coffee grounds 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 20 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Dry some used coffee grounds so they won't mold 2° Add the measured water to the coffee grounds and mix it thoroughly. 3° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 4° After 20 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 7
These experiments where INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 120 g casein 40 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 40 minutes pressing time 140°C

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 40 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

N° 8
In this mixture we added starch because of its properties in the cuisine. INGREDIENTS 80 g Japanese knotweed 40 g Potato starch 10 ml water

SETTINGS 5 ft 40 minutes pressing time 140°C

STEPS 1° Add the measured water to the mixture with Japanese knotweed & potato starch and mix it thoroughly. 2° Put it in the mold and press it like described in the settings. 3° After 40 minutes, the test is 'baked' and doesn't need to dry afterwards.

ANALYSIS LEARNING LESSON

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.

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.

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.