The purpose of this project was to develop a functional material from natural resources and then to design a product that utilizes this material
This shows the step-by-step process of manufacturing a twisted twine from Yucca leaves and then weaving the twine into a strap.
The initial intention was to create a composite material that consisted of natural fibers and a bio-polymer plastic to increase the durability and tensile strength
This shows the weaving process followed to deliver a wide but thin strap.
The Yucca fibers shown above were too time consuming to spin into enough cordage, I also ran into troubles in obtaining enough raw material for the required product. Cotton string was used as a substitute; it is also a natural fiber and could be easily dyed and pigmented to match the colour of the Yucca that it was representing. The strap consists of four cords running lengthwise and one much longer cord that weaves through them in an over-under pattern.
The Yucca cord has a higher tensile strength than the cotton and it doesn't stretch under tension, but it is much rougher and makes for a scratchy surface.
This shows my attempts at isolating the gluten from whole wheat kernels by excessively boiling them in water. I managed to separate the gluten out, but getting it to polymerize was problematic.
My experimentation with wheat gluten proteins yielded mixed results; the gluten separated out successfully and dried to a stiff and brittle solid mass, but it wasn't workable afterwards.
The ideal would have been to grind the dried flakes into a powder that could then be combined with a cross-linking agent and applied to the Yucca straps.
The bio-plastic component of the material was scrapped in favour of moving the project along in a timely manner.
