Project Logs

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• Second Chair

  David Troetschel • 08/31/2020 at 21:15 • 0 comments

  Second chair design stage

• Examining cured mycelium and initial corrections

  David Troetschel • 08/06/2020 at 20:56 • 0 comments

  Both frame pieces.

  Defects:

  Mold.

  No cure and different mold.

  Healthy section.

  Curing the back.

  Solid mycelium seat and back block.

  Fine tooth pull saw.

  Raw exposed interior.

  Soaked in resin.

• Cure and first resin coat

  David Troetschel • 08/04/2020 at 15:12 • 0 comments

  Surface imperfections.

  I then did a light coat of resin to bond and preserve.

  Cool details are preserved but at this thickness the mycelium needs reinforcement.

  Probably should have done resin and fiberglass as one step.
  Looks good at this stage!

  
  

• Bulk mycelium forming and drying

  David Troetschel • 08/04/2020 at 14:29 • 0 comments

  Mycelium is left to grow in closet.

  Taping to shape and curing in sun.

  Mycelium looks fine, clearly missing in some areas though.

  Splitting of the casings was done over several days, in retrospect it should have been done faster. Once in sun, trapped moisture encouraged bacterial growth etc.

• Composite sample testing

  David Troetschel • 08/04/2020 at 14:11 • 0 comments

  Dried mycelium sample and dry fiberglass.

  Wetting.

  Wrapped.

  Heat shrinking.

  Foam core comparison; without support twisting is easy.

  Cured sample.

  Sawn in half.

• Test sample and chair structure forming

  David Troetschel • 08/02/2020 at 19:19 • 0 comments

  Unwrapping the test sample.

  Getting ready for the real thing; long sausages.

  Wrapping.

  Compressing

• Test molding

  David Troetschel • 08/02/2020 at 19:03 • 0 comments

  Raw grown bag from Ecovative

  Gummy texture.

  I shred it up and mix in flour and water, setting out plastic sheeting to make casings.

  Molded into sausage forms and the closed off.

  I then hit with a heat gun to shrink the plastic and wait.

• Seat and back prep

  David Troetschel • 07/29/2020 at 19:51 • 0 comments

  I took a solid bag, dried it and then sawed down the center.

  The inside was not fully cured, but solid enough.

  Unfortunately, despite it not being completely dry (and thus hopefully less absorbent) I coated the raw ride in resin and it soaked up a TON. I'll coat the nice side with just a single layer of resin and fiberglass. At-least this will be strong if it doesn't burst into flames.
  

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