Homebrew bioplastics/lasercutter wallet

Peter sez, "Jay Cousins, a tinkerer at Open Design City, has been experimenting with open source materials, producing his own bioplastic just from water, vinegar, glycerine and starch. Add some laser cutting and stitching and out comes this gorgeous wallet, produced completely from stuff you find in your kitchen."

Gorgeous bioplastics wallet made at Open Design City by @jaycousins (Thanks, Peter)

• [Anonymous]

  I think it’s lovely. This Jay Cousins guy sounds like a clever little fella?

• [wgmleslie]

  Add some rainwater and you have a pocket full of goo.

  (How well does this plastic hold up?)

• [Jay Cousins]

  Sorry for delay folks I was busy making stuff and hosting events.

  Instructions on making your own bioplastic wallet can be found here http://odc.betahaus.de/2010/05/18/cook-your-own-wallet/

  Full recipes, videos and more can be found here – http://www.bioplastic.ning.com

• [Anonymous]

  Mmmm…prosciutto wallet.

• [thewavingcat]

  There’s some info on the production process of bioplastic here: http://jaycousins.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/bioplastics-the-quest-for-open-source-material-production/

• [Jay Cousins]

  First off sorry for the lack of documentation, I forgot we live in a world of immediation and that when I showed the wallet to Peter I was actually sharing it with the world.

  A full “how to” will follow within the week.

  It’s also very important to note this is the outcome of collaborative process, so collective props are due, especially to Christopher Doering (https://www.xing.com/profile/Christopher_Doering) who made the material, and created the recipe.

  We will be running a workshop on how to make a bioplastic wallet at http://www.opendesigncity.de/ on Thursday 20th at 7.00 pm details of how to get involved will follow, along with how to order a custom made product should you wish.

  In answer to water based questions – don’t put it in the bath. If it gets splashed it’s ok, but will totally dissolve in hot water.

  Product is continually in Beta, and was just a demonstration of material use, evolutions will follow soon.

• [Gabriel Shalom]

  Jay has some great insights on the open design process in this short documentation about a making event held in Berlin during Social Media Week 2010:

  Delivered in Beta
  http://vimeo.com/9290664

• [Jay Cousins]

  oops, also forgot to mention, although this’ll probably upset a few people.

  I cut it with scissors. The laser was last time (http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/371-laser-cutting-bioplastics.html)

  Cheers

  J

• [Felix Mitchell]

  I can make bioplastic from stuff in my kitchen but you’re not telling me how!? There should be laws against this kind of torture!

• [Anonymous]

  The website has a couple of videos with some more info about how to make:

  http://www.thewavingcat.com/2010/02/08/open-design-tinkering-in-berlin/

• [whisper dog]

  Certainly interesting and novel, but gorgeous? Eye of the beholder mumble mumble…

• [Steve Schnier]

  “Add some laser cutting and stitching and out comes this gorgeous wallet…”

  You really don’t get out much, do you? Come on. We’re all friends here. You can fess up.

• [Anonymous]

  Why can’t you just make fruit rollups like everyone else?

• [Anonymous]

  That’s really neat! First I’ve ever heard of bioplastic, so forgive me my silly question, but would how does it hold up to getting wet?

• [GTMoogle]

  A laser cutter is an invaluable tool in any kitchen. Best way to cut the crusts off of bread.

• [SamSam]

  Is there any info on how this was actually made?

  The link just goes to a photograph, and the link under that just goes to the hackspace page, which doesn’t actually provide any more info (as far as I can see).

  I’d be really interested to know how the bioplastic was made. The “previously on Boing Boing” article on making it made it sound like the process wasn’t yet that stable, but this final produce looks very stable.