Material Research Library

Bio-Ceramic — Tapioca & Porcelain Blend

A 50:50 mix of porcelain and cooked tapioca pearl that halves the weight of a fired piece, produces translucency, and eliminates toxic fumes

Paper Clay — Cellulose-Infused Ceramic Body

Recycled cellulose worked into clay reduces cracking during drying, enables taller open structures, and creates translucency ideal for lighting work

Ceramic Reef Substrates — Art and Coral Restoration

How fired porcelain, shaped by a ceramicist and placed on the ocean floor, becomes the preferred habitat for coral larvae looking to settle and grow

Casein & Milk Paint

Milk protein as binder — opaque and matte, the pair to egg tempera in natural paint practice

Verdaccio — Green Earth Underpainting

The green earth underpaint beneath Renaissance skin tones — using egg tempera's transparency to build optical flesh from below

Egg Tempera

Egg yolk as paint binder — history, preparation, and layering with one of painting's most stable mediums

Traditional Gesso

Rabbit skin glue and chalk — the original ground for panel painting, from medieval altar panels to contemporary studio practice

Distemper

Animal glue paint — dry and matte, with a color shift on drying — the European counterpart to egg tempera

Mineral Pigments

Stone, powder, and stick pigments — Korean traditional painting materials and their global equivalents

Cochineal Natural Dye — Carmine Red from Scale Insects

Extract vibrant reds, purples, and pinks from cochineal (Dactylopius coccus). Mordant-dependent colour shifts with alum, iron, and copper. Harvested in Oaxaca for over 500 years.

Chlorophyll Printing

Sun-bleaching plant leaves to create photographic images through chlorophyll — 2–3 day UV exposure process

Glass — Material Overview

Hot shop, kiln casting, flamework, and glass as artistic surface — 15 courses across Berlin, New York, and Seoul

Flamework & Borosilicate Glass

Torch-worked glass — borosilicate COE 33, scientific glass, and sculptural forms at the flame

Arts as Ecology

Art practice in ecological context — from Earth Art (1969) to Feral Atlas (2020) and the Anthropocene

Rammed Earth

Compressed earth wall construction — 5cm layers, minimum binder, dense and water-resistant

Earth Pigments & Shell White

Ochre, clay, yellow earth, Korean 황토 — and 호분 (shell white) from weathered shells

Animal Glue — 아교 (Agyo)

Hide glue, fish glue, rabbit skin glue — binders and sizing agents for Korean traditional painting, canvas preparation, and gilding

Mordanting

The mineral bridge between dye and fibre — alum, tannin, soy, soda ash, and the chemistry of colour fastness

Anthotype

Plant pigment photography — spirulina, turmeric, red cabbage, beetroot exposed to UV until the image appears

Agar Bioplastic

A seaweed-based flexible bioplastic — sheets, films, and castings from red algae

Situated Knowledge & Material Practice

Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, and the politics of knowing from somewhere specific

Lumen Print

Photographic paper exposed to sunlight without chemicals — unpredictable, organic colour from direct contact with objects and plants

Watergram

Photography through water movement — glass, water, photographic paper, and flash light

Eco-Printing

Steam-printing botanical pigments directly onto mordanted fabric — leaves, petals, and bark leaving their imprint in the fibre

Lime & Natural Plaster

Lime cycle from limestone to finish coat — the living chemistry of traditional plaster

Mycelium Biomaterials — Growing Fungal Packaging and Insulation

Grow mycelium on agricultural waste (corn husks, straw) to make compostable packaging, acoustic panels, and insulation. A guide to fungal biomaterial techniques.

Plant Fiber — Hemp, Nettle & Bast Fibres

Natural bast fibres from stem plants — textile, paper, rope, and biomaterial applications

Gromwell — 자초 (Lithospermum erythrorhizon)

Korean purple root pigment — shikonin extracted in oil or alcohol, not water

pH & Colour Shifts in Natural Dyeing

Same dye bath, different colours: how vinegar (acid) and soda ash (alkaline) shift natural dye results. Practical guide for hibiscus, cochineal, weld, and madder.

Cyanotype — Blueprint Photography Process

Step-by-step cyanotype printing on paper, fabric, and glass — mix ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, expose to UV, develop in water. Botanical prints and photograms.

Adobe — Sun-Dried Earthen Brick Building

How to make adobe bricks from clay, sand, and straw — one of the world's oldest building materials, still in use across arid climates from the Middle East to the American Southwest.

Starch Bioplastic

Corn, tapioca, and wheat starch bioplastics — the most accessible and food-based biomaterial recipe

Gelatin Bioplastic

Animal-based flexible bioplastic — warmer, stronger, and more forgiving than agar

Sodium Alginate

Brown seaweed biopolymer — strings, castings, and mould-making via calcium crosslinking

Botanical & Photo Embedding in Bioplastic

Pressing flowers, plants, and photographs into cast bioplastic — the Material Memory Studio signature technique

Natural Dye — An Introduction

Colour from plants, insects, and minerals — fibres, mordants, and the chemistry of natural colour

Indigo Vat — 3-2-1 Fructose Recipe

Natural indigo fermentation vat using fructose as reducing agent and calcium hydroxide as alkali

Botanical Dye Plants

Marigold, palo de brasil, weld, walnut, perikon, and other plant dye sources from field practice

Drying Oils & Resins

Linseed oil, perilla oil, sun-oxidized linseed, Canada Balsam, pine resin — binders for oil painting and natural varnishes