Micro-Laminations

During a discussion with my professor about the tensile strength of the ricestrawshe picked up one of the thicker strands and flattened it with a weight against my desk. The straw flattened to a ribbon and she picked it up and asked "Now, what could you do with that?" The lustrous quality of the straw reminded me of wood veneer and I wondered if straw could be laminated like veneer to give it structure. I made two tiny curvilinear jigs as if I was laminating wood veneer with apositiveand negative shape and opposing struts for alignment. I quickly layered seven ribbons of straw with wood glue, slid them into the jig on top of each other and clamped it tight. When I released the jig I found that the straw had adhered to itself and thus hadadopted the jig's curves. Although the structure wasspringyrather than solid, like the wooden laminations I am accustomed to handling, it was still promising to see raw, brittle straw take on structure and form with the addition of an adhesive and simple mechanical pressure. I did another test with a glued 'jumble' of straw on a wider jig and it was equally successful in retaining its shape and structural strength. This second test seemed more promising because it was less time consuming and would be easier to incorporate in a manufacturing processes. Although manufacturing still seems far off this is a promising first step towards structure.