Interview

Date: July 2nd, 2023
Target audience: 4 art store owners and 1 art student from Guangxi Academy of Arts

Purpose

1. To identify the target audience for the pigments produced in our project.
2. To understand the current purchasing situation of pigments in the market.
3. To know the needs and concerns of the target audience for pigments.
4. To improve the direction of experimental design.

Conclusion

1. The main buyers of pigments are students and teachers, and the selection of brands is mainly recommended by teachers. Currently, it is known that the commonly purchased brands are Qingzhu, Mali, and Lubens.
2. Different brands have differences in the odor of pigments, and the quality of pigments may also vary within the same brand.
3. The art students interviewed stated that when purchasing pigments, they mainly consider price factors and pigment properties, and do not pay much attention to the safety and moisture-proof and mold-proof functions of pigments.
4. After hearing our project briefly, all of the interviewees expressed recognition and expectations for our plan of using curcumin as a pigment.

Reflection

1. Street interviewing involves few customers to find those who purchase items from physical stores, and the conclusions drawn are of reference value but not universal.
2. Considering the scarcity of physical store purchases and school students during the summer vacation, the survey method has been changed to online questionnaire filling.
3. For non-professionals, it is necessary to simplify the specific explanation of our project to prevent interviewees from developing a defensive mentality towards us.
4. The questioning method needs to be carefully improved, designing different question types for different objects, and spreading the questions as comprehensively as possible.

Figure1.1.1 Student is being interviewed by our team member

Questionnaire

Data and charts

Figure1.2.1 Proportion of 152 individuals related to the art field who filled out the questionnaire by type of identity

Figure1.2.2 Gender ratio of 152 art related personnel filling out the questionnaire

Figure1.2.3 The properties people consider when purchasing pigments

After people's rating, the table shows that people give top priority to price, reflecting that the vast majority of people are more willing to follow the principle of low price priority when purchasing pigments. At the same time, most people also attach great importance to the chrominance, smell, and coloring power of pigments. However, the overall score in terms of light resistance is the lowest, indicating that they rarely consider the influence of light factors.

Figure1.2.4 People's voting statistics on the existing problems of various properties of pigments

Firstly,the table data shows that the price and safety of pigments are the most important concerns for both painting enthusiasts and professional art teachers or students.Secondly, the low saturation,short shelf life and oversmell of pigments, the quality of these pigments, are more concerned by professionals.

Outlook

We hope to find experts in the field of marketing and consult with two questions:
1. The questionnaire data shows that people's desire to purchase a certain pigment brand product is closely related to its price.We consider that when curcumin pigment is put into the market in the future, its price may not be very cheap, so we want to predict people's acceptance of curcumin pigment through consultation and the lifespan of the bio pigment brand.
2. As the questionnaire shows that people generally hold a positive and interested attitude towards biochrome pigments, we also hope to explore the negative impact of curcumin pigment brands on other traditional mineral pigment brands in the market through consultation. We also want to know the competitiveness of curcumin pigment brands in the market.

Painting Plan

Purpose

To convert the curcumin, a biological pigment produced in the laboratory, into a tool accessible to human tentacles and bring educational significance to children and students, we envision using curcumin to create oil painting sticks, and initially targeting young children. We hope to produce materials that meet the quality standards for painting and widely spread this pollution-free and safe oil painting stick among children, thus fully demonstrating the possibility of applying this biosynthetic pigment to pigments.

Realization

Due to our limited understanding of the productive process of oil painting sticks, we searched for relevant information, mainly searching for some indicators of the market oil painting sticks, such as ingredients, formula, content, process, and purchased corresponding materials to try making them;
Through searching for information, it is preliminarily determined that the components and weight.

Figure1.3.1 The process of making the oil painting stick

According to the set proportion,we configured out a solution for making an oil paint stick,then we heated it in an 85℃ water bath until it melted, and finally cooled it down to room temperature in a mold.A self-made oil painting stick is finished!

Figure1.3.2 Experiment

In the first stage, we attempted to create the first generation oil painting stick, conducting a comparative experiment between water-soluble curcumin and oil-soluble curcumin.

The first generation

Effect evaluation:

After effectiveness testing, the first generation oil painting sticks can be colored on paper, but the water-soluble curcumin oil painting sticks have a lighter color, lower hardness ,and severe chipping. Overall, they can meet the color requirements, but cannot meet the painting requirements; The oil-soluble one is relatively bright and does not show obvious peeling, which can meet the needs of simple children's coloring;

Figure1.3.3 The display of the G1

Therefore, in the second stage, we chose to improve the quality of oil painting sticks on the basis of oil-soluble curcumin.So we set tow experiments.
The second generation:Increasing the calcium carbonate content.
The third generation:Increasing the calcium carbonate content and reducing the flax oil and beeswax content.

The second generation

Note: Oil soluble curcumin and increased calcium carbonate

The third generation

Note: Oil soluble curcumin reduces linseed oil and beeswax, and increases calcium carbonate.

Effect evaluation:

The hardness of the second and third generation oil painting sticks has gradually increased compared to the first generation, and the third generation oil painting sticks basically meet the painting needs in terms of color, hardness, chipping degree, smoothness, etc; Based on this, we believe that when making curcumin oil painting sticks, it is necessary to choose oil-soluble curcumin and increase the calcium carbonate content as much as possible to achieve the best painting effect.

Figure1.3.4 Self-made oil paiting sticks and display of G2 and G3

In the third stage, we attempted to change the color effect by adjusting its acidity and alkalinity;
On the basis of the initial formulation,we increased the calcium carbonate content to 40%, and added 10% sodium hydroxide solutions of 0 μ L, 100 μ L, and 200 μ L.The final colors of the three would turn out to be yellow, orange brown, and coffee respectively.

Figure1.3.5 Display of Varietas

Conclusion

After the update and iteration of the oil painting stick production process, we gradually improved the quality of the painting and found the most complete oil painting stick formula. Compared to the market oil painting sticks, their advantages and disadvantages are as follows:

Advantages: The oil painting stick produced by curcumin can already achieve the color rendering effect of commercial oil painting stick, with no difference in color sense compared to industrial oil painting stick.The hardness and smoothness can also meet basic painting requirements, and can produce a more regular appearance for children to use.

Disadvantages: After our painting practice, we have found that the color fades after being left standing for a few days. The main reason is the nature of curcumin's visible light decomposition. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore composition solutions in the future to solve the problem of its visible light decomposition, so that the colors drawn with this pigment can withstand the test of time.

Dialogue

So, we used a combination of the above generations of oil painting sticks and handed them over to young children and our school students for painting experiments.
Our school's art students showcase their creative achievements using curcumin oil painting sticks:

Figure1.3.6 Painting work

Expectation

Through this coloring plan, the painting effect is relatively ideal, proving the possibility of using biosynthetic curcumin in the field of pigments. It represents the potential of curcumin to prepare a low-cost and pollution-free pigment. It is expected that further processing and packaging of curcumin based oil painting sticks and even more painting materials will undoubtedly win the favor of the general public.

Dyeing Plan

Purpose

By adding the yellow color that curcumin can present to the patterns of decorative clothing, it is verified that this biosynthetic pigment can become a qualified dye for dyeing people's daily clothing, solving the current problems of convenience and environmental protection in dyeing. Moreover, this application scenario is closely related to public life, which will benefit a wider group under the biosynthetic dyeing method.

Realization

By searching for several existing dyeing methods, we chose to use the principle of water painting, a traditional pattern making technique originating from the Tang Dynasty, to dye clothes.

Principle of Water Painting Dyeing

Layering water and oily pigments so that they cannot blend with each other, using the principle of oil-water separation for creation.

To confirm the possibility of using curcumin to achieve this staining method, we will first attempt to conduct experiments using ordinary pigments.
After confirming the feasibility of the water painting method, we replaced the yellow pigment with solution obtained by dissolving curcumin and conducted experiments.
However, the experimental results were not ideal, as the pigment could not diffuse after adding curcumin dropwise, and the subsequent addition of ordinary pigments could not diffuse, resulting in uneven final dyeing results.
Regarding this issue, we further reviewed the information and found that some pigments must undergo special treatment in order to develop the painting. This treatment method generally involves adding ox-bile to the pigments, so we tried again.
By adding ox-bile to curcumin, not only did it solve the problem of not being able to paint, but it also made the final dyeing effect more obvious and full. Therefore, we envisioned decorating the team's uniforms in this way.

Figure1.4.2 Dyeing artwork from students

In the positive experience of our school's students, they expressed interest and thought the new dyeing method is convenient. They can design clothing pattern graphics according to their own ideas, without being limited to purchasing the designed pattern style. They are willing to accept dyeing clothes made from biological pigments and provide strong support.

Expectation

Through successful experiments selecting clothing as the dyeing target, we can see the potential of biological pigment dyeing, which can be further extended to all daily fabrics, artistic creations, and mural applications. This ancient tradition can be integrated with modern new methods and passed down. At the same time, we also hope to have a broader market as a new and popular dyeing method in the future.