Tina Tamer

Ian Aufin wrote:  Wondering if anyone has tried using the dissolved styrofoam goo as a wood sealer.  Curious if it would be useful in sealing and making leakproof aboveground wooden growbeds.  

I have used my version with d-limonene and it works great on porous surfaces.  Only thing is that it does not produce very much for the amount of styrofoam dissolved.  I can fill a quart mason jar 1/2 full of the d-limonene and then in order to make the solution as thick as I like to use, it takes a *lot* of styrofoam, approx three-four large trash bags filled with styrofoam.  

At the end of the process, I will have a quart of the thick solution.  If you put it on a porous surface, I've done wood, paper and cement, the limonene soaks in and evaporates within 24 hours and leaves a nice smooth thick glossy, plastic-ish looking coating, which is very durable and waterproof.

I have wanted to try it out as a coating for raised bed walls, but I need more styrofoam 🙂.  I don't know if the coating would be toxic to plants, it seems to me once it re-hardens and becomes like plastic it wouldn't leach much, but with the whole bpa thing, I would probably go with something that wouldn't be near enough to food to possibly leach into it.  Better safe than sorry.  I've used it for art-type stuff, and it turned out real nice on a walking stick I made from a tree branch.  Made it nice & smooth.

Suzanne Miller wrote:Check this out:

https://www.1001pallets.com/diy-video-tutorial-homemade-lacquer-saves-money/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

For years I have been using limonene, which is derived from citrus peels and used in a lot of cleaning products, to dissolve the styrofoam.  It's sort of pricey, but it goes a very long way.  

If you use the food-grade limonene you get a syrupy-like substance.  I use it like varnish to seal things.  Works best on porous stuff like concrete, wood and paper.  If you use the tech-grade limonene, you get more of a slime-like goo.  A huge amount of styrofoam can be melted down into a quart mason jar.  I've even taking to liberating sheets I find at the recycling center to use, since they don't recycle it & just send it to the landfill around here.

I've also poured both the tech and food grade mixtures into square muffin tins and made tiles, but it takes a very very long time to harden, like months.  Acetone off gasses and leaves a hard residue much quicker, but I haven't been able to make it smooth like the limonene.  It usually ends up holey, plus it stinks to high heaven.   The limonene doesn't.

These are a few of my favorite tiles.  They're made from the tech-grade with different colors (from the styrofoam trays used to package meat) mixed together.  Thinking of either insetting them into my future cob house walls or cutting them up into pendants or something 🙂

David Lynch wrote:Sounds wonderful, but I am afraid it would not be practical for me to attend in person. However, I am very interested in the topics outlined for the appropriate technology section, and I would be willing to pay an appropriate amount of money for some form of document or media file with the contents. I feel confident that I would not be the only one...




Ditto for me - I would gladly pay for video or audio from the classes! Too many commitments here to be able to go there

These guys might be somewhere to consider, they always seem to have interesting things that aren't mainstream, but there is also a social component that might be a bit time-consuming. Which might also serve as a platform for edufication https://www.thegrommet.com/citizens-gallery/index/new/

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