48°C SUGAR
Material Redesign of Traditional Sugar Figure Blowing Art
Aug 2022 - Oct 2022
Personal project completed at Zhejiang University
Advisor: Qicheng Yang
BACKGROUND & PROBLEM
What is Sugar Figure Blowing Art?
Sugar Figure Blowing Art is a traditional Chinese folk art with a history of more than 1000 years. Craftsman blow and stretch maltose into different figures after heating it up.
What problem does it face?
Sugar Figure Blowing Art used to prevail in China, but is declining nowadays.
Problem statement
How to preserve and revive the Sugar Figure Blowing Art?
RESEARCH PROCESS
What is the Main Reason of the Decline?
I collected secondary interview of craftsmen of this art in recent years, and conducted an interview with a craftsman I met on Tiktok.
conclusion
This tradition declines because it suffers a loss in customers. Therefore I wanted to find ways to attract more consumers into this tradition.
Who are Potential Consumers of this Art?
I conducted a preliminary interview of 12 people of diverse age groups (12-58) to see their general impression on this art to explore potential customers.
conclusion
People aged 18-29 are suitable potential customers of this traditional art.
How to Make this Art Appeal to Them?
To learn more about people aged 18-29, I conducted interviews with 8 people and a survey of 95 people. Then I used these data to build a persona using SPSS.
After analysis, I chose group III as the target group and build the persona.
design opportunity
After a thorough analysis of the persona, I came up with the design opportunity: entice people from 18-29 to the sugar blowing art through hands-on DIY experience with improved playability.
As users now become more interested in the craftsmanship of this tradition rather than the products (sugar figure) it makes, this design opportunity actually represents a shift in the business model of this tradition: from selling products to selling experiences.
MAIN CHALLENGES OF THE CRAFT
Journey Map
⬅️ scroll left / right to view more ➡️
Challenge Analysis
The main challenge is maltose's high glass transition temperature (Tg), where an the syrup transforms from a hard "glassy" state into a stretchy rubbery state.
Potential Solutions
wear heat insulating gloves
limitations: thick gloves are needed to interact with syrup over 70°C, which undermine manual dexterity.
lower the Tg of the syrup
Through literature research, I found two ways to lower the Tg of maltose:
MATERIAL DESIGN & ITERATION
Experiment Goal
I aimed to mainly use maltose while adding other ingredients to lower Tg.
How to Lower the Tg?
add water
Add water can lower the Tg, but the syrup will be too sticky to interact with.
add monosaccharide & water
For monosaccharide, I chose glucose because it has a relatively low Tg (32.7~36.0°C). I also iterated different ways of mixing.
conclusion
Maltose : glucose : water = 50 : 5 : 1 can lower the Tg & remain not sticky.
Can the New Syrup Material be Blown?
Then I used this new material to blow a sugar ball for test.
challenge
It was hard to snap break the air passage because the syrup is too soft.
solution - 1
A tube can be used to assist blowing.
solution - 2
Then I looked into the materials' possibility that makes the air passage easier to break. Specifically, I tried to stretch and knead the syrup repetitively.
conclusion
repetitive stretch & knead allowed new material to be blown in traditional way.
Material Bonus?
With a lower Tg, the material has several good properties.
more shaping time
according to Newton's Law of Cooling, low Tg means it will cool slower.
reusability
Tg can be reached by a heat gun, thus the syrup can be easily reused.
challenge
syrup can get dry and difficult to shape after being reused
solution
after adding glycerin, the syrup can be stretchable and reused more times
Fabrication of 48°C Sugar
Check out the full fabrication video!
USER EVALUATION
Experiment Setup
I ed an experiment to test whether the new material and invite 8 users aged 18-29 to participate.
Results & User Feedback
Check out the video of how one participant blew out the animal figure!
conclusion
This new material allowed an interesting sugar blowing DIY experience, which can entice consumers aged 18-29. In this way, this art can be better preserved and revived.
FURTHER APPLICATIONS
Finally, I envisioned several application scenarios after the sugar figurine is made.
Food Integration
I explored the possibilities to incorporate the blown figurine into food and drinks.
A beverage bottle giving drinks changing sweetness overtime ⬇️
Interactive Food
traditional maltose
High Tg
Gets hard when cools
The shape is unchangeable
The low Tg expands interaction possibilities: dinners can interact with their food, or food plates.
new sugar material
Low Tg
Become soft and easy to bend when slightly heated
Capable of shape-changeing even after it is made
Arduino can be used to automatize the actuation process.
REFERENCES
[1] Fukami, K. et al. (2018) “Water sorption, glass transition, and freeze-concentrated glass-like transition properties of calcium maltobionate–maltose mixtures,” Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 135(5), pp. 2775–2781. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7793-7.
[2] Seo, J.-A. et al. (2006) “The glass transition temperatures of sugar mixtures,” Carbohydrate Research, 341(15), pp. 2516–2520. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carres.2006.08.014.