Today's words allowed me to play with light/colors, softness/hardness, and how to turn them into tools. In this case, I considered things that would be both soft AND hard, and decided to try gelatine (frozen, then at room temperature).
I was fascinated/inspired by this project from some people at ENSCI last year during this meetup for new interaction design (below). Pieces of jelly were used to trigger different electronic sounds on a wood panel. It was colorful and playfully shaped.
I made gelatine mixed with water and coloring (water color), and explored different shapes of containers. I put them in the freezer and they turned out pretty well.
Getting them out of the containers was varied in difficulty, and I used a toothpick and a metrocard (pictured) to scrape them out; the air suction didn't help.
In considering light and tools, I wondered how pieces of jello could be tools to light up things/itself.
It was undoubtedly a very fun experience, and I think serves as a starting point for exploration into this material. The lights filtered through the jello produced an interesting soft organic glow. However, jello is also very fragile and cracks easily, and also melts with time. Perhaps a conductive silicone could be another alternative.
Also, it could pose a safety concern with electronics/electricity around. An alternative is to use capacitative sensors instead, which I'm guessing the ENSCI students did.
On later searching, found this:
https://ideas.ted.com/gallery-the-most-beautiful-bacteria-youll-ever-see/?utm_term=science&utm_content=ideas-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR3YljKHbBFKPFUuA1jzX19zjtCqqsTdPRnda0PIicWAF0Kc5hK2o6EOeiM