The Rainy Memory
Do you remember the last time you enjoyed raining?
I like the weather when it is raining; however, the feel of raining is entirely different at different ages. I think the environment has changed a lot these years.
By creating this art piece, I want people to recall the memory of rain, while also rethinking what we have done to the natural environment.
Rain has always been around since we were born; people love to use rain to represent their state. It seems like there is a connection between human and rain. Without rain, there would be no rainbow. Without rain, there would be no life.
"I don't know why, but rain comes into my head the minute I think of my childhood."
For me, rain represents my memory, you might not remember the last time its rain, but you will never forget the smells, the feel, and the touch of the rain.
However, rain is being around too long, so we always ignored it, just like our environment. My work is to recreate the memory of raining when I was a child and an adult, while questioning how we have done to the environment and nature in these years.
Reasearch
Another sort of smell is caused by the acidity of rain. Because of chemicals in the atmosphere, rainwater tends to be somewhat acidic, especially in urban environments. When it comes in contact with chemicals on the ground, it can cause some particularly aromatic reactions. It breaks apart soil and releases minerals trapped inside, which react with chemicals, such as gasoline, giving them a stronger smell. These reactions generally produce more unpleasant smells than bacteria spores, which is why the after-the-rain smell isn't always a good one. Like the smell caused by the bacteria spores, the smell of chemical reactions is most noticeable when it rains following a dry spell. This is because once the chemicals on the ground have been diluted by one downpour, they don't have the same reaction with the rainwater.
To understand the psyche of a fuel fanatic, we need to dig deeper into the source itself.
Gasoline is a chemical cocktail comprised of many ingredients, including de-icers, lubricants, anti-rust agents and hundreds of chemical compounds known as hydrocarbons. You’ve got butane, pentane, isopentane and the so-called BTEX compounds: benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene. Of all those compounds, benzene is the one responsible for gasoline’s gassy smell.
By creating this art piece, I want people to recall the memory of rain, while also rethinking what we have done to the natural environment in these years.
Toluene (/ˈtɒljuiːn/), also known as toluol (/ˈtɒljuɒl/), is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH₃) attached to a phenyl group. As such, its IUPAC systematic name is methylbenzene. Toluene is predominantly used as an industrial feedstock and a solvent.
As the solvent in some types of paint thinner, permanent markers, contact cement and certain types of glue, toluene is sometimes used as a recreational inhalant and has the potential of causing severe neurological harm.
In order to specialize the rainy smell perfume I made and bring back people memory, I have to make another smell that people can compare with. A smell that people always remember, the rain smell in pavement, since it is completely different from the rainy smell in nature. I also needed a beautiful way to display both of them, so I think installation is the best way to exhibit it.
comment: top part is too hard to made
comment: too expensive for 3D print
comment: perfect for wood
Process
I will have to make a stand that can handle the weight from glass and wood box:
W: 37cm
H: 60cm
L: 37cm
It is a box that have 4 column to handle the weight from above.
W: 37cm
H: 11.6cm
L: 37cm
There is two layer, one is for placing the napkin (full with perfume smell) inside so that it can have persistent odor.
The other layer is opened with 2 hole, it is for transfer the smell from layer below to the glass.
Dilute the 1% Geosmin using 99% Methanol
Specific gravity is 0.99, 1% Geosmin mix with 99% Methanol. Result: fail, no smell at all.
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Using 95% perfume alcohol & 1% Geosmin (perfume alcohol is a special ethanol used for perfume making) Specific gravity is 0.9, 10% Geosmin mix with 90% perfume alcohol. Result: unsuccess, strong wet smell but got affected by the 95% perfume alcohol, making it smell more flowery and fragment.
Using 99% perfume alcohol & 1% Geosmin
Specific gravity is 1:8:1, 10% Geosmin mix with 80% perfume alcohol, and 10% Fixative. Result: success! strong rain smell but since I added fixative.
Using 99% perfume alcohol & 1% Geosmin
Specific gravity is 0.99, 1% Geosmin mix with 99% perfume alcohol. Result: success! a strong rain smell but dry much more faster than other mixtures, and the smell cannot last long.
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Dilute the following material with perfume alcohol to see if the compatibility:
1g Distilled Turpentine with 9g perfume alcohol
1g Color Thinner with 9g perfume alcohol
1g ACETONE with 9g perfume alcohol
Then we will wait for a week to see the result.
After a week of experiments:
two of the liquids in the big glass are gone! I also think the label has felt off and I don’t know which one is nontoxic now.
Let me describe the smell
The first one smells like metal. Don’t know how to describe it.
The second one which is the smaller one is ACETONE, which still has some liquid on it, smell the same.
The third one is interesting, it smells like the toy that kids play, when you blow in, a bubble will come out. 吹氣泡泡 in Chinese. But in the meantime, it smells like gasoline.
I don’t know which source is the first one from, Paint thinner or Turpentine?
Anyway, I will try to use the first glass to mix with the thinner and perfume alcohol to see the result.
1g Color Thinner with 9g perfume alcohol
I am happy that the thing are not dry out.
Because of the lack of material, I will try to add the “wet” smell inside it.
First, I added 1g of number 2, and it had no effect on it. So I mix all of them with 9g of perfume alcohol, the results are no different, still smell like paint thinner.
Finally, I added 1g of Geosmin 1%, and it works wonderfully. I have a little wet smell while also remaining most of the original smell, I think it is like 80% paint thinner 20% wet smell. I filled it into the yellow label bottles. (see in the video)
Now I just have to wait for the shipping of the material (ozone and gosline)
I finally got my material, I brought every material that had "ozone" in the description.
I have a little taste of all the material, and here are the result.
Globalide (Symrise) - smells like rain in the garden, it does smell like rain but it contain some sort of flower scent, like a fragment.
Floralozone (I.F.F.) - Smells like rain with metal and marine.
Pinoacetaldehyde (IFF) - Smells similar with Floralozon, but more watery and balsamic.
Wet Pavement London - A mixture like Geosmin, instead of rain smell, it smells like pavement mix with flower scent.
So I recreate the result of last try which is
10% paint thinner + 10% Geosmin + 80% perfume alcohol
After that, I added 1g of the Floralozone and smell it.
The result: The paint thinner smell have cover the whole smell. I will continues to add perfume alcohol (5g for each time) to lighter the paint thinner smell.
After adding two time, the ozone smell is much more obvious.
So I got a new idea, I will add 1g of this mixture that I just made and mix with 1g of Floralozone and Geosmin. And then, I added 27g of perfume alcohol so that it will be 10% material and 90% perfume alcohol.
The result: Strong smell of ozone and light smell of paint thinner, we need more rain smell.
After that, I added 1g of Geosmin and it is not enough so I added another 1g.
The result: Strong smell of ozone, but you can also smell the rain and paint thinner, so it is ready to go.
I filled it into the purple label bottles. (see in the video)
In additional, I am worry about that is not enough pavement smell, so I made another mixture that have the smell.
I added 1g of the "Wet Pavement London", 9g of perfume alcohol.
The result: It really smell like pavement, but it is had little bit flower scent.
Finally, I tested on paper, I spray both of them on the same paper, and the result was wonderful! It really smell like rain in the city. So I decided to use both of them on my exhibition.
My advisor suggested that I should build a wood box by myself, as it will be much cheaper and I will learn some valuable experience and skill for my life.
In the first day, I planned what I gonna build, I prepared the design diagram, measure all the size, and purchase the material that I needed, since the wood are too thin for laser cut, I had to booked the wooden workshop.
In the workshop, I used the table saw to cut through the wood to the certain size, and I also used electric driller to drill the screw in order to setup the wood stand. The reason why I don't use glue is because the wood itself are too heavy for glue.
I also got some suggestion by the RA, they said that I can CNC print the parts which I need the size to be very accurate. I decided to listened to him, but I still have to wait for the glass arrived in order to know the exact size.
After finished the wood stand setup, I then tried to build the wood box.
First, I cut all the wood into size I needed, then I draw out the shape on the wood where I intended to open a hole. Since it was all draw by my hand, the position and size will not be very accurate, especially the big circle in the surface layer.
After that, I used the hollow chisel mortiser to drill some circle hole on the wood. Since the big circle in the surface layer are hard to made by only drilling hole, I decided to drill many mini hole in the edge. Then I used jig saw to cut the wood according to the drawing while the mini hole will make it way easier and faster to cut it.
Finally, after cut off the circle part, it is time to use the router for better edge.
Repeat the same step as pervious day, because we have to made two of them.
After getting all the part done, it is time for sanding work! Since it is hard to use the sander for big circle hole, I had to use the file tool and sanding the edge by my hand.
In the end of the day, I finished setup the wood box.
First, I filled the screw with the wall putty so that it will look better. I also glue a few pillar in the center, so that it can support the weight from the above and provide some height.
And then, paint the whole box in white using Emulsion Paint (matt white).
Wait for a day to let the paint dry, and then repeat the same processing again and again until it look perfectly white and no obvious blemishes.
I borrow two Arduino set and ultrasonic senor from production center. And then I brought two speaker module (with SD card reader) and power plug on online so that the installation can keep on running whole day.
When I search on the rain sound from YouTube, I found out that the rain from country side is more gentle then in the city. It is because that there is not much sound source in the country side, only tree ,grass and maybe bird. However, the rain in city will have many different sound like car driving, people walking, the sound when the rain hit the windows. So it will be more noisy in the city.
So I download two of the different sound and edit both of them into 1 hour version rain sound, and put it inside the SD card with speaker module.
And then I program it, so that every time there is people come close the installation, the ultrasonic sensor will detect it, and play the certain rain sound through the speaker.
Bye.