A large amount of external factors outside of the control of the fabrication environment affect the behavior of biopolymer prints over time. A set of experiments that each control for different designed variables were printed and recorded in order to test for and correlate the changes that result from various material mixtures, toolpaths, aggregated geometries, printing methods, climatic exposures and environments. The patterns of deformation and color change of the experiments 2-dimensional surfaces and 3-dimensional aggregate forms give insight into how materials composition and manufacturing methods can be adjusted to create programmable degradation that results in predictable shape, structure, and color change. By concentrating pectin hydrogels with higher concentrations of chitosan in distinct areas layered with oriented cellulose latticed, it is possible to drive more extreme material deformation in targeted regions within a single composite sheet of material. The strategic placement of pectin hydrogels with glycerine allows for areas of higher flexibility that can be folded and adhered to adjacent surfaces.

This series of 9 experiments have been grouped and labeled according to their relative global geometries, material composition and printing methods. The naming convention for each series contains a letter that corresponds to the general shape of each flat print (the letter O refers to the circular shape of the O swatch experiments while the letter X corresponds to the cross shape of the X swatch experiments). They were designed and printed between September 2018 and April 2019. Their visual and structural changes have been tracked from October 2018 to April 2020 for periods up to a year in length.