I am a Materials Girl

Author: Kate Quinlivan

The Trip

We recently got back from another trip out west. We went all over the Canadian Rockies visiting places including Glacier National Park, Banff, Jasper, and Vancouver. The trip lasted about two weeks and the best part, by far, was definitely the white water rafting in Banff. We rafted on the Kicking Horse River in southeastern British Columbia along rapids ranging from class two to five. We, of course, hiked in all of the National Parks, and stayed in some pretty cool hotels and resorts. I highly recommend the Jasper Lake Lodge and the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho. This lake in Idaho surprisingly ended up being one of my favorite places as well. It was the cutest little town with great shopping! Vancouver also had a great shopping district! These northern locations tend to stay pretty cold all year long and there are many glaciers in the mountains. The Columbia Icefield is a well known group of glaciers in Jasper, and the largest icefield in the Rockies. The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six that make up the icefield, and you can actually walk on it. They have special cars that take people on the ice and we had the privilege of walking on the glacier. There are only 23 of these vehicles in the world, and the Columbia Icefield Adventures own 21 of them. The other two are in Antarctica for polar exploration and testing. The Athabasca Glacier, though, is full of its own interesting polar features.

The Glacier

When we were riding up the mountain, through the ice, I wondered why it looked dirty. The ice looked so much bluer from afar, but browner the closer we got. This vehicle took us to a part of the glacier safe to walk, not too easy though. Throughout the trip the tour guide mentioned tons of facts about the Athabasca Glacier, including what made it dirty in color. It’s called cryoconite, and overall not very beneficial for the glaciers. It is a powdery dust made of minerals and other small rocks, soot, and microbes (Baccolo). The darker color of the surface attracts more light and causes the glacier to melt faster (Baccolo). The accumulation of cryoconite increases the melting rate of the ice and lowers albedo (Baccolo). “Albedo is the fraction of light that a surface reflects. If it is all reflected, the albedo is equal to 1. If 30% is reflected, the albedo is 0.3” (“What Is”). I thought this was a good example that visibly displayed how albedo affects a surface, therefore, how cryoconite affects a surface. While cryoconite may have some positive aspects, the glaciers would be better off without it, and even last longer. It even looks prettier without it!

Athabasca Glacier from a distance (June 2024).
Athabasca Glacier up close (June 2024).

Works Cited

Baccolo, Giovanni. “Did You Know… the Surface of Melting Glaciers Is One of the Most Radioactive Places on Earth?” Cryospheric Sciences, 29 May 2020, blogs.egu.eu/divisions/cr/2020/05/29/did-you-know-the-surface-of-melting-glaciers-is-one-of-the-most-radioactive-places-on-earth/#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20colour%2C%20it. Accessed 7 July 2024.

“What Is Albedo?” My NASA Data, 10 Aug. 2020, mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/mini-lessonactivity/what-albedo#:~:text=Albedo%20is%20the%20fraction%20of.

The Shoe

This past year I decided to take an Introduction to Ceramics course, knowing close to nothing about the glassware. I have always known I had some artistic abilities, but this was mostly 2D. Drawing, painting, and coloring were really the only practices in my area of expertise. Then again, why not try something new. Throughout the semester I discovered a new interest, even submitting one of my pieces into a competition. The project was to create a shoe through realism or idealism. The realistic shoe would perfectly convey all aspects of a real shoe, and the idealistic shoe would resemble something abstract, at least not typical of a shoe. I began creating a navy starred Golden Goose, but it ended up being more idealistic than I ever expected. I named it “Looking Down at the Stars” writing: “Almost every quote ever made about stars says either ‘look up at the stars’ or ‘reach for the stars,’ but what if we don’t need to be in the sky to be with the stars? What if all the stars we need in our lives are already all around us? Sometimes this isn’t always the easiest to realize, but maybe looking down at the stars can remind us we are all stars. Never forget, sometimes the prettiest stars are the ones we need to look down to see.” This was the written entry I submitted to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and ended up winning a Silver Key.

The Process

As for the process, there were various steps necessary to create such a lifelike shoe. I first had to roll the slabs of clay thin enough to avoid explosion in the kiln but thick enough to maintain shape. After cutting the shape, I attached each side to build up the shoe.When it was at the leatherhard stage, when it was sturdy enough to be carved, I then added the necessary detail including the star, the sole, the tongue, and the laces. For the laces I rolled very thin slabs and pressed them onto a canvas to add the cloth texture. To attach anything you must scratch and use slip (clay and water), ensuring everything stays in place. I added the final details and then let it dry. If water is trapped, it may explode in the kiln, so the piece must dry to the bone-dry stage before firing. This first firing is called the bisque firing producing bisqueware. The kiln heats up to 2000 degrees and takes 24 hours. The clay now becomes stone and vitrified. After using both underglaze, glaze, and oil paint to convey different materials in the shoe, it is put into a second firing. This is called the glaze firing and the piece becomes glazeware. There can be up to two firings and the glaze is now solidified on the surface. This entire process shows how a lump of clay can turn into an award winning ceramic shoe! Materials truly have endless capabilities.

Materials Girls: Non-Profit

This post is a personal application of Materials Science in everyday life. I hope to inspire young girls to pursue careers in science, math, and engineering, specifically Materials Science, through my non-profit: Materials Girls. This was created to teach young women that they are just as capable to pursue careers in fields that are typically male dominated. We are a registered 501(c)(3) in the state of Florida and partake in various meetings and activities to instill these positive ideals in these girls. I have always been fond of the beach, as well, and have personally seen the effects trash can have on the environment. Once a month we host beach cleanups, where the trash we collect will be repurposed and created into a piece of art to give back to the community. We have also performed various experiments testing the difference in numerous materials. We had the privilege of listening to several speakers and visiting FPL. One of our speakers lives in Antigua, working as a marine biologist and repurposing the trash found in coral reefs to create jewelry. Check out Modern Tides if you get the chance!! We met another jeweler who showed us her different process of making rings, necklaces, and earrings by using different types of glass. Check out Liz Rubi Designs as well! We have also taken a field trip to the Technical Services Lab at Florida Power and Light: Next Era Energy to learn about everyday Materials Science. For more information about everything I have mentioned please make sure to check out the website: materialsgirls.org! If you want frequent updates, please follow us on Instagram: @materialsgirlsclub! I would really like to spread the word about this non-profit, Materials Girls, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out via email or DM (on Instagram)!

More of a New England Summer

As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent last summer in New England, and I cannot express how much I loved it! My favorite places were, by far, Boston and Nantucket. I love cities so much, and Boston is truly one of the most fascinating places in the United States. I also cannot survive too long without the beach, so I loved the coastal chic of the island of Nantucket. This beach town was so unique, with its own unique housing, as well. I can already envision myself in these beachside cottages, complete with shingles and all. Apparently, when building on the island, houses must have pitched roofs and unpainted shingles. This is how they keep the uniformity. Shingles or not, you will definitely see me there!

The Shingles of Nantucket

During the building process, the houses are covered in tan-colored shingles, not the well-known grey ones. After surviving the harsh weather conditions in Nantucket, the new houses’ tan shingles turn grey (Goldberger). Only after weathering do they get their well-known coloring. This material is either white pine, oak, or cedar. These hard woods are naturally resistant to rot and insects and hold up well to the salt air (“Shingle Siding New England”). In the end, these shingles are both great materials for the Nantucket environment and culture! See you there!

Here is a picture of a house in Nantucket being built during our summer trip. The tan-colored shingles are clearly evident in this. (June 2023)
Here is a picture of another house that is clearly older, where the shingles are now weathered and grey in color. (June 2023)
The purpose is to show weathering of shingles in Nantucket.
The houses in these picture look even older, and darker grey, suggesting they are older than the previous two. (June 2023)

Works Cited

“Shingle Siding New England.” Buildings of New England, 8 Aug. 2021, buildingsofnewengland.com/tag/shingle-siding-new-england/#:~:text=The%20home%20is%20clad%20in,amazingly%20well%20to%20salt%20air. 

Goldberger, Paul. “A Rigid Building Code Preserves Nantucket.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Aug. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/08/02/arts/architecture-view-a-rigid-building-code-preserves-nantucket.html#:~:text=You%20cannot%20build%20as%20you,survived%20their%20first%20Nantucket%20winter.

A New England Summer

This past summer we went all over New England making stops in Nantucket, Boston, Newport, and Upstate New York. We spent the Fourth of July in Boston, Massachusetts, and learned a lot about the history of the city through various tours and other activities. We went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park and also had the privilege of watching the Boston Pops perform live. There are various college campuses in Boston as well, so we visited Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). One sightseeing tour we went on was the duck tour that lets you see the city on both land and water. Our tour guide did a phenomenal job and pointed out many interesting facts about Boston. When we were in Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s oldest neighborhoods, he mentioned the glass in this neighborhood. Some buildings still had original glass from the early 1800s, and he knew this because of its purple color.

Purple Glass

Between 1818 and 1824, England sent glass to Beacon Hill that had too much manganese oxide. It looked normal when first installed, but after it was exposed to sunlight, it turned purple and all of these buildings had purple glass (“The Story”). This is because the ultraviolet light from the sun initiates an electron exchange which turns the colorless glass purple. This entire batch of glass turned purple, so it is easy to identify its date of origin. All of the original glass in Beacon Hill is purple, and all of the updated glass is colorless. Boston is such a unique city with history everywhere you look. Even its glass is filled with so much history.

Here is a purple windowpane I took a picture of when we were walking through Beacon Hill (July 2023).

Works Cited

“The Story Behind Beacon Hill’s Purple Windows.” New England Living, 11 Apr. 2023, newenglandliving.tv/the-story-behind-beacon-hills-purple-windows/.