BioInk Fabric Print-it Kit™

Create textile art with colorful bacteria.

New York bio artist Marcus Banks collaborates on this STEM science kit inspired by his own practice so that you, too, can create living art using living, colorful bacteria.  

With this art-meets-science project kit, grow patterns and paintings on Petri dishes using the colored bacteria provided in your kit (as well as any colored engineered bacteria you may have created before). Once grown, transfer them directly to paper or textile in any design you like, or use some of the paintbrushes to add some freehand elements to your art. Finish by stabilizing and fixing your creation(s) with the medium provided to lock in the colorful creation.  

For this art-meets-science project, you will:

1. Make your own "painting canvases," called LB agar Petri dishes; a ubiquitous skill in the life sciences.
2. Paint or stencil the colorful bacteria included in the kit onto seven canvases.
3. Incubate them in a warm spot, or an incubator if you have one
4. Like an invisible ink, you won't see them at first, but as they grow and divide, they will become visible between 12-48 hours and change color. Your painting will emerge! 
5. Press the living paintings onto the fabric, creating different patterns or images. 
6. After drying the pressed paintings on the fabric, coat with the fixing agent.
7. Display or wear your art!

Contents:

• (1) BioInk Print-it Kit in Individual or Group size: Sterile water, LB agar, and selective antibiotics, bacteria paintbrushes, Petri dishes (6 cm), textile to print on, three colorful bacteria tubes, fixing agent, & paintbrush, stencils.  Colored bacteria included are purple, invisible-ink cyan (fluorescent), and magenta (fluorescent). If you have already engineered cells with an Engineer-it Kit and still have them, you can also use those cells with a BioInk Kit!
• Individual Kits: An individual kit with all the ingredients needed for completing one entire science experience. Great for an individual or a small group.
• Classroom/Group Kits: Eight individually packaged kits with the needed ingredients to complete eight entire science experiences. 1 shared resources bag containing the colored bacteria and inactivation bags, which are shared between all participants. 

• Instructions: a manual with easy to understand vocabulary and step by step procedures and an online experiment simulation to practice with, teach you fundamentals, and guide you along the way. Available online. See the Resources tab for links!

The kit must be refrigerated upon arrival for longer shelf life. 

Necessary equipment: 37 °C incubator recommended but not required. Compatible with the DNA Playground & BioExplorer. 

Cleaning and safety supplies are not included. These supplies are: latex or nitrile gloves, a chlorinated cleaner or a solution of chlorinated bleach in a spray bottle. For more information about safety, set up and clean up, have a look at the instruction manual(s) for your kit or mini lab. 

*Customers outside of North America*: If we suspect your country has regulations on genetically engineered cells, your colored cells will be substituted with cells that naturally produce pigments (yellow & white) to meet shipping and import compliance. If you are keen on getting more colors, you can order an Engineer-it Kit and complete the genetic engineering of cells in a location that is approved by your government. This is a solution that works because the Engineer-it Kit will ship with no genetically engineered products (which meets import compliance), and YOU will complete the engineering steps (in an approved space). 

BioArt (or biology art, petri dish art, bacteria/bacterial art, microbial art) is a new and exciting STEM topic that is being explored by all ages and skill levels. From top art and design schools such as the Royal College of Art in London to Parson’s School of Design in New York City to your school or home, Bioart offers many opportunities to explore the boundaries between science and art. Leveraging the age-old technique of painting and combining it with the cutting-edge activity of growing genetically engineered cells, you, your students, or kids can express what is important to them through a visual arts activity while doing and practicing science.

Bacterial painting is a uniquely rewarding and challenging form of art because the “paint” is living. It grows and changes through time! This is unlike traditional painting, where once your paintbrush stroke lands on the canvas, it doesn’t change unless you add or mix something into it. The outcome of your bacterial paintings is a mixture of your strokes, the temperature at which you incubate your “canvases,” the time that you allow the cells to grow, and whether anything else in your environment landed on your canvas. Your very own living art!

• Try the Canvas kit Virtual Bioengineer Simulator.  - You will complete similar steps in the first part of the BioInk kit.
• Browse the BioInk Print-it Kit instructions 

Experiment Kits are shipped 1-5 working days after you place your order. If you require yours for a specific date or event, please contact us before or with your order # so that we can try to make it happen for you! ☺︎