Transforming milk into fiddling necklaces was motivated by my physical and social frustrations during breastfeeding when my child wanted to fiddle with the other nipple. I desired to make fiddling necklaces out of our human breastmilk, so that by taking away a breast, I could give something from the breast in return. Material experiments include making casein plastic from cow’s milk and various techniques to preserve our human breast milk.
![Fiddling necklace designs](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddlingnecklaces_designs-1440x651.jpg)
![Fiddling necklace made from milk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddling-necklace-pink-780x585.jpg)
![Transforming milk into fiddling necklaces](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/helms-fiddling-necklace-780x579.jpg)
![Transforming cow's milk into casein plastic](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddling-necklaces-casein-plastic-1a-780x975.jpg)
![Casein plastic nipples and beads from milk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddling-necklaces-casein-plastic-milk-4-780x1040.jpg)
![Casein plastic nipples and beads from milk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddling-necklaces-casein-plastic-milk-3-1440x1440.jpg)
![Saving unusuable breastmilk to preserve](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preserve-human-milk-1-780x585.jpg)
![Failed attempt at extracting casein from breastmilk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/fiddling-necklaces-failed-breastmilk-experiment-780x538.jpg)
!["Magic powder" purchased online to solidify and preserve breastmilk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preserve-breastmilk-1a-1440x1129.jpg)
![Preserved breastmilk from proprietary ingredients](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preserve-breastmilk-1b-780x585.jpg)
![preserved and pulverized breastmilk](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preserve-human-milk-2-780x975.jpg)
![](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preserve-human-milk-3-1440x1080.jpg)
![Team exhibition of project, including motivation, inspiration, sketches, and process](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/breastfeeding-exhibition-1-780x975.jpg)
![Jars of solidified and preserved milk in the form of beads, molds, and powders](https://www.kareyhelms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/breastfeeding-exhibition-2-780x975.jpg)
Publications & Creative Outputs
Karey Helms. 2021. Entangled Reflections on Designing with Leaky Breastfeeding Bodies. ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2021), Virtual Event. (Special Recognition for Diversity & Inclusion)
PDF, DOI, Video (10 min), Video (30 sec)
Vasiliki Tsaknaki, Karey Helms, Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard, and Marianela Ciolfi Felice. 2021. “Vibrant Wearables”: Material Encounters with the Body as a Soft System. Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice.
PDF
Karey Helms. 2022. A Speculative Ethics for Designing with Bodily Fluids. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI 2022, alt.chi) New Orleans, LA, USA.
PDF, DOI, Video (8 min), Video (30 sec)