Based on the research on creation of bas-relief molds for production of bas-reliefs made from boiled pineapple leafs conducted by Rachadasak Pengcum of which purpose was to help generate income for members of Pineapple Leaf Paper Community Enterprise Ban Pasang Wiwat Mueang District Chiang Rai Province it was found that the bas-reliefs need further improvements in terms of appearance and durability as well as the use of other natural raw materials to produce them. The researcher therefore has considered developing the previous research by applying other 3 valueless natural materials which include rice straw water hyacinth and banana stem skin to make bas-reliefs for different beautiful surfaces of the products. Also the quality of bas-reliefs has been comparatively investigated by surveying satisfactions of members of the Community Enterprise and visitors to the project towards the bas-reliefs made from rice straw water hyacinth and banana stem skin. The total period of questionnaire distribution was 3 months. There are 59 respondents administering the questionnaires most of whom (43 persons) are female which accounts for 72.88 per cent. The majority of the respondents (25 persons) obtained junior/senior secondary school diplomas or equivalent accounting for 42.37 per cent. 16 respondents or 27.12 percent are 60 years of age. As for satisfactions towards the bas-reliefs made from rice straw 89 times of “strongly agree” was selected whereas 126 times of “pretty much agree” 75 times of “fairly agree” and 5 times of “disagree” were marked by the respondents. Concerning the bas-reliefs made from water hyacinth 87 times of “strongly agree” was selected while 97 times of “pretty much agree” 110 times of “fairly agree” and 1 time of “disagree” were chosen. When asked about the bas-reliefs made from banana stem skin the respondents selected 77 times of “strongly agree” 99 times of “pretty much agree” 110 times of “fairly agree” and 8 times of “disagree”.

Members of Pineapple Leaf Group have gathered to produce paper from pineapple leaves left from pineapple harvest. The obtained paper has been used to make various types of products such as picture frames paper bags envelopes flowers key chains and so on for selling to visitors at tourist destinations and to those who came to observe the group’s production of paper and other local goods. However it is found that the product is not of much interest for the tourists as it should be. For this reason the researcher considers seeking appropriate solution to the group by using the pineapple leaves to make bas-reliefs with an aim to add value to pineapple leaf paper. From the creation of mold made of plaster and that made of resin and use both molds to make bas-reliefs it is found that the bas-reliefs obtained from resin mold are more beautiful and easier to produce. This is because resin mold is more durable clearer and lighter. The researcher has presented the bas-reliefs to 448 tourists who have come to visit the project during the period of one year and asked for their opinions and satisfactions. The results are that most of the respondents (327 persons) are female which accounts for 72.99% of all. Most of them or 352 persons (78.57%) obtain the secondary school diploma. The age range of most of the respondents (154 persons) is 31-40 years amounting to 34.38%. As for satisfactions of the quality of bas-reliefs made from pineapple leaves most of the respondents (72%) expressed “strongly agreed”. 75% of the respondents are “strongly agreed” with the product beauty. In terms of durability most of the respondents (61%) are “strongly agreed”. Concerning appropriateness of the product as souvenir most of the respondents (77%) expressed “strongly agreed”. Finally 73% of the respondents are “strongly agreed” with the idea that the product is potential for sale.

The old machine that is used to mix the fiber is an oval tank. Inside the tank is divided lengthwise into half and its paddle is flat and long like a file and it is installed on one side of the tank only so the flow of the fiber in the tank is not so good. There must be a person using a paddle to stir the fiber to flow inside the tank. Apart from that there was an issue that the fiber often sticks to the paddle because it is flat. The new machine is designed to have 8 circular saw blades sized Ø 10 inch to mix the leaf fiber so that it does not stick to the paddle. Apart from that the paddle is installed on both side of the tank increasing from the old machine that has only on one side in order to solve the problem about the flow of the fiber. One more issue is about bringing the fibber out from the tank. When the valve is opened the fiber cannot flow out easily because the bottom of the tank is flat. The researcher therefore design the tank to be adjustable so that it is easier to pour the fiber out from the tank. According to the experiment the boiled pineapple leaf blender can blend the boiled pineapple leaf with 30 kilograms water. The suitable speed of the blade is 500 times per minute and each blending process takes approximately 5 minutes. The time using for leaf blending also based on the paper usage e.g. for the smooth surface paper its production can follow the normal process but for the paper with rough texture the time using for fiber blending will be less.

Normally bast fibres were removed from pineapple web by wrapping the boiled pineapple leaf with nylon web and stamp on it. If using this method it will take 24 hours to stamp on 40 kilograms of boiled leaf in order to obtain clean pineapple web that is suitable for producing paper. Apart from that when pressing the fiber we need to get rid of the water as much as we can because the fiber will be weight before using to produce paper. If the water pressed out each time is not equal there may be an error about paper thickness. Moreover stamping on boiled leaf may be dangerous because the chemical substance used when boiling the leaf may burn the feet and cause wound. Currently there is a Pressing machine to separate water from pineapple fiber Rachadasak Supengcum 2010 to fix the problems mentioned above. However there is a weak point because the pressing tube is small so it can press only 1 kilogram of leaf per one time. Therefore the new machine is designed to have a pressing tube sized 30 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters long. The pressing period is 30 centimeters and the pressure for pressing is 70 bars. It takes 1 minute 15 second for one squeeze which contains 6 kilograms of pineapple leaf. It can decrease the time for pressing from the old machine by 6 times. In addition the machine is designed to have the open-close channel to bring the pressed fiber out from the machine more easily. According to the experiment to remove the bast fibres from pineapple web the most appropriate amount for each pressing is 6 kilograms. The pressing process takes 1 minute 15 second. The remaining pineapple web after the pressing is 3 kilograms

Currently the pineapple leaf paper that is produced by using local wisdom is 50 centimeters wide and 64 centimeters long. Therefore the product of the Cooperative is small. And because the size of the paper is limited they cannot be used for producing room divider big umbrella or big painting as per customer’s demand and the members of the cooperative cannot produce large sheet of paper. The researchers therefore designed the Pineapple fibrous leaf sieving Equipment in order to produce large sheet of paper. The equipment consists of a square basin for washing leaf fiber sized 185 centimeters 10 centimeter deep with a 90-centimeter high stand to support the basin and installed the mechanism to lift up the sieve that is used to take up the pineapple leaf fiber. The sieve is 150 centimeters x 150 centimeters which is the largest size possible because the leaf fiber washing must is done by hand. If the sieve is bigger we will not be able to reach to the leaf fiber in the center. Base on the experiment of pineapple leaf paper production by using the new equipment as compared to the paper production as per local wisdom by using 2.5 kilograms pineapple leaf fiber and the paper thickness shall be fixed at 0.35 millimeters it is found that the production that use pineapple fibrous leaf sieving equipment takes 647 second on average and the production as per local wisdom takes 1421 second on average. In other words the equipment can help to reduce the time in paper production of 774 second or 54 %. Apart from that the researcher produced the paper with different thickness by increasing the pineapple leaf fiber by 0.5 kilograms per one sheet of paper so that there are more options to choose in order to match with various products. The amount of leaf fiber used in the production starts from 3 kilograms to 7.5 kilogram per sheet and the thickness of the paper is from 0.36 millimeters and the thickest paper is 1.2 millimeters thick using approximately 7.5 kilograms of leaf fiber. If we use more leaf fiber for paper production the paper will be overweight and it will be sagging.