Week 4: Plastic Fusing

What is Plastic Fusing:

Plastic fusing can be done through using heat to melt them together (e.g. Iron, hot gun). The plastics will also warp and get distorted once strong heat is applied to it.

Materials needed: Iron, hot gun, baking paper, various types of plastics (bags, fruit netting, bubble wrap, tape etc.), scissors

How it’s done:

Step 1: Cut or tear plastics into smaller pieces and arrange them onto a flat surface.

Step 2: Place baking paper on top of your plastics and iron. Do keep in mind to adjust the heat of the iron accordingly, plastics will melt quickly when very hot heat is applied.

Hot gun:

Had to use the iron to melt certain parts of the plastics, because I wanted a specific colour scheme, and some plastics had colours I didn’t want behind

Applications:

Personal Reflections: I loved how we could create art out of plastic bags that we dispose off everyday. I think that this is a great way of recycling and saving the earth, instead of purchasing new items, why not make your own. This technique is so simple and fun to do, I hope I can teach my non-art school friends how to do it!

Week 4: Fabric of Thread

Fabric of Thread

Materials needed: A good variety of threads, pins, water soluble paper, sewing machine, container for water, container with a good shape (for shaping fabric)

How it’s done:

Step 1: Fold water soluble paper into half, open it up and start adding thread/ fabric/ other small material pieces onto the inner section. Once done, cover this with the excess paper.

an example

Step 2: Pin the sandwiched paper together, make sure you leave some gaps for sewing.

Step 3: Sew the paper and materials together using a sewing machine. Make as many patterns with the thread as you want, you can also make use of the sewing machine patterns.

Step 4: Once done, drown the fabric in water and make sure the “gluey” particles are fully dissolved.

Step 5: Take out the fabric and place it onto the container for shaping, and wait for it to harden/ dry.

Finish products:

Personal Reflections: This is one of my favourite techniques thus far. I enjoyed playing around with/ exploring the boundless possibilities of mixing and matching colours and materials. I took a bunch of my old childhood arts and craft materials and cut them up. It was pretty much like making pizza. I’ve never had prior experience in using the sewing machine much, and was quite unconfident initially as this technique looked challenging. However, it was simpler and more enjoyable than I thought, knowing that the end product can look so quirky and cute.

Applications:

Week 2: Transfer Printing

What is Transfer Printing: Transfer printing is the process of transferring an image/ drawing onto a fabric or other smooth surfaces, through a substrate (e.g. fabric crayons, various types of heat transfer papers). Once heat is applied, the image will transfer. It is also known as sublimation printing. Transfer printing comes in three forms, wet and dry transfer as well as digital.

DRY + WET TRANSFER

Materials needed: Paper, Crayola Fabric Crayons, Kraftcolor Transprint Ink, Shiny polyester satin, Baking paper, Iron, creativity!

How it’s done:

Step 1: Draw and paint your designs onto the paper using fabric crayons/ transprint inks.

Step 2: Face paper with design down onto the polyester satin. Place the baking paper on top of it.

Step 3: Iron and apply heat. Keep track of timing as this will affect the colours that appear on the fabric.

Original drawings

Original paintings

After ironing – Yellow becomes dull orange on paper, bright on fabric

After ironing, colours are very vibrant

Personal reflections:

My theme: Abstract art – I referenced several images online and came up with my own abstract patterns. I made sure each and every design was unique and creative, individually. I tried out many different types of strokes using the paint brush (e.g dabbing, fast strokes, small strokes, dotting etc.) trying to make it as “abstract” as possible. After transferring the prints onto the fabrics, I noticed that the crayon designs came out much brighter than the original drawn-on patterns. The inks however, came out much duller. The red inks turned burnt orange in colour. The yellows were okay, and in fact were quite bright. Perhaps my red and blue inks were slightly contaminated.

This technique was alot of fun to do, as it is the simplest and most straightforward. I guess instead of having fabric designs always printed digitally, this technique can help make it more personal. Coming up with interesting designs was a slight challenge and some prints didn’t turn out as nice as others, but I loved how they turned out in the end!

DIGITAL TRANSFER

Materials needed: CPM6.2 (For transferring on wood, mugs, metal, ceramics), TTC 3.1 (For transferring mainly on T-shirts)

How it’s done:

Step 1: Print an image onto special papers (6.2 or 3.1)

Step 2: Face paper with design down onto the T-shirt or wood.

Step 3: Use a heat presser to hold the paper down. Release the heat presser once it’s done.