Surface Design – W11 ( Resin and Latex )

Resin and Latex

What is Resin and Latex?

“Resin” is a term widely and commonly used to describe a compound that starts in a liquid form and then hardens to a solid, thus mimicking tree resin. True resin comes from trees.  It is an organic material used in the manufacture of varnishes, food glazing agents and also incense and perfumes (think pine scented products).Synthetic resins like the ones used for jewellery, crafting and industry have been manufactured to mimic natural plant resins – that is they are viscous (thick + sticky) liquids that are capable of hardening permanently.  They are an inorganic material.

Natural Latex is a milky substance harvested from rubber tree plants (Havea brasiliensis) which are grown in tropical climate plantations around the world. Natural Latex is bio-degradable and naturally resistant to mold, mildew & bacteria.Synthetic latex is a man-made molecular copy of natural latex. The scientific name for this compound is Styrene-Butadiene (SBR).

Resin and Latex Technique:
– Resin

– Latex

Resin

Materials Used:
– Resin
– Hardener
– Mold
– Weighing Machine
– Grease Agent

Experiment:

    

Pour the desire amount of resin you want into a container place ontop of a weighing machine. Take the amount of resin shown on the scare and times 0.03. That is the amount of harder that we would need to add into our resin. So, the hardener should be 0.03% of the amount of the resin amount.

    

Give it a quick mixed and even mixed. The whole process must be done really quickly so recommended to have your mold sprayed with grease agent prepared first if not the resin would dry up really quickly. 

    

So I wanted to create earrings out of the acrylic rings that I laser cut from previous etching class. I have to first lay a thin layer of resin into my ring. Using a toothpick to slowly pick up resin bit by bit to filled the ring because it has a small area to work with. Then placing my dried flower on the first layer of resin and then cover them with a second layer of resin. Doing so I must make sure I filled up the base evenly so that there are no empty spots but also not to put too much that it over flow the thickness of the acrylic thickness as it would be unable to encapsulate. 

   

I also cut rings that I thought I could play with some wool left over from the felting class. I place a acrylic sheet at the bottom to help secure my resin earrings and also to easier move around. I had to spray slightly more grease agent as I am afraid it can’t be remove after it is dried. 

    

I was a little sad because I did not know that wool would not be visible after I pour the second layer of resin:( But I am happy because it also create a soft thin of pastel colour inside the resin which I find it quite special:) “It is alright if the resin over flow, even though it is not recommended but it can be removed after resin dry:)

    

My classmate also bought some saga seed and I thought why not try to encapsulate something slightly larger and more 3D:) while it is drying I felt it kinda look like fried egg. 

TADA!!:)

Latex

Materials Used:
– Liquid latex
– Hardener
– Mold
– Weighing Machine
– Grease Agent

Experiment:

    

As usual spray grease agent onto the surface you want to pour your latex. I poured 100g of Liquid latex and add in 2-5g of hardener. And for me I wanted to create a flesh like look for my latex, so I added some red acrylic paint inside while I mixed the latex to create this pinkish colour. Putting on aluminium foil I wanted to create the crumple surface texture to it so hopefully it forms well:)

    

Then place your latex under the sun to dry. I was thinking maybe because I add in too little hardener. It take super long to dry and I am still unable to peel it off the aluminium foil:(

   

It was quite fail as the latex was not dry enough and thus sticking onto the foil:( even after peeling them the surface was sticky.

   

Even though it was sticky, but I really love the texture it was created. It and also the light pinkish effect was really special to me:) One tip, I coated it with baby powder and then shake them off, so they are not sticky now! and smell so nice:)

Surface Design – W10 ( Thermoplastics )

Thermoplastics

What is Thermoplastics?

Thermoplastic refers to the quality of a fiber whose molecular structure breaks down an becomes fluid at a certain temperature, making it possible to reshape the fabric by pleating, moulding or crushing. The fabric is ‘fixed’ on cooling and cannot be altered unless heated to a temperature greater than the one at which it was reshaped.

Types of Thermoplastic Techniques:
– Thermoplastic Fabric

– Vacuum Forming

Thermoplastic Fabric

Polyester belongs to the group of Synthetic Fibers. A synthetics fabric is thermoplastic, that is, it can be transformed through heat into new configuration, which on cooling are completely stable.

Materials Used:
– Organza (100%Polyester) “must be 100%”
– Rubber bands
– Objects as form base
– Aluminum Foil
– Boiling Water

Experiment:

   

    

I brought objects like big pebbles, small pebbles and dice to try out the effect form. Very easy, first we simply wrap our objects inside organza and tie them up using normal rubber band to secure the objects inside. Make sure the way you tied your organza is the pattern you want your fabric to turn into after boiling. 

    

I created not only objects but I also try out folding them into like otah look. Also since there is left over organza at the end of the big pebbles I use aluminium foil and just crumple the organza up just to see its form:) After we are done wrapping the objects into the fabric, we could then wrap them up in aluminium foil and prepare for the boiling process. 

    

After wrapping them in foil until it look like you are bbq sweet potato you could put them into 100 degree boiling water:) try to make sure they are fully submerge into the water so that we could get a balance boil. 

    

Let it boil for about 45 minute – 1 hour. Prepare a tongs or chopstick to grab out your creation as it is very very hot!

    

Be Carefulllll~~~

    

After boiling and unwrapping the aluminium foil this is what we have, slowly open up the rubber band. Do not that if we boil even longer rubber band might also melt, and objects that are made from material like plastic may also melt so be really careful about this:) 

    

My dice design and big pebbles design:)

    

My small pebbles and aluminium foil crumpled design:)

TADA!!!!

    

Out of all this is my favorite pieces because I really like how the dice effect created this solid hallow cube like shape inside the organza. :):)

Vacuum Forming

Vacuum forming is a simplified version of thermoforming, where a sheet of plastic is heated to a  forming temperature, stretched onto a single-surface mold, and forced against the mold by a vacuum. 

Materials Used:
– Vacuum form machine
– Plastic Sheet
– Mold object

Experiment:

    

First we prepare our vacuum form machine by heating it up. It takes about 20 minute to heat up. We cut the plastic sheet base on the size of our object for me I am doing a small square object so the small size would be enough. Place you plastic sheet onto the machine and the drag out the heater. It would heat the plastic sheet and melt it till the plastic becomes soft. We would notice the crumple effect on the surface of the plastic when it is being heated. Wait until the crumple disappear  and we are ready to from our mold. 

    

As my mold have a slight undercut it would b stuck in my vacuum form when i take out from the machine. But because the plastic sheet is rather soft I could remove the mold out from the plastic easily. But do note that if the plastic is really stiff the mold might not be able to remove out, so be careful and try to avoid as much undercut as possible. 

    

My first try (left) I didn’t try the pump effect at first, therefore the design wasn’t really molded out. After that I tried the second one with the pump effect this time where it could stretch the plastic before molding, and hence the design were better mold out:)

 

Surface Design – W8 ( Printing with special inks: Thermochromic ink )

Printing with special inks: Thermochromic ink

What is Thermochromic ink?
Thermochromic inks can change from colourless to colourful OR colourful to colourless very quickly. Although thermochromic inks were introduces in the 1970s, they are used extensively today. I changes colour when temperatures increase or decrease. Often used in manufacture of many toys or product packaging, as well as thermometers. Thermchromic ink can also turn transparent when heat is applied; an example of this type of thermochromic ink is found on corners of an examination mark sheet. This proves that the sheet has not been edited of photocopied, and also on certain pizza boxes to show the temperature of the product. 

Materials Used:
– Thermochromic pigment powder
– SIlk Screen medium
– Printed Surface (etc. fabric)
– Silk Screen 

Demonstration:

    

We start off by preparing our materials and out desired pattern on our silk screen panels.

   

Add about 8 scoop of silk screen medium into an empty container and add in about 1-2 scoop of thermochromic pigment powder in.

    

Mixed the pigment powder and the silk screen ink well:)

     

We also make other different colour and followed by selecting our pattern we want to create.

     

Lay out printed surface on a flat top and put out silk screen frame ontop of our printed surface. Put just the right amount of mixed ink onto the silk screen and we could go on to do our silk screen:) 

Experiment:

    

I tried with 100% cotton fabric as most of our daily life items are make of cotton bed sheets, t shirt etc.

    

Silk Screen!! 

    

After we’re done just slowly peel our silk screen off the fabric. Get someone to secure onto the fabric for you while you peel of your silk screen. 

    

TADA!!

    

I also tired with thin cotton linen fabric to compare the effect. with thin material the pattern is also quite visible on the back side and hence I realized that the ink also turn transparent when we put heat on the back side of the fabric:)

   

TADA!!

Not wasting the tissue we use underneath the fabric as protector. I kept it just to see if the effect would also appear on other medium:) IT DOES!!  ( CLICK ON THE SECOND IMAGE!!! )

 

Surface Design – W7 ( Knitting )

Knitting

What is Knitting?
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn is used to create a cloth. Knitted fabric consists of a number of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progress, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be pass through them. This process eventually results in a fabric, often used for garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. There exist numerous style and methods of hand knitting. Different types of yarns and needle may be used to achieve a plethora of knitted materials: these tools give the final piece a different colour, tecture, weight, and/or integrity. Other factors that affect the end result include the needle’s shape, thickness and malleability, as well as the yarn’s fibre type, texture and twist. 

Types of Felting:
– Garter Stitch Pattern

– Stockinette Stitch Pattern
– Rib Stitch

Garter Stitch Pattern

Garter stitch is one of the easiest and most common stitch patterns in knitted fabrics. You create garter stitch by knitting every row. (You can create garter stitch by purling every row, too.)

Materials Used:
– Yarn
– Knitting Needle

Experiment:

   

I experiment with white yarn I got from daiso to create the most basic knitting stitch which is the garter stitch (the one on the bottom) . I really love this stitch because it creates a thick but soft texture and it doesn’t curl up. It retains the  flatness of the knitted outcome

Stockinette Stitch Pattern

Stockinette stitch is a basic knitting stitch. To knit stockinette stitch, you alternate a knit row with a purl row.  Meaning. Stockinette stitch (or stocking stitch) is everywhere: scarves, socks, sweaters, blankets, hats etc. Stockinette stitch make use of two side to create – the right and wrong side. Simply put it right side would be the front which is the side you want to show your intended design and wrong as the back side. Example. clothing, the right side would the side facing the public and outside and wrong side would be the inner side:) Hence in stockinette stitch you should have two different pattern on each side of your outcome:)

    

Right side – On the right side (front) we create the Stockinette stitch making use of knit stitch method

Wrong side – On the wrong side (back) we create the garter stitch making use of purl stitch method

Materials Used:
– Yarn
– Knitting Needle

Experiment:

    

Using the same piece I tried with the garter design (bottom) with purl stitch I continue and create the stockinette stitch (top) using the knit stitch. After trying I am not really a big fan of it. even know the v like knit are very traditional pattern we see on knitted garments. the corners of the knit tends to curl up and the thickness of the piece is relatively thin compared to garter stitch where we use purl stitch on both side. 

Rib Stitch

Rib stitch wasn’t really taught in class but professor Galina saw the knitted jacket that I was wearing and introduce me the name of the stitch which is called rib stitch. and she suggested that I could try this one because it is a combination of garter stitch and stockinette stitch just alternating them:) 


The jacket that I was wearing was made from rib stitch:)

The rib stitch consists of columns of knit stitches alternating with columns of purl stitches. To make a ribbed pattern, you change from knit stitches to purl stitches within a row — instead of alternating knit rows with purl rows (as you do when making horizontal stripes). Single knit stitches alternate with single purl stitches. There are different type of rib stitch:) 1 x 1 ribbing: Single knit stitches alternate with single purl stitches, creating very narrow columns. 2 x 2 ribbing: Alternates 2 knit stitches with 2 purl stitches. It pulls in slightly less than 1 x 1 ribbing. 

     

Left: 1 x 1 ribbing, Right: 2 x 2 ribbing:

Materials Used:
– Yarn
– Knitting Needle

Experiment:

   

I was so happy I manage to successful trying out this stitch:) what amaze me would be it being able to stretch! Because it is able to stretch you can find rib stitch around the wrist area of many knitted wears.

    

Pulling open the knit stitch you’ll be able to find the purl stitch in between:) 

Making more Samples:)

After learning how to knit using the basic material which is yarn. We were encourage to try on varies materials:) I decided to experiment with copper wire, normal cotton fabric, plastic raffia string and well as changing colour of the yarn!:) 

    

    

Colour changing was quite successful experiment for me. Although halfway through I made s mistake by changing the last blue yarn onto the right side there causing in awkward white yarn in between the batch of blue yarn. But overall I am satisfied with the outcome!:)

    

    

I creating my own “yarn” by cutting a piece of fabric into strips and connecting them by tying a knot at each end:) I decided to use garter stitch for this material because I want to create a thick and heavy outcome from a very thin and light characteristic the fabric originally have. I really love this outcome because by making my own “yarn” I create strips that are uneven hence when knitting them together it would not be of an consistent thickness in the stitches creating this semi crumpled uneven texture which I really love it:)

    

I use raffia strings as a representation of plastic because compared to plastic bag raffia string itself have a certain thickness to it. I was wondering if I knit using a string with a certain stiffness would be knitted piece be able to retain a certain shape if i were to twist the piece into a form. After trying I realized that even though raffia string are stiff they are still not strong enough to maintain a certain from probably because of the needle thickness I use the holes in between actually causing it to become relatively weak:(

    

Last would be copper wire:) Since it is so hard to control the wire as it kept slip out from my knitting needle. So alot of patients is needed to knit with copper wire. Probably could watch some show while doing:) Anyway I like the outcome of the copper wire. Something that I am not very satisfied would be the holes in between. I was wondering if i were to use a much thinner knitting needle the holes would be much more smaller and the knitted piece would look more compact and stiffer. But by doing so, if also mean that it would take very long to create a piece since the wire are so thin. Making it compact we could most likely spent same amount of time i use for this experiment piece but result in a much much smaller piece:(

Surface Design – W9 ( Printing with special inks: Etching )

Printing with special inks: Etching

What is Etching?

The technique of removing or engraving onto a material to create patterns. It can be used on various material including soft materials like fabric and paper and hard materials like Wood, acrylic or metal.

Types of Etching:
– Fiber Etch on fabric: Bleaching

– Fiber Etch on Wood/Acrylic
– Fiber Etch on Velvet: Devore

Fiber Etch on fabric: Bleaching

Bleaching is used to remove colour impurities in natural and some man-made fibers to produce a whiter substrate.

Materials Used:
– Cotton or Linen ( it would not work with synthetic fabric )
– Kitchen Bleach

Experiment:

    

First we prepare our faric. I use 100% cotton and I choose red because I want to experiment if I could achieve the “flesh/meat” like effect:) You can twist or roll or anyway we manipulate the fabric before spraying on bleach. I use thread and sew through the fabric and pull to create the crumple:)

     

I was worried that I would accidentally bleach my whole fabric so I only spray very little bleach onto at first. But the bleach was absorb very quickly into the fabric and the bleach effect was not very obvious so I tried spray much much more:)

    

Try not to leave your piece for too lone as the bleach would dissolve through the fabric and end up bleaching the while piece. After we felt that the effect is enough just was it with normal tap water and leave your piece to dry. Remember to wash thoroughly and get the bleach all out. 

   

The Complete piece!! I have friends telling me it look like pepperoni, bacon sausage so I guess I succeeded in getting the meat like effect I wanted to archive!!!

Fiber Etch on Wood/Acrylic

Fiber etching on wood and acrylic simply means the removal of fibers on a surface of an hard object using different technology. One technology that we tried in school would be laser cutting. Laser cutting is the process of using a powerful laser to cut and/or engrave items from flat sheets of materials like plastic, wood and many other materials. The laser cutter works by directing a high power laser beam very precisely at the chosen material to either mark of cut right through. When cutting, the laser beam burns away at the material leaving you with the cutout shape that you have specifies in your vector file. The cutting beam is very thin (0.1mm) and precise resulting in incredibly detailed and accurate cuts.

Materials Used:
– Laser Cutting machine
– Wood or Acrylic

Experiment:

    

First we can draw our intended design in either illustrator, Photoshop or 3d software such as Rhino. After we are done drawing we would export the file and save them as dxf format. When cutting is is recommended to do rasterising first before cutting through your pieces. This is to prevent the piece from shifting after you have cut them and affect your rasterise. In the laser cut machine. Set the line you want to cut first in black colour line, followed by the coloured one as the second you want to cut. As you can see the laser cutting machine goes really quickly depending on the speed you set. Also different method of cutting and different have different setting. 

    

After cutting is done, wait for the machine to stop and you can take out the pieces!:)

    

TADA!!! as we would be doing resin for next lesson, I cut some circle and ring so I thought it could be transform into earrings!:)

– Fiber Etch on Velvet: Devore

Etching is also commonly known as Devore. Devore is a fabric technique particularly used on velvets, where a mixed-fibre material undergoes a chemical process to dissolve the cellulose fibers to create a semi-transparent pattern against more solidly woven fabric.

Materials Used:
– Fiber Remover
– Silk Screen Panel with pattern
– Silk Viscose Velvet Fabric

Experiment:

     

We prepare the fiber remover liquid we need and also cut our fabric into the intended shape we want. 

    

Put a layer of protector at the bottom of our fabric to prevent the the ink from passing through to the bottom. Then put our silk screen panel onto of our velvet fabric and we could silks screen!! When pushing the liquid through the silk screen panel put in more effort so that the ink can be absorb into the velvet. If not when we iron we would see that the fabric did not absorb enough ink and the pattern would not be produced.

   

After we leave the fabric to dry for 24 hours we can start ironing them. Give it a little pressure and we can see that the pattern of the silk screen started forming. 

   

I think that I did not put enough pressure in my silk screen process, therefore not alot of ink are pass through and absorb into the fabric:( therefore I have to use maximum heat and TWO iron. Even so, the pattern out is still very light.

    

Therefore I had to go back home and iron even more praying that the pattern could form. But sadly no matter how much I iron. And how long I left it for, the pattern is still not very visible:(

   

I guess it was a fail attempt for my devore as the velvet did not really come off and the fabric was burn:( but Prof Galina did mention that is was alright, we could dye the fabric to cover up the burn unless we wanted white fabric:(

  

Atleast one of the pattern did have the effect which is not the best but I’m felt lucky hahaha. It was a little obvious and I had to use quite a lot of strength to scrape out the velvet:(

 

 

Surface Design – W6 ( Materials exploration: Fabric Manipulation, stitching with elastics )

Materials Exploration: Fabric Manipulation, stitching with elastics

What is Fabric Manipulation?
Techniques that reshapes the surface of the material. There are many ways to play with fabric and manipulate or control it so that it becomes more dimensional. Throughout history, people have developed different ways of altering fabric to provide contrasts, to create a sense of fullness, and create surface effects (giving textures). Some of these methods are very old, but contemporary fabric artists continue to use them and adapt them in new ways.There are many ways to manipulate fabric such as, stitching, smocking, pleating and shirring etc. 

Types of Fabric Manipulation tried in class:
– Smocking

– Stitching with elastic (shirring)

Smocking

Smocking is a hand-stitching technique that gathers fabric into small shapes as the threads are pulled tight on the back of the fabric. The stitches are sometimes visible to help organize the folds in direct smoking.

Materials Used:
– Fabric (cotton, linen, cotton linen, velvet, chiffon, etc)
– Hand Sewing Needle
– Ruler
– Pen
– Sewing Thread

Experiment:

    

The pattern that I am interested to experiment would be call the “lattice” pattern. I love this pattern because unlike some of the pattern, this design creates a relatively flat surface after it is sew. 

    

The technique to create smocking is quite straight forward. Start off by dividing your fabric into squares boxes. Do take note that depending on how big you want individual pattern to come out you adjust the dimension per boxes. The smaller the boxes the more compact your patterns would look:) Then, draw line (marking) inside the box following  the template of your design and simply follow the direction and sew the corners point together. I did mine in alternate ways. column 1 –> column 2 –> row 2 column 1 –> row 2 column 2 and repeat:)

TADA!!!

   

I really love the outcome of the fabric. It was a struggle at first because about 1/3 through the fabric you might not still be able to see the pattern forming and would doubt yourself if you’re doing it correct:) but don’e worry just continue and the patter would be reveal!!:) 

Stitching with elastic (shirring)

Shirring is a magical technique that shrinks a piece of fabric and transforms it into something stretchy. It’s great for skirt waistbands, shirt hems and bodices. And all it takes is sewing a few rows of stitches with elastic thread. Test out shirring on a few different types of material and you might notice that the more lightweight the fabric, the better the result. Light cotton fabrics like voile will shrink more than, say, a quilting cotton. Fabrics like corduroy, wool and other heavyweights are just not shirr-able. Stick to the lightest fabric you can find.

Materials Used:
– Elastic Band
– Elastic Thread
– Lightweight Fabric

Experiment:

    

Since it was recommended that lightweight materials works well for shirring. I decided to try with this organza like material. It was really hard to control this material because the elastic thread does not get sew into the fabric easily and also while sewing with sewing machine you have to constantly pull the fabric so that it does not crumple up together once you let go.

TADA!!

   

I really like the effect of this lightweight material as it create the girly dreamy like texture. I like how it is crumpled together through the elastic thread and also how soft feeling the folds gives out. 

    

I decided to try with a more heavy fabric and non translucent material to see the effect of it. I experiment with both elastic band and elastic thread. The effect of the elastic thread came out really nice as the thread was already coil at a certain tightness on the sewing machine. However, elastic band requires us to pull the band tightly while i sew them onto the fabric through the sewing machine. If you did not pull it tight enough the crumple effect would not be obvious. Just like my sample, I tried a few times trying to pull my elastic band tightly but it still wasn’t tight enough hence the crumple effect was not very obvious:( A little tip I learn was to actually either hand sew, pin or sewing machine one end of the elastic band onto the fabric first to secure it. So that when we sew it onto the fabric through the machine we would just have to pull the band on the other and could use your free hand to slowly hold the fabric on the opposite of the sewing machine:)

TADA!!

    

Finish sample of the day:)

Surface Design – W5 ( Unconventional Materials: Felting and Applique )

Unconventional Materials: Felting and Applique

What is Felting?
Felt is a non-woven textile that is produces by matting, condensing and pressing fibres together. Felt can be made of natural fibres such as wool or synthetic fibres such as acrylic. There are many different types of felts for industrial, technical, designer and craft applications. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can vary in terms of fiber content, size, thickness, density and more factors depending on the user of the felt.

Types of Felting:
– Wet Felting

– Dry Felting (Needle Felt)
– Nuno Felting

Wet Felting

Felt is made by a process called wet felting where the natural wool fibres, stimulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually soapy water). move at a 90 degree angle towards the friction source and then away again, in effect making little “tacking ” stitches. While at any given moment only 5% of the fibres are active, the process is continual, so different ‘set’ of fibres becomes activated and then deactivated. thereby building up the cloth.

Materials Used:
– Wool
– Soap
– Hot Water
– Plastic sheets (protect working desk)

Experiment:

   

We start our wet felting by aligning the wool onto a plastic surface(protection) you can align the wool in any position to your liking. Can be in circle ball, strips or even lump. Do take note that once the wool are bind together it would become relatively thin so if we are looking to make a thick felt we have to put more layer or wool, but we could also add more along the way.

    

We can add drops of soap and also hot water. Hot water would increase the speed of the wool being bind together:) if we want it to bind a little slower we could add room temperature water. Cover you wool with a plastic layer and start rubbing the wool, the action of rubbing actually binds the wool together. We could also peel the plastic sheets up to check on our felt or also flip the felt over and rub the other side of the felt:)

    

Once you have reach the desire “stiffness” and thickness you want just simple leave it to dry and you would have you felt:)

    

As the first experiment that I did in class my felt turn out to be very fragile and loose because I did not put enough wool. So I decided to experiment again at home with more wool:)

    

I think I accidentally put too much soap….

TADA!!

    

    

Dry Felting (Needle Felt)

Needle felting is popular fibre arts craft that creates felt without the use of water. Special needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used by the artist as a sculpting tool. While erroneously referred to as “barbed” needles, they in fact have notches along the shaft of the needle that grab the top layer of fibres and tangle them with the inner layers of fibres as the needle enters the wool. Since these nothes face down towards the tip of the neefle, they do not pull the fibres out as the needle exits the wool. Once tangles and compressed using the needle, the felt can be strong ans used for creating jewelry or sculpture. Using a single needle or a small group of needles (2-5) iri a hand-held tool, fine details can be achieved using this technique, and it is popular for 2D and 3D felted work.

Materials Used:
– Wool
– Felting Needle
– Sponge base

Experiment:

    

Dry felting is pretty simple and straight forward. Just use a sponge like material as base, hold your wool in the shape you want and.. poke.. poke… poke… poke… poke…
I want to create a little human so I started by rolling my wool into a ball and poke poke poke poke

    

I am so sorry towards my little human the eye didn’t came our right. I find little felt ball so cute so I create different size of them:)

    

Since Professor Galina mention that wool would shrink in hot water. I thought why not duplicate another set of felt balls in same sizes and soak them in hot water:)

    

So I soak them in hot water for about 45 minutes and let it dry. 

    

Even though the difference is a little. But if we take them out and look compare we can see that it did shrink. Maybe the reason for the small change would be that the water is not hot enough. 
*Blue ball on left: Normal felted ball (larger)
*Blue ball on right: Dip in hot water (smaller)

Nuno Felting

Nuno felting is a fabric felting technique developed by the Polly Stirling, a fibre artist from New South Wales, Australia, around 1992. The name is derived from the Japanese word “nuno” meaning cloth. The technique bonds loose fibre, usually wool, into sheer fabric such as silk gauze. creating a lightweight felt. The fibres can completely cover the background fabric, or they may be used as a decorative design that allowes the backing fabric to show. Nuno felting often incorporates several layers of loose fibres combined to build up colour, texture, and/or design elements in the finished fabric. 
The nuno felting process is particularly suitable for creating lightweight fabrics used to make clothing. The use of silk or other stable fabric in the felt creates fabric that will not stretch out of shape. Fabrics such as nylon, muslin, or other open weaves can be used as the felting background, resulting in a wide range of textural effects and colours.

Materials Used:
– Wool
– Fabric (Silk etc.)
– Sponge

Experiment:

Surface Design – W3 ( Creating Unconventional Fabric using Threads, plastic )

Creating Unconventional Fabric using Threads, plastic

– Plastic Fusing
– Fabric of Thread

Plastic Fusing

Plastic Fusing is the creation of plastic made fabric by heating and melting the plastic letting them stick together to create a large piece of fabric where it could be later use to create various products, costume, outfits, stationary etc.

Materials Used:
– Iron
– Scissors
– Plastic Bags
– Baking Paper

Experiment 1:
    

Start by cutting and placing the plastic to create the design you want. After, place the design on you iron board with the baking paper on the bottom followed by your design and lastly another layer of baking paper.

    

Heat it with iron and press it with pressure. Do peel up the baking paper halfway to check if the plastic are melted consistently. Be careful when doing this because sometimes the plastic may stick onto the top baking paper when you try to peel it up. 


FINISH!:)

Experiment 2:
     

I tried to cut the plastic onto strip this time round also also instead of plastic on the floral plastic. I tried by placing the strip plastic onto bubble wrap.

     

Heat it up and remember to check:)


FINISH!!

Fabric of Thread

Fabric of thread is the creation of fabric using the combination and joining of thread using water soluble stabilizer. It could then be use to create outfit or other products such as lamp shape or even bowl etc. 

Materials Used:
– Sewing Machine
– Water soluble stabilizer
– Thread, Yarns, Fabric Strips, Trimmings
– UV resistant clear acrylic spray (for securing of shape)

Demonstration:

          

          

Experiment

   

Cut and create your design by placing the thread onto Water soluble stabilizer. Do remember to put it in between the Water soluble stabilizer.

    

Secure your threads and items on Water soluble stabilizer with fabric pins. After sew them with a sewing machine, the simplest way to secure the thread in position are going in a up down method with sewing with sewing machine.

    

I decided to challenge myself with the industrial sewing machine as we don’t get much chance to try it. But it was way to hard to control the speed of the sewing machine. Maybe I just have stupid legs hahahaha. Anyway, I transfer to the normal sewing machine to speed up and also to try both machine hehe:)

     

Front and Back.

     

Prepare the needed material to dissolve the Water soluble stabilizer. You’ll need water, Moulds (optional), Your Work and an empty container.

     

Put your work into the empty container and pour water in. Slowly rub on the Water soluble stabilizer and it would dissolve:O

    

After that you could put it on a mold and let it dry of simple leave it flat. You could put onto anything as long it is strong enough to help you hold onto your desire shape:)

TADA!!
    

Reflection:
It was really an interesting technique and something that I have never tried before, It is challenging using the sewing machine especially controlling the speed of it. However, once you’re done and once you wash and dissolve it the remaining pattern are really beautiful. If I have a chance, I would like to try and create something more 3D probably a shape I design or even sewing them together to create the shape after I have dissolve them:)

Surface Design – W2 ( Transfer Printing – Wet )

Transfer Printing:

Transfer Printing is the transference of an image to fabric or other material via a substrate. Image is then transferred via heat and pressured. 

Types of transfer Printing:
– Dry Transfer 
– Wet Transfer
– Digital Transfer

Wet Transfer
Wet transfer are a little more expensive transfer method to do at home. Reason being, the ink use for creating the design are a little costly. However, other materials such as paper, baking paper, iron and brush are relatively cheap and easy to be bought. Similar to dry transfer, but this time round, instead of using crayons, it would be replaced by transfer ink. There are also two types of wet transfer, direct and in-direct printing.

Materials Used:
– Fabric
– Transferring Ink
– Items
– Iron

(LAST WEEK) As wet transfer could only be done when the ink are fully dry. Hence, prepping the design would be needed and recommended. Simply used a paint brush and paint your creative design on a normal printing paper and let it sit till it is fully dry. TAKE NOTE: the ink may look different from the colour it suppose to be, but it is alright. The vibrant and accurate colour would be shown once heated:)
*we could actually do the wet transfer using the hot press machine. Sadly it was spoil so we have no choice but to use iron instead:(

Since it is my first time trying wet transfer, I decided to start off with the most simple design which is the watermelon I drew last week.

Similar to dry transfer, we place the fabric first on the iron board, followed by our design facing downwards and lastly baking paper on top to prevent burning of the paper.

Do remember to constant check your print halfway through ironing to fully get the ink transferred onto to fabric. However, be careful do not shift your design if not once you put it down and iron again the second time your design would not be align.

TADA!!! the colour came out really pretty and vibrant. I thought that the black would be more solid however maybe due to heat, it was melted and blend a little with the red. ALSO! looking at my painting on the right I actually diluted the green a little to create a gradient (both are the same green just one a little more water). However, when printed the gradient does not come out. Therefore adding water to create the different colour does not really work. Next time it is recommended to use two different colour, one lighter and one darker.

In-Direct Transfer Printing

In-Direct Printing is similar to dry transfer. By letting the ink directly be printed onto the fabric surface. However placing patterns on the design, the transferred print would eliminate the places block by the patterns which would come out wide and only print out the places that are not block by the pattern. I found some dry decoration flower at home and home and thought it would be interesting to try it.

Then Kaie offer me this little fabric coaster like item and I though why not place them all together and try it:)

The way to place on the iron board its a little different compared to dry transfer. Because there is items on the design, if we flip it over the items on the design would shift and drop. Therefore we place the design along with the items on the iron board first, followed by putting the fabric ontop then lastly cover it with baking paper and then iron to heat it.

Direct Transfer Printing

Probably because I was using iron instead of hot press machine, therefore it is not tightly compress enough (not enough weight to press the heat onto the design and fabric). Making the in-direct print a little less visible, not really obvious.

After Ironing, because the heat it not heavy enough to compress and press down causing the part block by the fabric coaster became a big white circle instead of the letting the ink transfer through the holes in between the coaster. But instead, alot of ink were transfer onto the fabric coaster instead and I thought “Hey, I could do direct transfer with this!”

TADA!!!:) the direct printing works:)

Reflection:

All my wet transfer for the second week!:) It was definitely more fun playing with ink firstly because of the interesting colours it gives out. but also because there are more variety to experiment with. Also touching the ink on the surface it doesn’t create the waxy texture compared to the crayons and crayons do gives out a very strong wax smell especially after heated. Therefore I really love the effect and process of wet transfer.

NOTE* If the hot press machine exceed the temperature suitable for specific material it would burn in. Try not to go over 200 especially for fabric.

Surface Design – W1 ( Transfer Printing – Dry + Digital)

Transfer Printing:

Transfer Printing is the transference of an image to fabric or other material via a substrate. Image is then transferred via heat and pressured. 

Types of transfer Printing:
– Dry Transfer
– Wet Transfer
– Digital Transfer

Dry Transfer:
Dry transfer is the simple commercial way of transferring image onto a fabric design. With simple materials, dry transfer could be done at home. 

Materials Used:
– Fabric
– Crayon
– Iron

We started by drawing the desired pattern we want with crayon:) TAKE NOTE: Printed prints would be on a mirror image so draw your design the mirror image of your desired outcome. Especially alphabet, Numbers and Sign.

During heating process, place the fabric as the first layer, followed by you design with the crayon side on the fabric lastly place your baking paper ontop of the design. After doing so, we could use our iron and heat transfer the design.

TADA!!! After removing the iron and peeling off the baking paper and our design, we would have our image printed onto our fabric:)


Wet Transfer
Wet transfer are a little more expensive transfer method to do at home. Reason being, the ink use for creating the design are a little costly. However, other materials such as paper, baking paper, iron and brush are relatively cheap and easy to be bought. Similar to dry transfer, but this time round, instead of using crayons, it would be replaced by transfer ink. There are also two types of wet transfer, direct and in-direct printing.

Medium Used:
– Fabric
– Transferring Ink
– Items
– Iron

Preparing Material:


As wet transfer could only be done when the ink are fully dry. Hence, prepping the design would be needed and recommended. Simply used a paint brush and paint your creative design on a normal printing paper and let it sit till it is fully dry. TAKE NOTE: the ink may look different from the colour it suppose to be, but it is alright. The vibrant and accurate colour would be shown once heated:)

Digital Transfer:

Material Used:
– Printing Paper (Prints) ( CMP 6.2, TTC 3.1 )
– Materials to be printed on
– Hot Press Machine

Reflection:

It was my first time transferring a design using such simple methods. Even though I have tried before melting crayon to create art work, But I have never expect that it would actually stain on a fabric and create distinct pattern on fabric. However, I do not really like this method because the prints does not come out in a solid colour form. The white lines from the drawn design are still visible on the printed fabric also everything have to be done in a mirror image so it is a little challenging. Probably I would love to create it in black only because the white line printed on the fabric actually produce the natural sketchy feeling to the designs.