Fabric Etching: (Silk Viscose Velvet) 

It is the process of removing the velvet fabric fibers off the silk with chemical means.

Materials:

  1. Silk Viscose Velvet fabric
  2. Fiber remover
  3. Silkscreen set
  4. Iron
  5. Brush

Steps:

  1. Prepare the silkscreen set with the squeegee.
  2. Layer tissue on the table.
  3. Place your velvet cloth on top of the tissue.
  4. Place the silkscreen on top of your fabric and pour some fiber remover liquid along the edge of the silkscreen (blue part).
  5. Hold the squeegee at 30 degrees and swipe the fiber remover from one end to the other. Make sure the coat is even.
  6. Leave the cloth to dry for some time.
  7. Once it is dried, iron over with another piece of cloth on top of the velvet.
  8. Make sure the area with fiber remover turns dark brown.
  9. Leave the velvet to cool down and proceed to brush away the dark brown areas with a brush.
  10. Wash and leave it to dry.

Process and Trials: 

This is the fiber remover we used to apply onto the silkscreen shown at the top right corner of the picture.

Trial #1: 

This was the result I got for trial #1. It seems that the fiber remover was not evenly spread out on the fabric and even after ironing for quite long, the dark brown charred fibers were not very apparent.

After brushing the charred bits off the velvet, there were slight patterns showing on the fabric even though the effect was not very apparent as well.

Trial #2:

Moving onto trial #2, I made it a point to take more photos to have more detailed documentation.

This is the result I have gotten after applying fiber remover and letting it dry for some time with a brief 1-2 irons.

After ironing for quite a long while, I am starting to see the charred bits becoming more prominent.

After ironing and letting the piece cool down, I brushed the charred bits off carefully.

The silk is surfacing with each brush, leaving the velvet on top.  This is the end result of the brushed velvet.

A close up view of the more successful attempt.

Applications: 

 

Resin Casting: 

Resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds.

Materials:

  1. Moulds – vacuum forming PVC sheet mould
  2. Objects or things to be embedded into the resin mould
  3. Resin
  4. Resin hardener
  5. Ice cream sticks (resin mixer)
  6. Weighing Scale
  7. Safety Gloves
  8. Tissue Paper

Steps:

  1. Prepare the table with at least one layer of tissue paper.
  2. Measure the empty mixing bowl on the weighing scale.
  3. Pour a desired amount of resin into the mixing bowl.
  4. Calculate the amount of hardener needed (3% of the amount of resin in the bowl)
  5. Use the thick ice cream stick to mix it evenly until you do not see any swirls inside the bowl.
  6. Resin is ready to be used.
  7. Spray the “resin release liquid” into the mould and spread evenly before pouring resin into the mould.
  8. Add desired objects into the resin and leave it to dry.

Attempts: 

Added yellow yarn into resin button.

Added pink and green yarn into the pointy top mould.

Added pink and yellow yarn into the half jar mould.

Added acrylic paint (blue) into the resin and stirred it to have the speckle effects.

In my final attempt, I added plastic and wooden beads, black felt as well as some glitters and wooden chips inside.

Applications: 

Resin casting art.

Resin-wood casted furniture.

Overall, I think that velvet etching is fun but slightly tedious and that the effect may not be as rewarding if not done properly with patience. For instance, ironing without waiting for it to be dried properly or not brushing out all the charred bits carefully. On the other hand, resin requires one to work fast as there is only a short pocket of time (about 10 minutes) for us to design the resin product we want before the resin eventually hardens in the container.

Technique 8: Bleaching and Rastering

Dyeing with Bleach:

Dyeing fabric with bleach is the idea of creating uniquely colored or patterned fabrics by removing the colour of the original fabric.

Materials: 

  1. Bleach
  2. Spray bottle or brush or dripper
  3. Cotton fabric (coloured)
  4. Objects chosen as a stencil- e.g. rubber bands, bottles caps, tapes, etc

Steps Needed: 

  1. Fill the bottle with a desired amount of bleach.
  2. Cover table with plastic to protect the table.
  3. Place the cloth and stencils chosen on the table.
  4. Spray bleach over the cloth and leave it for approximately 10-15 minutes to see the effect.

Trials #1: 

I sprayed the bleach over the cloth randomly and attempted to scrunch the cloth at certain areas, hence explaining the creases. This is the final result.

Trials #2: 

I tied the cloth in certain areas using rubber bands, hoping to have the spread out radial kind of effect from the bleach. However, that did not work too well and turned out to look like random bleach spots.. This is the final result.

Overall, I feel that the bleach is a little hard to control as it does not accommodate mistakes or slips very well. We can learn to have better control over how the bleach flows and sprays and perhaps make more interesting organic shapes from printing daily object surfaces on the fabric.

Applications:

Tie-dye bleach jeans.

Painting on fabrics with bleach- portraits and beyond.

Bleach dye canvas tote bags

Creating unique patterns on fabrics with bleach.

Rastering:

Procedures: [can be obtained from product design ADM website]

 1) Preparing File (Export from Rhino)

Vectors are needed in the CorelDRAW for clean and efficient laser cutting. Rhino is one of those software’s that exports vector curves and shapes. *.DXF format is the optimal format to be used in the laser cutting.

2) Starting the Laser Cutter

Before using the machine, please ensure that everything that’s necessary to operate the machine safely.

3) Turning on the Compressed Air

Here is another clip that shows you how to turn on and adjust the compressed air. Please do this step as soon as the machine is started,

4) Laser Focusing

Laser focusing determines the laser intensity that passes through the materials that you are cutting. Laser will not cut properly and efficiently if it is off-focused. In some cases, if may even ignite, damaging the laser machine in the process. Watch the clip to learn how to focus manually.

5) CorelDraw Settings

In CorelDRAW X3, follow the instructions in the video for proper settings. This step is very important as it will determine the final outcome of the cutting.

6) Print Layout & Setup

Setting page layout helps calibrating the canvas dimensions that you are printing on.

​​Before proceeding to printing (laser cutting), Print Setup is an important procedure as it determines the nature of this cutting session. A list of settings and details has been provided on the right side of the page for reference

Samples of rastering done: 

  

Trial:

I tried rastering text on acrylic. I wanted to see how a simple “Hello” turns out. The effect is quite nice since the words are white after rastering. I also laser cut a few small squares/ rectangles.

In summary, the effects of rastering are more defined on acrylic than on wood. However, if one prefers to have the gradient effect where there are slight changes to the colour of the raster, giving the piece some depth, I think the wood will be a better choice.

Applications:

Creating cool board games on acrylic.

Raster portrait art:

Personalised photo frames:

THERMOCHROMIC INK PRINTING:

Thermochromic ink (also called thermochromic ink) is a type of dye that changes colour when temperatures increase or decrease. Often used in the manufacture of many toys or product packaging, as well as thermometers.

Materials used:

  • Fabric- with a lighter background
  • Silkscreen
  • Thermochromic Pigment
  • Cups for mixing
  • Spoons for mixing
  • Plastic bags to lay the table before silkscreen printing
  • Silkscreen Printing Clear Base
  • Squeegee

Steps:

1) Mix the thermochromic pigment powder with clear base in the ratio of 1:3 in a paper cup. Be careful not to inhale the powder during the process. (Avoid talking/ laughing)

2) Lay the table with plastic sheets to avoid any transfer of the mixture onto the table.

3) Lay 1-2 layers of tissue onto the plastic sheets before placing your fabric on top.

4) Put down the silkscreen on top of the fabric.

5) Scoop the mixture with the spoon and spread the desired amount along the edge on the silkscreen (blue area).

6) Make sure the silkscreen prepared is secured and ideally have someone to hold the silkscreen frame for you.

7)  Hold the squeegee along the edge with the mixture and tilt it to 30 degrees.

8)  Swipe it evenly to the other end of the silkscreen forward and backwards to make sure that the colour spread throughout the silkscreen.

9) Hold the fabric down and lift the silkscreen slowly.

10) Remove your fabric and let the ink dry.

11) Put the silkscreen and the squeegee propped up on a cup for the next person to use.

My outcomes:

Trial #1:

I tried the grey colour first.

Trial #2:

Followed by the red.

Trial #3:

And eventually, trying out a gradient colour scheme of yellow and red.

Trial #4:

For the 4th attempt, I tried the wooden block printing method where we had to place some mixture on the plastic sheet and spread it out evenly before placing the wooden block on the mixture.

For my very first stamp on the upper right, I forgot that we had to stamp on the tissue laden area and hence resulted in this uneven thickness of prints. Subsequently, I printed on the soft area and the prints turned out better.

HEAT TEST: 

I used the hot air gun to do a heat test for the piece with red ink and this is the result.

Overall, I think thermochromic printing is very interesting and yields satisfying results. It could be very useful in making “smart fabric” that reacts according to one’s body heats or their surroundings.

PART 2: VACUUM FORMING

Materials used:

  • Vacuum forming machine
  • Scissors to cut the PVC sheet to your desired size
  • Mould or object

Steps:

Cut the PVC sheet to the desired size according to the shape and size of the chosen object.

Secure the metal plate and place the object in the middle of the vacuum forming machine is an upright manner.

 

Lower down the object into the machine using the handle.

Place the PVC sheet in the designated area of the vacuum forming machine.

Pull the overhead lid over and cover the PVC entirely.

Wait for 30 to 45 seconds for the PVC to get heated up.

When the PVC sheet is ready for moulding, push the lid back. Pull the handle down and switch on the air pump simultaneously.

Once the mould is successfully formed, remove the PVC and the object.

My attempt:

For the first attempt, I didn’t grasp the pulling of the handle and the suction well enough, resulting in the mould having very blunt edges.

For the second attempt, it was slightly better and you could see that the edges became more defined.

Overall, I think vacuum forming is a fast and efficient process to get the desired mould done up, especially for resin or silicone moulding purposes. However, I think it is advised not to stay around the vacuum machine for a long time as the fumes emitted made me a bit nauseous after a while.

Applications: 

The wrapper on chocolates to know if the chocolate may be melted or not.

Vacuum forming: 

Vacuumed formed chopping board.

Plastic dividing drawer.

 

 

Thermoplastics:

thermoplastic is a material, usually, a plastic polymer, which becomes softer when heated and hard when cooled. Thermoplastic materials can be cooled and heated several times without any change in their chemistry or mechanical properties. When thermoplastics are heated to their melting point, they melt to a liquid.

For the class, Prof Galina gave us a sample- 100% organza- and hence I also used the same for the thermoplastic class.

Materials used: 100% polyester fabric, marbles, aluminium foil, rubber bands.

Steps:

1) Cut the organza into the desired sample size.

2) Wrap the organza around the selected objects and tie them with rubber bands whenever necessary.

3) Wrap the completed design with a layer of aluminium foil.

4) Put into the pot to cook for about 1 hr. Remember to do it outside as the fumes emitted from the polyester could make you feel dizzy and nauseous.

5) Remove the wrapped piece and leave it to cool before removing the layer of aluminium foil and all the objects wrapped in the polyester.

Process and Trials:

Trial #1: 

I made use of marbles of different sizes as well as aluminium foil. I wrapped the marbles with the organza and tied them with rubber bands. I also tried twisting the organza into sharp pointy cones and wrapped the cones with aluminium foils.

Trial #2: 

I made use of aluminium foil as the origami mould for the organza. Cut the aluminium foil twice the size of the organza sample. Sandwich the organza in between the aluminium foil and start folding it in the desired manner.

This is the eventual shape I am hoping for my organza sample.

Trial #3: 

For the third attempt, I was going for the curled ball abstract look for the organza. Hence I literally wrap the organza in between the aluminium foil and crushed it into a ball.

For identification purposes, I tied green threads around my 3 trials and coloured rubber bands.

INTO THE POT

Put all the trials into the pot to boil for about 1 hr. Remember to do it outside as the fumes emitted from the polyester could make you feel dizzy and nauseous.

End Results:

Trial #1: 

 

Trial #2: 

Trial #3: 

Overall, I think that the process of experimenting with thermoplastics fabrics is really interesting and that choosing the right fabric that is able to hold the shape is very important. I felt that my experiments are quite successful to some extent and the shape did eventually form to the desired ones I had in mind.

Applications:

Technique: Knitting is a process of using long needles to interlink or knot a series of loops made by one continuous thread. Each loop or knot connects to another one, and when enough loops have been made, the result is a flat piece of material called a textile.

Materials: Yarn, knitting needle or equivalent (I used pencils and satay sticks)

For someone who has never tried knitting before, it was a little hard to get the hang of it and I am often confused by” which loops go into which loop”. We were taught the purl stitch in class and the following are the steps to complete a purl stitch.

Steps: Firstly, we need to make a cast-on whereby we get the first row of stitches onto the needle. I find this short video very useful.

Afterwhich, I would follow these steps to continue knitting.

Here is how it looks like for mine:

  1. Firstly, insert the needle from the bottom of the first loop from right to left.

2. Wrap the yarn around the stick.

3. Push the wrapped yarn through the loop,  out from the other side and push the original loop our from the stick on the left.

4) First round of loop done and continue knitting.

This is a close look at my knitting sample. Originally, I was using 2B pencils to knit, resulting in having bigger loops as observed in the upper portion of the picture. After knitting for a while, I switched to thin satay sticks and the knits became a lot closer and tighter to each other.

Overall, I felt that knitting was fun and once you get the hang of it, it becomes rather mechanic. there are different styles of knitting and I will like to explore more about the different types of yarns and knitting techniques. I will update further if I make more samples with different yarns.

Applications: 

knitted products:

1) Smocking

Smocking is a form of decoration on a garment created by gathering a section of the material into tight pleats and holding them together with parallel stitches in an ornamental pattern.

Materials:

1) Relatively thick fabric with enough friction [not too smooth]

2) Needle and thread

3) Pencils or chalk

4) Rulers

Steps:

  1. Google smocking on google and shortlist your desired pattern.
  2. Using chalk/ pencil to draw out grids on your fabric using a ruler.
  3. Poke your thread through the needle and tie a knot.
  4. Start sewing from point 1 to point 2 to point 3 and finally to point 4 on the grid drawn.
  5. Pull the thread from behind and fasten it with another knot.
  6. Cut the thread and repeat the steps for all the other grids.

Cushion Smocking Design Tutorial - Step 1 | Hobbyideas

Cushion Smocking Design Tutorial - Step 3 | Hobbyideas

      

Like the 4 images shown above, sew it from point 1 to point 4.  After this, pull the thread from behind to reach this pattern.

Continue this method for the rest of the fabric.

FINAL RESULT:

Front:

Back:

CLOSE VIEW:

 

2) Stitching with elastics: 

Materials:

1) Relatively thin fabric ( so that the effect can be seen easily)

2) Needle and thread

3) Elastic bands

4) Sewing Machine and Pins

Steps:

  1. Take the desired length and size of the fabric.
  2. Measure the amount of elastic band needed (usually half the length of the fabric used) and cut it.
  3. Stretch the elastic band to the full length of the fabric and pin it at various points to keep the elastic band there.
  4. Start sewing using the sewing machine while holding the elastic band firmly.
  5. Pull the elastic band manually while the sewing continues until the elastic band reaches the other end of the fabric.

First attempt: 

I used extremely thin chiffon-like material with a thin elastic band and this is the result. I felt that the gathers were quite apparent due to the thin material. However, the sewing of the elastic band proved to be a challenge for me as the thread tends to stray away from the elastic band, resulting in an up-down-up kind of stitches that were not straight and uniform.

Second attempt: 

For the second try, I tried to use the same fabric from the smocking attempt since it is thicker. I have decided to make the fabric into a small pouch. However, I realised it was even harder to sew it in a circular manner and it resulted in many sewing stitches that were not uniform at all.

 

Overall, I think that smocking is really fun and the results obtained were very satisfying for me! I think I would consider smocking for my final project since I quite like the floral theme so far amongst all my attempts.

Applications:

smocking.

Sewing with elastics- shirring.

Felting is a simple process of separating, tangling, and relocking animal fibers found in items such as yarn or wool.

1) Wet Felting

Materials:

1) Wool Felt

2) Liquid Hand Soap

3) Hot Water

Steps:

1) Pick out the wool felt in your desired colours.

2) Arrange the wool felt in your desired manner (abstract, spiral, random, grid, etc)

3) Pump some hand soap onto the wool felt.

4) Pour an adequate amount of hot water on to the wool felt and soap.

5) Rub the wool felt and the soap mixture together until it turns foamy.

6) Try to rub in different directions to ensure that the wool felt strands get more entangled with each other and hence becomes firmer.

Process Documentation:

Front and back view of the abstract design for my felting piece. Colours used: Cream, Beige, Pink, Greyish Purple and Black.

 

 

View after pumping some soap on the piece. Rub the piece firmly in different directions.

After getting a foamy firm piece, get some tissue paper to soak up the excess soapy water from the felt.  While doing so, we can easily create hollow patterns in the felt by either poking our fingers through or by simply spreading them further apart at a certain point.

The pieces got firmer after rubbing it consistently in all directions for some time. After this, I applied the dry felting technique and try to create some waves/tension/curls at some parts of the piece.

This is the final result of the piece I have made for wet felting.

2) Dry Felting 

Materials:

  1. Felted wool
  2. Felting Needle
  3. Foam block or needle cushion

Steps:

  1. Take a desired amount of felt. (Plan colour, amount and type)
  2. Rub the felt taken into a tangled ball between your fingers
  3. Poke the tangled loose ball of felt with the felting needle on top of a sponge block/ cushion until it becomes firm.

Result: 

I attempted to create a miniature figure of my own stuff toy cow. The process was very long and I realised that the position of felt placed and poked at must be very accurate if not the features will be affected. Besides, the amount of felt used has to be taken into consideration carefully. For instance, for the cow I made, the horns are of a different size as I did not measure the amount of felt taken properly.

3) Applique 

For this part, I tried out all the different types of sewing results I can get from the sewing machine so that I can better plan my works and utilise the different sewing types properly.

Overall, I feel that wet felting is a lot faster than dry felting. The result is also more satisfying and we can hence create abstract patterns or ordered patterns much more easily as compared to dry felting.

Applications: 

WET FELTING:

DRY FELTING:

Unconventional materials: Plastic fusing and threads exploration with soluble materials

1) Plastic Fusing:

Materials:

1) plastic bags

2) Food wraps

3) Food Nets

4) Fruit wrap foams

5) Threads and Yarns

Technique:

1) Place a piece of baking paper underneath

2) Layer and design all the materials that are chosen on the baking paper

3) Place another layer of baking paper on top of your design and iron over.

Trial #1)

In the trials for plastic fusing, I would like to explore both unconventional materials from different types of plastics as well as having a green concept. Most of the plastics I have gotten are recycled food wraps from potato chips, bread loaves, garlic, and onion nets, fruit foam nets, etc. Considering that all of these are different types (thickness and quality) of plastics, I am curious as to how they will fuse together under heat from the iron.

Maroon wrap – Bread loaf

Sliver strips – potato chips

Yellow net- garlic holder

Bubble wrap

The bread wrap was the first to have the effects of fusing as it was rather thin. The silver strips were harder to fuse as they were slightly thicker. The yellow net actually shrunk in size visibly to a large extent as the heat was applied causing the layers below to curl and crunch together. The bubble wrap became so thin and because of its transparency, the effect became negligible.

Trial #2

Materials:

  1. Coarser plastic nets from Onions holders
  2. A white plastic bag from grocery shopping

This took an incredibly long time to fuse even though the simple white plastic bag melted quickly. The red netting shrunk in size visibly and due to the shrinking, it has caused the white plastic as well as some netting to crunch up and overlapped. On parts where the netting and white plastic fused together nicely, the effect that I had gotten was a rather nice and thick piece of fusion. However, surrounding the middle area, there is an uneven thickness of fusion especially when the red net overlapped with one another.

Trial #3

Materials:

  1. Fruit Foam Wrap
  2. Yarn Bits
  3. Bread Loaf Wrap
  4. Cereal Food Wrapping

For the third trial, I placed bits of yarn on top of cereal food wrapping and a thin layer of the white plastic bag on top. However, the thin layer of plastic bag fused into the yarn threads quickly and the effect was not as apparent, it also did not look like the yarn bits were attached very well onto the cereal wrap. In order to create a plastic fusion sandwich, I added a piece of maroon bread plastic wrap on top and it created a nice fusion with spongy feels.  The fruit foam wraps, on the other hand, melted into a thin piece of plastic that has a negligible effect on the fusion.

2) Threads with soluble material:

Materials:

Yarns and threads, sewing machine.

Steps:

  1. On a layer of water-soluble sheet, place all desired objects on top of it.
  2. Fold the layer of soluble sheet into 2, covering all the yarns and threads.
  3. Pin all the objects down
  4. Sew along the 4 edges to create a border first before sewing in a grid manner.
  5. Remove the pins that holds the threads and yarn in place as you sew.
  6. After sewing, wet the piece and place it over a bowl or cup to keep the form in shape and leave to dry.

Trial:

Outcome: 

I pressed the woven soluble piece over a rounded overturned plastic container and dissolved the soluble sheet gradually while adjusting the shape of the piece. The process was very gooey and sticky. I felt that the water-soluble material seems to be made from starch, something that is non-toxic and highly soluble. I left it to dry for 1.5 days and this is the result.

Overall, it formed a nice shape and did hardened enough to keep the shape by itself without the plastic container mold. As compared to the plastic fusing technique, this water-soluble technique is slightly more interesting in the sense that it is easier for the fabric to evolve into something more abstract using the patterns/designs/placements of the various threads, yarns and colours used. It is also highly moldable and takes shape after the type of container or cup used to dissolve the water-soluble material. On the other hand, the plastic fusion result is slightly more rigid compared to this. Hence, I do see more potential using the water-soluble technique to create something more diverse and vibrant.

Applications: 

Garments made from plastics.

Garments made from recycled materials.

Water-soluble materials with threading techniques-seamless linearity (projected outcome)

TRANSFER PRINTING:

DRY TRANSFER

Materials used: Satin 100% polyester, Fabric Crayons, Hot iron

Method:

  1. Use crayons to draw designs/textures on paper.
  2. Place your design facing down in contact with the surface of the cloth.
  3. Place the cloth and the paper in between 2 pieces of baking paper.
  4. Ready to iron with firm pressure.

Trying out with the fabric crayons:

My first try was to use the laser cut acrylic template provided. Instead of using the whole template directly, I attempted repeated patterns by using the same selected section of the template. I have also tried blending of colours by layers on top of each other instead of just block-colour styles as usually seen. I felt that by layering the colours, perhaps they can produce a different effect when the heat is applied, and I am curious as to how the layering will turn out. (used: Pink-Blue, Yellow-Pink, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green, Green-Pink, Yellow-Blue combinations of crayons)

For my 2nd attempt, I tried to use objects to inspire patterns. While many other classmates headed out of the class to look for surfaces, I choose to turn to the object nearest to me to be my object of choice- my ink pen. I half-wrapped the paper around the pen and started to do colouring on the paper. By doing so, the paper will take in the grooves as well as the body shape of the pen and I will take these results as the basis of my new pattern. Halfway through the colouring, it reminded me of the sun and ferns, hence I decided to rotate and let it have a flared-out pattern in the end. (picture on the upper half)

Next, I attempted to draw something I personally have a liking towards- feathers. I tried overlapping colours and feathers of different lengths and sizes. I also tried using different amount of force when drawing these feathers (harder and lighter) to create a sense of depth. I am also curious to see how that will turn out during the heat transfer. (picture on the lower half)

After the first 2 attempts, I headed out of the class to find interesting surfaces. The paper is split into 3 portions (top-down).

First portion: Resting black benches (aka smoking area) at ADM B1 sunken plaza.

Second Portion: Lecture theatre chairs at B1 level, the knob joint of the turning tabletop. For this, I coloured a smooth layer of background colour on the cushion chair first before colouring on top of the turning knob.

Third Portion: I coloured on top of the knob directly without any background colour.

IRONING:

Before ironing, I have cut and trimmed the portions of these difference textures accordingly. These are the results I have gotten from the crayons. The first 2 pictures are significantly more vibrant compared to the last 2. For those that have lighter pressures from the crayons on the drawings, there is a lighter effect and some can hardly be seen at all- especially the textures from the ADM benches (last picture).

 

WET TRANSFER

Materials used: Satin 100% polyester, Disperse Dyes, Brushes, Paper, Heat Press

Method:

  1. Use brushes with some water to paint designs on paper.
  2. Place your design facing down in contact with the surface of the cloth.
  3. Place the cloth and the paper in between 2 pieces of baking paper.
  4. Ready for heat press (about 35 seconds).

Trying out with the disperse fabric dyes:

Upper Half: I tried painting a light background first and shaped the brush tip to a u-shape to make abstract patterns.

Lower Half: Using the same U-shape tip brush, I drew petals and flowers using a stamping method (stamping the u-shape). There is also a deliberate attempt with a gradient colour scheme from red to reddish-brown to orange to yellow)

Upper Half: Using the watercolour-splatter technique, I created a splash like effect for this piece.

Lower Half: I wanted sharp distinct strokes for this and hence proceeded to use a bold colour (concentrate red) with sharp cutting strokes, resembling a sword-like effect.

HEAT PRESS DIRECT TRANSFER: 

Before moving on to the heat press, I have trimmed and cut out the different portions of the paintings accordingly. For the first attempt, I heat pressed twice using the same piece as I wanted to achieve a patterned kind of textile. As observed, the lower half which was the first attempt, was significantly brighter than the upper half, which was the second attempt. It slightly lighter in colour with the same amount of time used.

With the second attempt at the heat press, I printed my other designs and they turned out somewhat desirable. Initially, I thought that the splatter effect will possibly appear very light on the fabric but thankfully it turned out fine.

HEAT PRESS INDIRECT TRANSFER:

Method:

  1. Place baking paper on heat press machine board.
  2. Place object of choice (around 1-2mm) facing down in contact with the surface of the cloth.
  3. Place the paper on the cloth with another piece of baking paper on top.
  4. Ready for heat press (about 45 seconds)

The upper half of the fabric was still direct transfer. However, I used indirect transfer for the lower half of the fabric. My object of choice was the leaves of the fir tree. As observed, the grooves and shape of the leaves got imprinted onto my fabric. During the heat-press, after 35 seconds, there was a slight burning smell and I quickly lifted the heat press only to find my leaf a little burnt. I suppose the choice of the leaf was too thick to have any nice effect on the fabric and I made a mental note to choose something thinner the next time I am doing indirect transfer for heat press.

Applications: 

Transfer printing on ceramics.

Transfer printing on wood.

Transfer printing for clothes