Category Archives: DR2007-SURFACE DESIGN (TUT)

9/10: Etching, Resin

Etching

Etching is the production of a pattern or design by eating into the material. Applications of this method can be seen on fabrics used for pillows, scarfs, and etching can also be done on other materials, such as wood.

Materials required
Silk Screen
Squeegee
Fiber Remover
Velvet Silk

Just like silk screening printing, place the silkscreen on top of the velvet fabric.

Then, pour the fiber remover, and spread it across with the squeegee firmly.  Once that’s done,  lay it out to dry in the sun.

When it’s dry, lay a cloth over and ironed it until the dried fiber remover chars.

Then, use a brush to scrape off the charred parts.

I think something to take note is to apply the fiber remover properly because I think for mine, it wasn’t applied well, and so I wasn’t able to properly burn the remover and wasn’t able to come out properly:(

 

Resin

Materials required
A mould to hold the resin
Resin
Hardener
Optional: Whatever you’d like to add to the resin!

For the resin, you’d need to measure the amount of resin and hardener to form the mixture in the ratio of 10:1 and mix thoroughly.

Once done, pour the mixture into the mould and allow it to dry. Do not touch as it will get hot!!!

Unfortunately, I do not have the end results due to the covid19 situation and wasn’t able to retrieve them =(

7: thermoplastics

a thermoplastic is a material( usually a plastic polymer) that softens when heated and hardens when cooled. this week, we used different objects that we could find, to make shapes with the polyester fabrics. This method can be used for creating different objects, such as lampshades, clothing, and jewelry as well.

I made use of pebbles and tied them within the fabric. I also used some aluminum foil to scrunch up the ends of the fabric for a different texture.

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then, we wrapped the entire thing up with aluminum so that it was more secure and threw them into a pot to boil.

they were boiled in hot water for 45 mins – 1 hour and taken out to cool and dry.

 

removed the pebbles and aluminum foil

and this was the result!

(Could look like a necklace piece hahaaaa)

I think the objects helped to shape the fabric more obviously, compared to the scrunching of the cloth. Although it can be seen, the rounded pebble shapes produced a prettier and fuller shape!

6: knitting

knitting is the use of yarn to manipulate to create a textile or fabric and is commonly used in garments. it can be done both by hand or by a machine.

for me, I followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_R1UDsNOMk to learn the basics of knitting.

First, you’d need to make a slip knot:

 

 

Then to cast on the stitch,

and to start knitting:

first, you slip the needle closer to the “knot”, forming an ‘X’ shape

then grab the yarn that is connected to the ball, and slip it in between the two needles

take the needle (right) and slip it into the left side

and slide it out of the left needle

and pull!

This was my initial try at knitting and it was challenging at first because it kept loosening, and I would mix up on which way to put the needle through.

I decided to try it with a different material, something tougher and more rigid. initially it was a little tough because it got too tight and stiff, but after making more layers it got manageable!

Knitting has always been something that I was very keen on trying and I’m really glad I got to do it for this class! I’m pretty sure that I will adopt knitting for my final piece too :)

5: smocking, stitching with elastics

This week in class, we were introduced to 2 techniques: smocking & stitching with elastics. But I was only able to try the smocking technique because I was slOW…..

This is my attempt at smocking:

First, you have to draw the grid uniformly (which I realized later on that it is quite important to), and trace out the path that you’re supposed to take!

For me, I decided to try this template:

To give this:

My first attempt with this material wasn’t great and I wasn’t able to see the pattern clearly:

I then tried it again with felt and because it was a thicker and tougher material, the pattern was more prominent!

I actually think smocking is fun but pretty challenging because you really do need a lot of patience and you have to be very meticulous! But the result is really pretty so it is a technique that I would consider for my final piece!!

4: Felting

Wet Felting

For wet felting, we had to loosen up the felt to create our desired pattern, add hot water and soap, and “massage” the fabric into the pattern and shape that we want.

(I tried making a watermelon but it shrank a lot)

I think I’d like to try this again because my previous attempt was way too small… and I may have misinterpreted the technique. It’d be great to be able to make something like a quilt or a small purse using this technique!

Dry Felting

This was pretty fun and I worked on smaller pieces just to try how it’s like!

3: creating unconventional fabric using threads, plastic

For this week, the first technique required the use of plastic materials to create our own unconventional fabric.

Plastics

I used the usual kinds of plastic bags that we get on a daily basis, as well as straws, and tried layering them. But I realized that the colours didn’t go well together since they were just ordinary plastic bags:

The layering didn’t go too well as well, because of the thickness of the patterns I tried making.

I also tried using clear plastic (ziploc bags) as a “holder” for the other plastic materials in my next try and I think this worked better because now you can clearly see the contents within and this way I can come up with a patterned fabric.

(they’re supposed to resemble flowers….)

I actually really like this method because it gives me more control over the material and I think its a really versatile technique to work with as well! I’d like to try this more to see what other materials I can combine this with.

Water-soluble materials

The second method was to make use of a water-soluble material to hold the different fabrics and threads, thereafter using a sewing machine to sew everything together. Once done, dissolve the material to get your put-together fabric!

For me, I tried but its currently still a WIP because I feel like I have to get a better hang of the sewing machine first!!! And I will update this once I have done so!

Here’s what I currently have: (not enough sewing to secure the threads inside)