Printed Textiles – Kayleigh Mace

Thermochromics

Kayleigh — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 21:28:53 +0000

Moving on from the black thermochromic ink I wanted to test some of the other colours available. I decided to try 2 colours as they fit with the colours from my palette. These were a purple that changed the neon pink with heat and a yellow that turns neon yellow with heat. I tested them on a few colours and found that they only worked on the light colours, the dark fabrics absorbed the colours so they couldn't be seen. I'm happy with how they look on a white background so will be using them like this however if I wanted to use it on a dark fabric I could try discharging the fabric first and printing over the top of that.

The purple changed colour really well and there is a distinct difference in the change but the yellow is much more subtle and difficult to see. The print was tested on a few different white or light fabrics and worked on them all but with some variation on how solid the lines were. The print did not cover the organza as well as the cotton for example due to the structure of the fabric so a solid base will be required for the best appearance.

Going forward I will be using the purple within my samples as it works much better than the yellow. I will perhaps test the yellow again on an idea as I still have it to experiment with but with the change not working well I wouldn't want to rely on it as the feature of a design.

Digital Prints

Kayleigh — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 20:00:32 +0000

It was suggested from my first presentation to consider digitally printing some of light movement images and the ones with the colour palettes on. I decided to look back through the images to see if there were any that could work as prints. I narrowed them down but found a lot had other things going on that I wouldn't want in the prints such as signs and performers. To resolve this I loaded the images in photoshop and experimented with the scale and placement making them larger and focusing on certain areas of the images. What I found was that it then created areas which were in focus and others that were blurred but they seemed to work well together. I printed them onto paper first so that I could narrow them down to see which worked best together and picked 8 to work with initially.

I like the colours on these images and can see how I could easily work into them with stitch. One image has been put into a repeat as the lines worked well to create a stripe pattern. I will be printing them onto a silk crepe as from the samples on display it showed the colours in bright tones well and had a good weight.

Collection Development

Kayleigh — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:23:39 +0000

From producing the design ideas I have had I was noticing that some of them were not all working together and that there seemed to be some divides in my work. To get a better picture I decided to put all the samples together and then group them into smaller 'collections' to see if they worked better in smaller groups. I found that not only did this work but it created smaller stories that had a much clearer narrative to them then trying to force all the ideas onto one larger collection. From this I have decided that I will now work with this idea and create samples for each collection. I'm planning on coming up with a name for each collection and tag line to best describe its aesthetic. For now however they are simply numbered with key words to describe the aesthetic and techniques that I plan to use in each.

Collection 1

Collection 2

Collection 3

By doing this I can also see how much of each colour has been used to date so that I can get a better of idea of what more is needed in each collection and how to tie everything together.

Premiere Vision

Kayleigh — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 11:48:59 +0000

I have been fortunate enough to be able to visit Premiere Vision this year in Paris, a trade show that I have been wanting to attend for some time. It was everything i had expected and more and, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The show was much larger than I have expected with 6 halls filled with suppliers. I researched which companies were going to be attending prior to arriving and downloaded the app for the event. On this I could select the companies I wanted to see the stands of and it would bookmark them. I could then select to view where they were within the show and it would show on the map exactly where their stand was. There were so many different suppliers that I decided I had to be specific about who I was most interested in potentially seeing and for me this was textile studios and embroidery design suppliers. I am happy to say that I was able to speak to most of the companies I had wanted to meet and was also able to secure contacts to get in touch with regards to potential work opportunities in the future.

An area I wanted to look at was how the studios presented themselves and their work at a studio so that I could get a better idea of how I might present myself and my work. I was looking to see how they finished their samples which ranged from rolled hems to simply being cut which, caused a lot of fraying to the designs. I had also noticed some studios presented their samples on headed cards about A3 in size where as others created garment shapes. Speaking to one of the studios, I inquired as to whether they found this made any difference and they felt it would hinder their work as clients would struggle to see the design being used for anything other than that shape. Another studio that was producing exclusively embroidery and embellishment designs felt however that it was necessary to help buyers see how the design could be used. I could see shaping working for some designs, especially when they are created for the neckline so perhaps it is something I could consider for certain design ideas.

I got the chance to look up close at some of the designs as ask about what techniques they were using. I was surprised to hear that one of the studios was already using 3D printing which I was told is big in the China market. A lot of the embroidery was clearly machine stitched but there were some interesting hand embellished pieces where techniques had been pushed. There were also a range of styles on show, floral's were the most common designs on display but i did see some more abstract and conversational embellishment designs. One studio also provided designs in a few colourways for clients to see, I hadn't thought this was needed but i was informed that some buyers struggle to see past the colours the design is presented in at the show. Looking at these highlighted how studios had grouped their collections too with many creating stories containing 8-10 designs. Some were grouped based on colour and others on what their content was for example floral's or geometric designs. This is something I could consider in my work as I am starting to find that it looking a bit separated at times. Its also encouraging to see the use of new techniques with studios showing how they can push ideas to create something original.

Print Development

Kayleigh — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 22:48:07 +0000

This week i did some further testing on the colour-shifting pigment to test how different black materials took the technique. There were mixed results as seen below. All of the materials took the printing however its strength varies between each fabric. The organza shows the pattern when exposed to light but can't be seen very well in all lights. The wool hardly took the print at all, more pulls might have been needed but the texture of the fabric might play a part in why it didn't work as well. The polyester took the print well although the print does appear slightly darker on it but again more pulls might be needed. Finally the leather was by far the most successful of the 4, the material held the print well and it shows through the effect better than any other tested to date. Knowing this I can plan a design to use the colour-shifting pigment to be printed onto the leather.

I also tried painting the thermochromic printing ink onto the digital embroidered leaves I had done the day before. The leaves were the wrong way round due to my mistake and too large to for the same pattern exposed onto the screen. As the plan was to print on top of the leaves with the thermochromic printing ink I decided to try painting it on in thin layers. The ink does react to heat well although despite best efforts it hasn't spread completely evenly onto the embroidery and so the colour change shows some the irregular surface. Its good to see it does work to paint on top of the embroidery so perhaps this is something the try printing properly on top of it later.

Finally i tested the photochromic printing ink however this caused a lot of problems. I hadnt realised that it was in fact a plastisol which meant that it had an oil based binder instead of a water based one. Although plastisol's are industry standard they are not permitted for use at the university as special chemicals have to be used to clean the screen. After getting help from the technicians to clean the screen I was told that I wouldn't be able to print with it and also wouldn't be able to use the glow in the dark or hydrochromic as it didn't say what type they were. I may be able to paint with these inks onto fabrics however i'd struggle to get an even layer. Other options include seeing they will allow me to use pigments mixed with a water based binder myself however i'm not sure if this would work. The samples i did print had to be heat fixed and it was suggested to do it in the heat press by holding it over the top but not shutting it. Although this dried the ink testing afterwards showed that it didn't work and there was no colour change. This could be due to not setting it as instructed as I was unable to do it at the uni. Despite the change in colour not working the contrast of surfaces does work really well so perhaps there is another way I could achieve this effect.

Printing with smart pigments

Kayleigh — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:00:36 +0000

Having purchased a trial pack of smart inks for screen printing I have begun to test how the work and look on fabrics. The designs I am printing are taken from my sketchbook and are a range of outlines, motifs and shading. I exposed the screen below to allow me to test the different drawings on a range of fabrics. I did print them on tracing paper which has exposed however next time it will need to be darker as some of the lines did not come out completely clearly.

The inks in the trial pack included thermochromic, photochromic, hydrochromic and glow in the dark. I also ordered a colour changing powder which changes from blue to purple when the fabric moves. All the inks came pre-mixed or with a binder apart from the colour changing powder however there was a spare binder in the print room I was able to use. For the initial tests I have worked with the thermochromic and colour changing pigments as it doesn't state how long the inks last once mixed and I didn't want them to become unusable if I mixed them all in one day.

The tests worked really well on flat fabrics changing colour from black to white once heated. I tested printing onto embroidered samples and although it does work it did make the embroidery become hard. Further testing will be needed to establish whether or not this will work if it was used on flat machine embroidery.

The colour changing pigments were also successful when used on dark fabrics however when used on lighter fabric it simply came out a flat shade of pink. I am glad I decided to test this now as going forward I know I would only be able to use this printing on a dark base fabric.

More testing will be needed to find the best base fabrics to work with and if the therrmochromic ink can be successfully used on top of embroidery.