Design Development – 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.

New Design Ideas

Kayleigh — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 15:05:13 +0000

I had a few ideas that I wanted to test and get out of my system so I could see them with my development work. I wanted to explore manipulation on the surface through altering the materials. I started with creating a 3D surface with the tubular crin weaving it with another fabric. The technique created layers to the surface and could be developed to create a 3D sample.

I then had an idea to recreate a goldwork technique but with acetate folding a strip over a shape. The technique worked well to create layers but not on the base fabric as it distorted it due to its lightweight.

Continuing with the same idea I cut sequin strips and manipulated them on the surface of different fabrics. This created a few potential ideas that could work well in samples. The final one had the added feature of manipulating the fabric when it retreats. This idea means I can use embellishment to create a stretch like fabric from a non stretch fabric.

Finally I looked at using distress as a type of fringing to vary the techniques I was using for the idea. I have layered different fabrics and manipulated the edges by distressing them.

E-textiles light sensor experiment

Kayleigh — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:22:13 +0000

I ordered lots of e-textiles bits a few weeks ago and have been testing them to see how they work. I started with a battery holder with a built in light sensor which turns the leds on when the light level drops. I tried stitching a parallel circuit following a shape from my visual research to see if I could work out how to do it.

After I had completed the circuit and checked that it was working I attached clear tubes to the leds so I could test a design idea I had. I wanted to see if the light would travel down the tubes and create a fibre optic look. The tubing is quite stiff and difficult to work with so I will need to find something that is more flexible but for the technical testing it worked ok. I tested the idea in a dark room and these were the results.

The light does travel a bit but not as much as I had expected. I do however like the appearance of it with a subtle glow down the tube. The stitching of the conductive thread has come loose from being handled a lot so this is something I will need to address for the final design. I will also use more flexible tubing and smaller pieces as they are quite long due to it's lack of flexibility. 1 battery will light 5 leds as shown so this will need to be considered in the final design. I will be looking at using 2 batteries to power 10 leds and I'm hoping 2 sensors would react the same to the varying light levels.

More 3D printing embellishments

Kayleigh — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:14:02 +0000

Following on from my original tests I spent more time in rhino learning what I could do on the program. I really wanted to create ideas and shapes that were unique and couldn't be replicated through techniques such as laser cutting which is something I've used a lot in the past. At first it was difficult to get my head around how to create the 3D shapes accurately but with lots of practice I managed to produce some shapes I was happy with.

I learnt how to create a 'wavy' shape from drawing a motif in the top view and then editing the points in the right view so that the lines were no longer flat. The result was a 3D leaf shape that has movement no longer sits flat in the surface like the previous shapes.

From researching I came across a tool called cage edit which allowed me to edit lots of point on a shape and change their height to create caved in shapes. I used this tool on the flat leaf shapes I had drawn to create a 3 D surface which I lend put holes into. I wanted to combine some of the shapes in my research I felt a simple shape would work best with a leaf.

After these I continued to create a variety of shapes that I could use which resulted in these. They were all inspired by shapes in my visual research and created using the skills I had developed in the program. I'm really pleased with my progress and what I've been able to create in a short time. I now feel I have to confidence to work on these skills and refine them in the future to use the software more in my designs. I came onto the MA degree wanted to be able to use 3D printing and now I can.

So from these I selected the most appropriate shapes and 3D printed them.

They came out really well although you can start to see how the clear resin is affecting the glowing qualities in some of them. When printing the finals this is something I will need to consider and place them accordingly or use it as a feature. What was surprising was that the spring shape does in fact spring so has movement which was exciting and the shape sizes were also exactly what I had hoped. Going forward I will be printing the tubes, medium and small size, and the swirls. I would also like to print the leaf with the holes however the technician would like to try making a mold and casting it as an alternative method.

3D printing tests

Kayleigh — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:51:03 +0000

After testing the glow in the dark resin and developing some simple shapes from my visual research in Rhino and Maya I finally got the chance to 3D print some ideas. We had decided to use 1 part glow pigment to 3 part resin so started with mixing the printing resin in a cup with the pigment. It took quite a bit of mixing to get the consistency smooth as the pigment made the resin mixture thicker. Once mixed it was added to an empty cartridge and put into the machine with an older tray. As this was a new test for the machine and university we were unsure how it was going to work or if it even would but thankfully it seems to have worked really well. I was particularly grateful that the university were kind enough to pay for half of the mixture to help with costs provided they could use some of it to print their own examples with it being new to the university. The tank has to have a certain amount of resin it in to print so it had to have more resin in it than will actually to be used. It unfortunately also means that some of it will potentially be wasted if it cant be used in another way.

We decided to print solid shapes to begin with including 3 straight lines of varying lengths and 1 curved line. In addition to these we also printed 2 leaf shapes and, a screw and bolt for the uni. The mixture does clearly need shaking to re mix it before use to make sure it doesn't clog up the cartridge and that the pigments don't sink to the bottom.

The print took 3 hours and once finished had to be removed from the plate and washed in an alcohol bath.

After this the components were placed in a UV machine to set for an hour. The machine changed up the UV pigments in the components making them glow really bright when they were removed. This also proved that the process had worked with all the components glowing strongly when the lights were turned off.

The pigment had spread fairly evenly within the pieces with only the thinner layers showing some slight inconsistency. They aren't too heavy in weight either although if a lot were used in one sample it would make it quite heavy. Due to the weight I have stitched them onto neoprene and they would need to be used on a base fabric that could support their weight.

The appearance is plastic and so this needs to be considered in their use and there is a slight rough texture but I was informed they were printed on the lowest quality setting. I can see how these pieces could be used in my work and i'm excited to produce a design with the components. Next we are testing the hollow grid shapes to see how the scaffolding affects the design and whether they could be printed on this machine.

A start on 3D Modelling

Kayleigh — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 23:15:35 +0000

As a part of my project I really wanted to try 3D printing. Its a growing part of the industry in its early stages at the minute but it has great potential for expansion. I have read companies discussing how it could be used in the future due to the advancement of 3D scanning. Garments could be created to fit the wearer perfectly with no waste material so it also has some sustainable benefits. For me there are 2 ideas I want to look into which are producing elements to embellish onto fabrics and having motifs come out from the material and re-enter it without having to be attached. I have started on ideas for the first designs looking at the shapes from the light movement images. As the final result will have a plastic appearance I felt these shapes would work best. These are the first ideas:

I want to do straight tubes as well as curved but thought it best to start with the straight lines. As I would like to try and stitch between them or fill them I have looked firstly at a diamond structure similar to the tubular crin. I like this shape but would also like to try others such as rounded holes.

I've then started to bend the shape to get more movement into it.

The first problems I have encounted are when I have tried to bend it off the surface or back on itself. The tube seems to twist and struggles with the shape. I need to re look at whether its how the tube has been built and possibly start from scratch with this one building it a different way. The designs have been built in Maya a program that's good for 3D modelling and saved as an STL file. I've been fortunate that my husband happens to be trained in this program so has been able to assist me in how to use it. It is very different from any program I've used before and hard work to think in 3D but I'm picking it up which is the main thing. Either way its a start and I am pleased with the progress.

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.

Development Sketchbook

Kayleigh — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 00:05:25 +0000

To evaluate my design ideas I am recording them in a development sketchbook. I'm using this method so that I can record scale and placement ideas, technique research and the development of how the idea could be used in a final sample for fashion. These are examples of some of the pages in the sketchbook and I pretty pleased with them. I'm not normally one for lots of annotation but I'm making a conscious effort to record all of my thought process.

Scale/Placement/Fabric text/Paper tests/Technique and designer research

Colour ideas/On the stand/evaluating garment options

Sleeve development/Design research/Fashion drawing ideas

Laser cutting and engraving

Kayleigh — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 14:13:30 +0000

I made a start on laser cutting and engraving some design ideas this week with mixed results. The engraving of the sheer fabrics at first didn't work and was cutting through the fabric. Adjusting the settings on the machine resulted in the fabrics being lightly engraved with the pattern. The green dyed organza left a white pattern when it was engraved making it slightly more clearer however the design does have a subtle appearance. To make this idea work we made need to increase the strength so the engraving is slightly deeper or look at layering another material underneath as this seems to show it up more.

One of the designs involving cut-through and engraving caused a few problems. At first the design turned out to be wrong which was my fault, i had put in lines to be cut that didn't need to be resulting in a completely different look. Once corrected and tested on paper we first engraved the fabric with the leaves design. The image didn't appear very strongly at first so we had the machine go back over it which created a shadow effect on the surface. It was unexpected however I like to look so it is now a happy little accident that has become a part of the design, hopefully it can re-created later if I make the full scale version.

Finally I had my other leaves design cut into leather, having a small test of the shape cut first showed it was the right material use as it holds the shape well. We did adjust the layout in APS-Ethos as the individual leaves were too close together and would have cause problems with the material holding the structure. I was very happy with the outcome of this design, it works exactly as I had hoped now its a matter so texting materials underneath and textile applications to see what works best as an overall design.