The Textile Scaffold

Structural Skin by Oficina Panedes is a self-produced material made out of leftovers and offcuts from the leather industry

Box, boiled leather, 15th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

vambrace (armour for the upper arm) , boiled leather, 14th century, British Museum

assignments

Tools cooking pot, digital weight, coffee filters, stove, container, aluminium foil, object or fabric to cristallize

prepare the material you want to cristallize
weight 200g of alum powder per 1l of water
heat the water (but don't boil it) and add alum powder
stir the solution constantly
optionally, you may want to add food dye or other additives
filter the solution through a coffee filter into a container, you want the cristallization process to take place in
cover the top of the container with alluminium foil
do not move the container until the process is finished, it may cause the newly forming crystals to fall down and crystallize on the bottom of the container

The crystals didn't grow as expected, they formed only small pieces. The blue dye colored everything...except the crystals

Fix your material to the cnc bed. Make sure not to use any metal parts or screws near the mill operation field. Best use additional pieces of wood, screwed to the bed, that apply pressure to the piece of material for cutting.
If there's a bit in the spindle, remove it. Clean any leftovers or chips with an air compressor. Put in the bit with parameters fitting your purpose. Make sure it's fixed tightly.
Set the X and Y home position based on your material
Set the Z home position. Fab Lab BCN has an automated system with a dedicated device ( Z probe). Make sure the bit is in the middle of the button before turning on the automatic calibration
Turn on the chip vacuum, if available
Put on safety gear - safety glasses and headphones. If applies: tie your hair and make sure no clothing or jewellery is dangling.
Turn the machine on
Stay by the machine, near the emergency stop red button, as long as it's operating. Keep excess people away
Pay attention to the sounds the machine makes, expecially the bit breaking