Process¶
Ideation & sketches¶
Hello,
Welcome to my process page, here Im going to share the tests, trials and all sorts of experiments I have gone through during my Traces project.
In order to make fast tests while Im waiting for my tinctorial plants I used tea, coffee and chinese ink.
Tea dyeing¶
I made a good strong teapot of Puerh tea that is my favorite for its intensity of the color and taste and diped the paper for the whole night leaving some dry paper out that it can absorb and grow up though the fibers of the paper as in chromotoraphy technique that Angela Barbour recommended me to look into.
Coffee dyeing¶
Coffee dying was intersting to test as it seem to be a drink that is there in our daily life and what it can do. The same I left the paper in my coffee cup for the whole night.
Results¶
I was surprised in a good way as it made beautiful earth colors that are well suited to the artisanal paper to accomplish its beauty.
Chinese Ink dyeing¶
And the last "quick and dirty" test I made was with Chinese Ink that I had in my atelier.
Beewax test¶
And here is a test of waxing in order to make it water-resistant and also to seperate wrinkles from surface of the paper:
I used a tutorial from here: https://www.auntannie.com/CraftRecipes/WaxingPaper/
¶
Textile grinder¶
I love the idea of recycling as it makes the things go back to the origins and create something new from old and so on, thars how it should be with everything.
So I grinded my textile waste from fabrication of garments in Precious Plastic grinder at Oullins Textile Lab. You need preprepear your fabrics - to cut them into smalles pieces that it can grind it, otherwise its going to stuck or just not cut it. Another thing to remember is that if you want to make paper afterwards with your grinded textiles - you need to select only cotton or linen and best if you dont mix them.(At least thats what I know for now, the information keep extending). So here we go some pictures from the process:
Mentoring notes¶
Here are feedbacks from MId-Term presentations:¶
Live Feedback from Diane: Great that you had some time to film yourself in the dress ! :heart: And i LOVE the landscape video of the paper at the end
Feedback from Ricardo
Storytelling : the name is great, it makes sense The connection with your personal preference is good ; you might talk a bit more about the relevance of paper as a material to humanity in general
Some references for use of paper in fashion, you should mention some of them (Jum Nakao : https://artwearblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/paper-art-fashion-from-jum-nakao/ )
I was imagining the sound of the paper wrinkles ; if you could incorporate the sound somehow it would be great
Is the design gonna be a dress or a shirt ?
No color on the prototype, but you’re experimenting with colors as well ?
The simplest design the better, so you can have the traces on it. Not even sure if the dyeing is necessary, or just dye afterwards maybe
For me, 3d printing doesn’t have much connection right now with the project. For example : have the people wearing to create the traces, and afterwards you can trace the traces, and 3d print on something else, maybe ?
Another thing you should consider to include : interview the people you selected to wear, to ask how was their experience, if they behaved differently, if it brought any memories… very subjective
Google “Cultural probes”
Cecilia
Thought about the wearer : do you have a way that they can tell you how their day went ? Was it calm, were they tired, what did they do that day ?
Also the dress was very beautiful, and would give you different traces, if you have time !
Laser-cutting : 1 sheet of paper, perforated with the laser, and that’s how you receive the dress
For the 3d printing and the color : less is more
Angela
This year : an exhibition Paper Alive
(i did not catch the rest of Angela’s references sorry !)
Here are feedbacks from The Final presentation:¶
Diane Great presentation ! I like that you included the history of your previous projects ! And a big bravo for the video ! Amazing to see the 3 people wearing the jackets !! And I loved the paper sounds at the end !
Cecilia
Congratulations ! Do you see a pattern, a conclusion, on the 3 different jackets, at he end ?
Ricardo
Thank you, the presentation was really nice, i enjoyed it ! I remember your project from the midterms, and I’m really glad that you kept it simple It’s a hard decision to know where to stop, and you have the right balance
Really like the sentence at the beginning, but maybe put in a clearer way the reference if it was not you
Really enjoy the performance aspect of your work, it puts in evidence the life experience of the user, it’s very nice. I reflects the daily life of the people in a simple and poetic way
“they are different but similar” → like the human condition, and you capture this, it’s something difficult to do
Don’t know if you’re aware or not, but you use design principles that exist :
experience prototype : develop something and give it to the user cultural probes as well link for your future research, maybe start analyzing this, maybe do some interviews, asking them what they felt, how they behaved, did it chagne the way they move around, their use of space ?
With your project you can tackle these questions on an emotional, subtle level
This is the power i see in your work