12. Soft robotics¶
Concept¶
I wanted to keep going with the subject I've explored in week 03 (Circular Open Source Fashion), and still work on the idea of flower growing as an ornement onto the skin. I find the way of flower growing on the body similar to a living jewel or living couture. From a cinematography/visual vision, I have the image of flowers wraping around the human body - maybe as we can see in video clips from Bjork or others artists working with organic elements aesthetics.
Process¶
I designed the shape of a poisonous flower, taking the shapes from old illustrated boards gathering dangerous plants from France.
I enjoyed the "Jusquiame Noire" plant that I selected, reminded me of the ornamental shapes I made with the jewels in week 03.
I wanted to use some black vinyl layer and the two left were about 24cm wide. So I adjusted my design to this size and started the process of laser cutting.
Here you can find the cutting file :
I really liked the very thin and meticulous cutting it has made using baking paper (but I previously burnt one sample because the paper was not flat enough so I guess it touched the laser at some point). Obviously, for baking paper, the correct settings are those seen in the screenshot (95;15).
I placed the ornament onto the vinyl layer and just let a small part of the leaf sticking out to have an air inlet. I ironed two vinyl layers one on the each other with the baking paper in between.
I cut (with cutter and scissors) around the shapes to follow the flower form (approximately) and the result is a moving vinyl leaf that could be repeated, enlarged (or assembled with other forms) to create an accessory or costume encompassing the body like a living plant.
