11. Textile Scaffold

This week is all about making structures out of textile and biomaterials. One of my favorite weeks building and sculpturing.

we had a choice to experiment with:
- making composites (combining two or more materials)
- leather molding
- fabric framework
- crystallization
- wood + textiles
- digital and biological fabrication
- and to aid with some of these experiments: cnc milling was going to be a useful tool to help us create molds for casting

As rico puts it: we explored soft electorics, soft robotics, now it's time for "soft Structure"

Here are some examples of Textile as Scaffold from the lecture:

The last one is one part of alumni Hana Gonzalez' final project. She used grasshopper to design a parametric pattern on a mannequin, then cnc'd foam for leather molding. It is stunning and a huge inspiration for me this week.

research and references

I was overwhelmed with different ideas, thanks to the number of projects that exist out there.

Even though I didn't fit in this experiment this week, I love this wool+biomaterial composite Hana Gonzalez tried out during her biofabrication week.

At the start of the week, I was planning to cnc my molds. I thought this parametric tufting design would have been a great tile mold to cast concrete in. Always fun to see the contrast of a soft shape with hard material.

like this quilted glasswork by Hanna Hasdotter

I love this bubblewrap lamp, as seen on Simon Lewis Wards' Instagram. Casting a biomaterial on bubble wrap and sculpting it around a mannequin would've been another cool thing to try.

Using an old rug, or other bendable junk to cast concrete seems like a wonderful upcycling idea. It's giving someone's trash is another's treasure. This one was done by Johannes Budde, furniture designer.

I love this artwork done by Philippa Beveridge entitled Human Shield. I think it is made out of glass, but I think a top made out of a flexible biomaterial with images printed onto transparencies would look so good as a top or body suit.

I love this resin chair designed by Gaetano Pesce.

And these chairs made with silicone material stretched over a structure to create beautiful scultural chairs. These are designed by Hannah Levy.

experiments

gh mold designing

i was really inspired by Hana Gonzalez' final project (all three outfits) and I wanted to try and learna bit more of grasshopper this week. i spent about a whole day trying to apply a surface design onto the surface of a model's body but could not for the life of me figure it out. i suppose not knowing what the tool is called on gh, i was doomed from the start because I was unable to research tutorials for it. I'm not sure if its called surface mapping? Drape?

Anywho, i had fun with this Image Sampler tutorial for gh. Here are my results:

After I sampled some images onto a surface, i tried the UnrollSurface command to apply it to a cone shape "skirt". Some cool results, but still need loads of practice

plaster+textile casting

some paper-mache like experiemnt for quick results ! this one dried and solidified over night. i applied only 1 layer of textile and plaster but 1 or 2 more layers would really strengthen the structure. or even a a layer of bio-resin painted on the back.

i wanted to play with the folds on the casting. i also used a pipette to spray some leftover gromwell natural dye. it looked like a blood bath when first applied, then dried into a purplish color.

I cut strips of fabric, dunked it in the plaster mixture and then applied it to a mannequin covered in saran wrap.

After 2-3 days:

biomaterial castings

1. top

for this top, i dunked an entire scrap of fabric into the bioresin pot and casted it on the mannequin. I twisted some parts like in shibori. it dried overnight and is quite strong!

after 1 night:

1. skirt

i was inspired by this jelly looking material in these gucci shorts and this pattern on a Yokoshiki Hishinuma blouse

started by cooking the biofoam recipe (gellatine based) i experimented with in week 6:biofabricating. i chose this recipe because it is strong, didn't shrink much, and super stretchy and flexible. i thought it would be a fun material for a skirt.

to add some structure, i added threads the first day, and the second day for the second casting, i added a flat piece of fabric in the middle. i also colored some leftover bio-resin i made for the shirt casting and it solidified sooo quick into globs but i still added it to my bio-foam casting. i sort of like it still. it looks like that Yokoshiki Hishinuma blouse i referenced ... imo haha

after 2-3 or 4 days i removed it from the tray. i love the matte sort of look it achieved from being casted in the metal tray.

its so bendy

in this video, you can see it wrapping around my leg and thigh very easily. I can imaging casting a larger piece to go around my waist, or more of these trays and connecting the pieces by connecting the threads that hold them.

concrete casting

lastly, rico and i collaborated on this concrete textile casting. we did some woodworking and built a bench sort of structure to drape the fabric onto.

we crissed crossed rope across the structure then nailed the fabric on top. then mixed concrete and started pouring it onto the fabric.

still need to wait for the results and the concrete to dry...

after about 3 weeks, Rico removed the concrete from its cast

i think it's gorgeous. it can now function as a gorgeous garden ornament/sculpture

reflections

• i had so much fun sculpting this week with soft materials and biomaterials
• this week highly influenced my ideations for my final project, i want to create larger scaffolds that can be worn like an armor
• so many experiments i'd love to try out still, or hope to influence other students to try it out in the upcoming years.