10. Textile Scaffold¶

Research¶

describe what you see in this image

The Fabricademy program, an academy of textiles and technology, includes in its program "Textile as Scaffold". This topic focuses on the use of textiles as support structures, or "scaffolds," in various applications. The importance of textiles as scaffolds in the fashion and textile industries lies in their potential to create innovative and functional garments and products. The unique properties of textiles, such as their flexibility, strength, and biocompatibility, make them an ideal choice for developing new technologies and applications. Textiles as scaffolds can be used in the fashion industry to:

* Create garments with new shapes and textures: Textiles as scaffolds can be used to shape and structure garments, allowing for the creation of innovative and avant-garde designs.

* Develop functional garments: Textiles can be integrated with technologies such as sensors or actuators, creating smart garments that respond to the user's needs.

* Improve ergonomics and comfort: Textiles as scaffolds can be used to create garments that better fit the body, providing greater comfort and support.

* Studying textiles as scaffolds at Fabricademy allows students to explore the possibilities of textiles in advanced applications and contribute to the development of new technologies in the fashion and textile industry.

weekly assignment

Document the concept, sketches, references also to artistic and scientific publications
Produce 2 techniques of textile scaffold choosing from the following:

fabric formwork with casting crystallization wood-textiles composite resin & bioresin -textiles composite leather molding other
Document the process including the step-by-step instructions on software, machine, mold making, vaccum forming and textile composites
Upload your design and fabrication files, including the 3D model and CAM file when possible
Document at least 2 processes from design to prototyping, fabrication, materials used, document your achievements and unexpected outcomes
Make a stop motion of your crystal growth or use 3D modeling software to simulate your design (extra credit)

get inspired!

Digital crafts - Shahed Jamhour - CPF Makerspace
CNC mold - Zahia Albakri - CPF Makerspace
Crystallisation exploration - Viviane Labelle - EchoFab
Moulds - Lisa Boulton
Millinery - Betiana Pavon

Add your fav alumni's pages as references

References & Inspiration¶

The main inspiration for my work this week is Meredith Woolnough. Meredith is a professional artist and educator working out of her studio in Newcastle Australia.

Her sculptural embroideries are an exploration of art, science and nature. The embroideries are created using a unique freehand embroidery technique that utilises a domestic sewing machine and a fabric that dissolves in water.

The work explores the beauty and fragility of nature, sparking a sense of wonder and appreciation of the natural world. Meredith believes that the deeper our appreciation for the aesthetics of nature the more eager we are to immerse ourselves in it and conserve it.

Meredith's Work

Meredith's Work

The artist

Meredith Woolnough with an embroided piece

Download reference

You can explore Meredith's work in her link page I highly recommend her Instagram account

The second inspiration for this assignment is José Luis Bazán, known as the alchemist of leather. Originally from the city of Ubrique, the Spanish capital of leather.

José Luis has developed extraordinary techniques for leather molding. His pieces are works of art that have led him to win the national art award in Spain. I bought and took his Domestika course where he teaches how to shape leather and the main characteristics of his work, something I used in this assignment.

Download reference

You can explore José Luis' work in his page I highly recommend his Instagram account

Tools¶

Inkscape
InkStitch
Embroidery machine
Leather from scraps
CNC Router
MDF

Process and workflow¶

Embroidery as scaffold¶

I started by learning to use the embroidery machine; I had never worked with it before. Oliver Ochoa, mentor of the Fab Academy at Fab Lab Puebla, kindly offered to teach us how to use the Brother embroidery machine we have at the university.

I started with sketching the form I wanted to embroid

The first thing I did was sketch my idea. I wanted something similar to what Meredith does with corals, however, I tried to make it not especially difficult since I had never experimented with the embroidery machine and even less with a water-soluble background.

Then I took an image from the internet to inspire my own Coral image drawn in Inkscape. It it important to notice that the size of the image is 100 x 100 mm that is the size of the working table of our embroidery machine. I first draw my coral in one color and then I decided to make a second coral with degradated colors to see how it looked stitched.

Then I installed the Inkstitch add on to inkscape. This program serves as a post-processor to convert the image into the embroidery machine's processing code.

Once the image is finished you have to go to the Extensions/InkStitch/Params menu and fill the parameters according to the image. I tried different embroidery patterns that did not work, I think mainly due to the fragility of the sustrate I used. There are two kind of substrates, one made out of plastic (the one I used) and the other is a non woven textile. Meredith uses the non woven I purchased the plastic one by mistake, at that point I did not know there were two kinds of substrate.

Finally in Inkscape save the ebroidery image as a .pes format due that kind of archive is readable by the embroidery machine.

Here is a video on the entire process.

The final shot. I loved the process. I think there is a ton of room to improve and create with this technique.

Bubble Clutch¶

Some time ago, I made a molded leather piece with bubbles over a 3D printed piece. The piece turned out beautiful, so much so that someone stole it at an exhibition of the work we did at the Fab Lab. :(.

So I decided that I wanted to make something similar, but since part of my Fabricademy idea is to create things that could become a business, I decided to make a clutch bag with a bubble detail that could become a product.

Continuing with the idea of the possible adjacent, I found a source of leather waste, where they take the discarded cuts from a factory, and with that material, I made the bag. The cost of the waste is 5 euros per kilogram and the leather I used for the clutch weighed 75 grams, so the cost of the main raw material for my clutch is less than 40 cents of an euro. Not bad for a product that could easily be sold for 70 euros.

The first thing I did was design the main solid of the clutch with Solidworks, because the software guarantees the product's dimensions. this is important because it has several parts: the front, the back, the thermoformed supports, and the hinges that were designed based on the dimensions of the first solid of the Clutch

With the main solid designed, I saved it in .stl format and brought it to Blender to place the bubbles.

The reason for doing this is that Blender is a much more flexible program, and I can place any object in the position I find appropriate and scale it very easily with just the "g" (grab) and "s" (scale) commands.

To do the same in Solidworks, I would have to create a reference plane where I wanted to place each bubble, generate a sketch, and then make a revolution. To modify it, I have to enter the sketch, make the modifications, exit, and see if it turned out as I wanted.

Final result in STL format

Another thing that I designed in Solidworks and 3D printed were the hinges, I wanted to add a bubble detail on top. The design includes a small canal where the clutch's main body and back could fit.

I made a mistake and designed the hinges to have a 10mm diameter magnets. When I tried to open the hinges it was impossible! The magnets were too potent, so I changed and put a nut in one side.

Once my cluthch was designed I made a MDF CNC mold. All you need to know on basics of the CNC Router you can browse the Fab Lab Puebla CNC router page

I also made a series of videos (two playlists, in spanish, you can use captions) on:

Learning VCarve Pro post processor where you will find everything you need to start on the use of VCarve for your router

Router CNC Basics Where you will learn Touter basics, safety, how to fix the material and many other things to get started with the machine.

In the next video I show all the process I did to make my clutch bag

And... The final product, I am proud of!

I think I did it, I really like the result and I also think I could start a business with this technique.

Textile / styrofoam oddity¶

I had an idea in my system that needed to come out. What if we could use melted styrofoam as "resin" in a textile composite. Could it work?

So I disolved some styrofoam with petrol to test the idea. I think it worked very well, but it needs more experimentation to have the perfect mix of solvent / styrofoam ratio.

Is it sustainable? I don't know. While the materials are pollutants, the reuse of styrofoam makes it somewhat circular. I had the idea to make a thermoformed piece to support the interior of my bubble-clutch, but maybe I could make the support with this composite and create a clutch entirely from recycled or recovered material.

I have researched the topic further and it seems that styrofoam can be dissolved with limonene. I would need to experiment more thoroughly, but the idea seems promising and some next year students could explore.

It's just one more thing that Fabricademy leaves me to keep experimenting with.

Learning Outcome¶

I love doing mechanical processes. I had the opportunity to experiment with things I had pending, and I think the results are very good.

Now I am thinking about how to turn ideas, learnings, processes, and the final result into products that a Fab Lab could sell.

I also think I could have explored the concept of possible adjacency a bit more since all the material I used for the Bubble Clutch are remnants from the production of leather bags. The economic margins are enormous.

Download¶

You can download the assignment's files here

Oh NO!¶

Another textile as scaffold project just entered my system!¶

I went to buy some plywood material for my final project and stumped with this beautiful layer of wood veneer for only 1.5 Euros! Had to buy it. Now I have to make a "wood textile" I bought a Domestika course on the subject! I love the technic gona do it! or may be a lamp? Makers hard life!