1. State of the art, project management and documentation

This week I didn't really work on defining my final project idea. I've some internet issues a few days, so just tried to keep up by doing the assignment for the week and building the documentation structure...

I'm a somewhat familiar with some of the tools used like a bit of github, markdown, terminal, and other tools for version control like Mercurial. So that helped but haven't used them all together in this way. So I had some fun customizing and browsing around.

Research

This week's research mainly consisted of learning these tools using the tutorials provided and some google. It was nice, I'm liking this way of documenting! I've decided on a way to organize my files and am looking forward to building this documentation in the next few months. Documenting is something I like doing, because it helps me keep the new skills and insights I've gained fresh and actually usable. As in: being able to redo things I did in the past. That said, I can get a bit wordy doing it, trying to get all the details in, but it's coming from a good place ;)

"Consider the possibility of an honest mess" - Co-Star astrology app

Useful links

• Fiore's tutorial
• This tutorial on the class page (especially how to edit the mkdoc :)
• Getting started with mkdoc.yml file

Setting up the SSH key

Tried to rush it and left the default email in by accident. Whoops! Deleted the key and generated a new one with the terminal commands provided and popped it into the settings in Gitlab, using this tutorial for [generating an SSH key] (https://gitlab.fabcloud.org/help/ssh/README#generating-a-new-ssh-key-pair)

Also Fiore's tutorial has been very helpful here: - Fiore's tutorial

* I notice I'm becoming one of those people who writes documentation but doesn't explain the steps that already feel "normal" to me. Hmmm. I'll have a think to think what I think about that.

OR: push via http and access tokens

Later on I started using my Github Desktop app for a bunch of other stuff and my connection stopped working. I couldn't figure it out so I deleted the repository and cloned it anew over http. This tutorial by Shedrack Akintayo explains how to use access tokens push without having to re-enter your password when pushing over http. Amazeballs, thank you Shedrack!

Customizing text, fonts, colors in the mkdoc

I customized some basic stuff to change the look of the page. I love the font Karla, we use it for everything where I work, so I'm using it here too. I think you can basically look up any Google Font and use it. I liked the idea of having a special font for code, so I specified one for that as well. Find a Google Font here

Teal is my favourite color so, I used that for now, I found the name of the color codes here: Squidfunk's tutorial

* I have to say again: I'm really liking markdown and Gitlab

Ah yes! I will make a favicon but not right now, so just put the line there and will uncomment it once I've created and uploaded one.

# This is some of the code I changed in the mkdoc :) 
site_name: Loes Bogers
site_description: Loes' Fabricademy documentation
site_url: https://class.textile-academy.org/2020/loes.bogers/
repo_url: https://gitlab.fabcloud.org/academany/fabricademy/2020/students/loes.bogers
site_author: Loes Bogers
docs_dir: docs
site_dir: _site
copyright: Copyright 2019 Loes Bogers - Creactive Commons Attribution Non-commercial
theme:
  #uncomment line below when you made a favicon lollll
  # favicon: 'assets/images/favicon.ico'
  name: material
  font: 
    text: 'karla'
    code: 'ubuntu mono'

  # try other colors https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/getting-started/#primary-colors
  palette:
    primary: "cyan"
    accent: "purple"

And this is the result! Kaleidoscopic, isn't it...

screenshot of the page you are looking at

Working offline

Since I'm working on a book project where I'll be using some of these tools as well, I also tried cloning my repository into the GitHub Desktop app (see downloads below).

You need to fetch the URL provided in the back-end of the project using the SSH dropdown (see image). Then I edit my markdown files using Macdown, a nice open-source editor that gives you a preview as you write (without styling though).

Downloads

Github Desktop app to commit and push to git locally, bypassing the browser (using SSH), and here you can find MacDown, the markdown editor.

It's pretty straightforward, you go find the files locally and them edit them with an editor. And it tells you whether you have any commits that need pulling (when changes were made somewhere else) or pushing (when you make changes locally but haven't updated the master repository yet). Nice and easy! I also loved learning Mercurial on the command line though (forever grateful @Zaerc) I'm used to Brackets from back when I did Fabacademy. Oh sweet memories from 2015.

My first conflict

Yes! I had my first conflicting commit between the remote repository and my local one. How do I resolve this.... on the Github Desktop app you get an error when you want to commit a change that conflicts. Then you can click to open the file. It adds these conflict markers so you can see exactly where the problems are:

<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>

Then you keep the code you want to keep, delete the conflicting code and the markers and save the file. This support page was helpful. The desktop app recognizes when the conflict is solved and allows you to commit again. Yay!

conflicts resolved!

State of the art & inspiration

Inspiration

Fabricademy graduates

Teresa van Twuijver's analog soft sensor Teresa made this nice soft sensor using smock embroidery. I'd seen a similar thing on kobakant once, wow it's soooooo nice.

Teresa van Twuijver, 2019

Her circular fashion designs are also quite cool!

Other fabulous drag performers and style queens

S

Textile artists/designers/upcyclists/hackers

Golden Joinery or kintsugi for clothing, by Painted Series is a really nice example of repair as a design strategy that adds value to used things.

I really enjoy the hectic embellishments by Justyna Wolodkiewicz and the one on the pink skirt by Anya Hindmarch There's loads out there. One reason why I like this is because I imagine picking cleverly from waste materials will allow for a lot of cool designs. They can also be combined with electronics perhaps? I really like the 3D textures you can add with this.

Coral Love Stories by Kasia Molga (and Erik Overmeire) below is such a beautiful combination of fashion and electronics and thermochromic pigments. It's very subtle, unlike some other sources of inspiration but I just think this is beautifully done and tells an important story about shringking coral reefs.

Coral Love Story by Kasia Molga (with Erik Overmeire and Ricardo O'Nascimento)

And let's not forget the amazing experiments and documentation done by Plusea on the Kobakant How to Get What You Want page, such as this beardy sway sensor....bows.

Last but not least, a shop! Mooizooi in Haarlem! This is a social enterprise that collects waste materials from industry, sort it by color, and sell it for almost nothing. I'd love to stop by there and use only this leftover material, for example to make the embellishments like the ones below.

Books

• Radical Matter: Rethinking Materials for a Sustainable Future by Kate Franklin
• Zeroes and Ones by Sadie Plant
• Fray by Julia Bryan-Wilson
• Folding Techniques for Designers From Sheet to Form by Paul Jackson
• Supersurfaces" Folding as Method of Generating Forms for Architecture, Products and Fashion by Sophia Vyzoviti

That's it for now and I really enjoyed it!