10. Textile Scaffold¶
Inspiration & Research¶
* I was very inspired by Viviane Labelle's use of string art for a scaffold for the biomaterials assignment from Week 7.
* I also enjoyed the wooden textile images by BOR that were shared in Batoul Omar AL-Rashdan's research.
* Noémie Carrier's site was helpful in understanding they ways I might be able to use my laser cutter and 3D printer to create molds.
* Self Forming Structures: An Exploration into 3D Printing on Pre-stretched Fabric: When reseraching ways the I might be able to use the 3D printer as a tool for creating textile scaffolds I came across this blog post
Resources & References¶
For this weeks assignment I relied heavily on Anastasia Pistofidou's Textile Scaffold presentation.
I had assitance again this week from amazing former student and interactive sculptor Genevieve Hildebrand-Chupp
Crystals¶
For the crystal preparation we referred to Anastasia Pistofidou's Textile Scaffold presentation (1:30:15).
We used the recipes below to prepare the crystal solutions:
=== Alum Crystals
* 5 tablespoons of alum
* 1 cup of hot distilled water
=== Borax Crystals
* 3 tablespoons of borax
* 1 cup
Looking at previous projects, it seemed like the crystals were more dynamic on open meshes and structures. For the our surfaces we used non-slip rug underlay and a 3D printed plastic cube. We used wire to suspend the crystals from the tops of the jars and metal bobbins to weigh them down.
Below is a time lapse video I created with OSnap! to document the growing of the crystals:
The alum solution produced smaller crystals that looked like a sugar coating. It was very flaky on the flexible mesh, but adhered well to the plastic cube.
The borax solution created heavy cubic formations that consumed the mesh structure and the bobbin weight.
The above images shows the alum mesh sample flattened out. If repeating this technique, I would find more decorative ways of weighting the material that would integrate into the overall design.
Wood Composite¶
The challenge with the wood composite was figuring out the power/speed/cut numbers on the laser cutter that would only go through the wood and not the fabric substrate.
The first tests we did were on chipboard backed with canvas using the Wood Composite Hexagon.svg[^1]. We used Power 80 / Speed 30 / Cut 2 and the cut did not cut through to the fabric.
Next we tried the file with an 1/8" thick birch plywood using Power 90 / Speed 30 / Cut 2 and it cut all the way through the fabric. Because ther was a border around each of the hexagons, we were able to use the frame as a template for glueing the shapes onto a piece of canvas.The 1/8" wood ended up feeling a bit too thick for wearable pieces.
For the second test we used 1/32" basswood. We tried pre-staining the wood with watercolor to achieve the effect of the BOR's reference, but this caused the material to curl. Applying pigment after is cut, is probably better for this material.
Above is a photo of the wood glue technique we used for applying the wood to the fabric - in this case the basswood to the muslin. The glue adhered well but also made the basewood curl because of the moisture. The samples were flattened overnight under a stack of books and eventually had to be pressed out with an iron. The wood glue did not try clear and showed through the thinner muslin fabric. This might not be an issue with heavier fabrics.
We were able to get this basswood sample to work on the Triangle.svg file using Power 80 / Speed 30 / Cut 1. The original file was created using a copy and paste method which created duplicate cuts down the middle vertically and horizontally. This resulted in the sample being cut into 4 piece and the file was adjusted.
We adjusted the Triangle.svg[^2] file to be continuous lines Inkscape and tried it on the watercolor sample using the same Power/Speed/Cut settings. This time it ended up cutting all the way through the fabric, but created some lovely blue triangle tiles.
3D Printed Molds¶
We did not have access to a CNC machine this week so we tried creating molds using 3D printing with the Bambu A1.
We started by using Inkscape fill textures to create the .svg file for the fish scale [^3]. The mold files using Tinkercad, initially using the same .svg for the male and female sid of the mold. The mold ended up not fitting together so we used it to create a biocomposite with the follow gelatin recipe:
=== Gelatine Bio-Silicon
* 18g glycerine
* 125ml water
* 24g gelatine
* 4 drops blue food coloring
This image formed the gelatine onto white tulle using the female side of the mold.
This image formed the gelatine onto muslin using the male side of the mold.
The second leather mold was more successful. I revised the .svg files to create a 1.5 mm gap between the male[^4] and female[^5] imprints the alignment holes[^6]. I then used the workflow from this tutorial to create the .stl mold files [^7] in Tinkercad.
Above are images of the completed mold and the scrap piece of leather which was soaked for about 3 minutes.
Below is the leather clamped in the mold and the impression created after 1 hour in the mold.
I was excited to be able to use the 3D printer for creating the mold, however I think that the laser cutter would be a more time efficient method of achieving the same result.
3D Printed Scaffolds¶
Finally, we wanted to revisit some of the techniques from Week 6 Computational Couture to explore ways of using the 3D printer to create textile scaffolds.
We created the Squiggle Test[^8] to try with a structured tulle and the Hexegon Stretch[^9] to try on repurposed nylon mesh.
Above is the printed Squiggle Test file printed on white tulle. The video shows the different ways that the material can be flattened and reshapped depending on how it is folded.
We are still working on the Hexagon Stretch file. We have strubbled with finding a way to secure the stretch fabric on the bed of the A1 without disrupting the movement of the nozzel and bed. We will be trying it on printer with a bed that raises/lowers later this week.
Files¶
[^1] Wood Composite Hexagon.svg
[^2] Triangle.svg
[^3] Fish Scales .svg
[^5] Fish Scales Male.svg
[^7] Fish Scales Female Mold .stl & Fish Scales Male Mold .stl
[^8] Squiggle Test .stl
[^9] Hexagon Stretch.svg
