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6. Computational Couture

Research & Ideation

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I was really drawn in to the concepts of auxetic tubular shapes and how they are currently being utilized in manufacturing, construction, and other design preinciples. One concept that seems to reverberate within the context of auxetics is the alignment with natural shapes and movement.

What is natural to Georgia, what story does it tell and how does it move?

The above is what i wonered as i considered how to bring my understanding of auxetics to my lb spacce and to my fabricademy documntation. As a grandauughter of slaves and the subsequent communities that bloomed beyond that time, I have first hand knowledge of some traditions carried forward. One of thsoe traditions is hand weaving. In my community, located in Middle Georgia, it was very usual to utilize a certain type of cane for all manners of building. That type of cane is an indengenous species to this area of Georgia and it is called River Cane.

Facts about River Cane

1. Native river cane is often mistaken for non-native, invasive bamboo species. Here are some key characteristics to help identify river cane.

2. River cane branches (nodes) are angled parallel to the main stem. Non-native bamboo branches are typically at a 45 degree angle or perpendicular to the stem.

3. The leaves feel leathery and have a few hairs on the underside.

4. Historical Context: 
    - Fragments of rivercane baskets have been found that date to the 1400s and 1500s; some scholars believe that this tradition may have begun as early as 600 AD. 1 If there is one craft object that is emblematic of Cherokee culture, it is the rivercane basket
    - While many enslaved Africans and their descendants in coastal Georgia predominantly worked with materials like marsh grasses, bulrush, and sweetgrass—reflecting African coiled basketry styles brought from West Africa—natural canes sometimes were incorporated as binding or structural elements within these coiled baskets. This reflects a blending of Indigenous and African American craft practices in the region.
    - River Cane also appears in a distinct folk art tradition associated with African American artisans. For example, early twentieth century ethnographic accounts from the Federal Writers’ Project document artisans such as James Cooper (“Stick Daddy”), an African American craftsman in Savannah who carved walking sticks and canes. Cooper’s work—drawing on carveable cane—illustrates how cane materials were used in culturally expressive, personalized art forms beyond purely utilitarian objects.

My Ideation

I would like to explore auxetic design as it realtes to the natural design of the native to Georgia plant species, the river cane.

References & Inspiration

I had alot of fun researching how cane and weaving shows up in design currently as well as historically.

  • Two images side-by-side

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  • Image reference

centered image with credits/reference

Tools

  • Inkscape
  • PRUSA Slicer
  • Blender

Process and workflow

I really enjoyed this week's lesson in Blender with Rico. I utilized his tutorials to build out my rivercane structured textile print.

Step 1 - Underestanding Auxetics

I did a lot of research to understand the concept of auxetics and how it could be applied to my project this week. Please see the files at the bottom of this page if you would like to read some of the research papers that I used for my studies.

Aux-what??

An auxetic patttern refers to a design that makes expansion in all directions possible when stretched rather than thinning out. This is most commonly used in cutting items like cardboard.

Auxetic Behaviors

Auxetic materials have different behaviors and visual aspects when stable than when pulled apart or pushed together. Normally. If you pull a material that has stretch, one side will become thicker as the opposite side becomes thinner with a space between that is contributing to that factor and eventually the two sides will break apart at that middle stretched space.

The Auxetic material seems to stretch and widen on both sides simultaneously. There is a spectrum of behaviors when items are being stretched and in this case refers to the Poisson number.

For the engineering process of my projects, I will focus on my understanding of the physics definition that focuses on a measure of a material’s deformation under stress.

To do this I had to restart my research with the correct terminology, ‘poisson’s ratio’ and make sure that I am researching based on physics, solid mechanics, and materials science.

With that in mind, Auxetic composites are materials that, when stretched, become thicker and when compresse become thinner, exhibiting a negaive Poisson's ratio.

Auxetic composites are created by combining matrix material with an auxetic reinforcement. Within this documentation I will attempt to show that tha matrix material of the river cane's natural structure being combined with TPU Filament as the auxetic reinforment will create an auxetic composite material that can behave auxetically and be used for many design disciplines.

Step 2 - Designing with Auxetics in Mind and Setting Up the Print

My goal is to utilize a native plant to Middle Georgia, the rivercane’s geometry by using either the visible “internode + node ring” rhythm or its cellular/vascular pattern into 2 to 3 layer prints in two types of 3D filament on top of mesh/organza to create auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio) swatches that stretch and “open” instead of necking.

Key Concepts

- Necking refers to 
- A negative Poisson’s ratio is a GOOD thing
- TPU is thought to be best, but it’s always great to have something to compare with so I will do both TPU  and PLA swatches for research.

Why River Cane Works

- Macro rhythm → joints. 
    - Internodes act like slender beams; nodes behave like short, thicker rings/diaphragms. Translate that to thin, flexible hinges between stiffer node pads/rings → perfect for auxetic motifs.
- Micro structure → grading. 
    - Like bamboo, cane has denser fibers near the outer wall. Mimic this by grading strut width (thicker near edges, thinner toward center) to control how/where the swatch opens.

Understanding the Geometry

- Rivercane has two main repeating elements:
    1. Internodes — long hollow sections (like elongated rectangles or tubes).
    2. Nodes — thicker circular or ring-like bands that connect each internode.
I will attempt to translate that to a 2D auxetic lattice:
    -Internode zone: thin diagonal struts arranged in a re-entrant (inward-slanted) pattern — these provide stretch.
    - Node band: thicker, ringed lines that act as structural “hinges” and visual accents — these keep the pattern stable and mimic cane joints.

My Design Process

Steps 1-6 (Inkscape)

- In Inkscape:
    - Set document units: mm and size: 100 × 100 mm.
    - Grid Units: mm → correct (real-world precision and perfect for 3D import).
    - Spacing X/Y: 5 mm → exactly what you need for detailed rhythm and snapping control.
    - Major grid every 5 → gives you visible 25 mm sections, ideal for marking cane nodes and internodes.
    - Snap to visible grid lines only: on → keeps you from accidentally snapping to invisible subdivisions.
    - Origin: 0,0 → ensures that your tiling later aligns cleanly in Blender.

Steps 7-10

- In Inkscape:
    - Set document units: mm and size: 100 × 100 mm.
    - Grid Units: mm → correct (real-world precision and perfect for 3D import).
    - Spacing X/Y: 5 mm → exactly what you need for detailed rhythm and snapping control.
    - Major grid every 5 → gives you visible 25 mm sections, ideal for marking cane nodes and internodes.
    - Snap to visible grid lines only: on → keeps you from accidentally snapping to invisible subdivisions.
    - Origin: 0,0 → ensures that your tiling later aligns cleanly in Blender.

Steps 1-6 (Blender)

- In Blender:
    1. Import
    2. Scale
    3. Convert to Mesh
    4. Scale
    5. Prepare Files based on Material Type
    6. Export STL

Steps 7- 10 (Blender)

- In Blender:
    7. Create Grid
    8. Incorporate Mesh Design
    9. Mesh line offset corrections
    10. Export Grid

Steps 1-6 (PRUSA Slicer)

- In Slicer:
    1. Import
    2. Scale
    3. Adjust Z Height
    4. Adjust print settings based on material type (all tpu, linen, mesh, etc)
    5. Slice
    6. Export GCODE

Step 3 - Printing and Results

...

My final model for printing is ...

The STL model 3 was made by Heaven Whitby

Print with file [^4] was created using Blender and the PRUSA Slicer

footnote fabrication files

Fabrication files are a necessary element for evaluation. You can add the fabrication files at the bottom of the page and simply link them as a footnote. This was your work stays organised and files will be all together at the bottom of the page. Footnotes are created using [ ^ 1 ] (without spaces, and referenced as you see at the last chapter of this page) You can reference the fabrication files to multiple places on your page as you see for footnote nr. 2 also present in the Gallery.

3D Models

upload the 3d models of MakeHuman, Final 3d modelled body, 3D Scans, etc use the fabrication files at the bottom of the page to link and upload models, referencing them with a footnote

Dita's Gown by Francis Bitonti Studio on Sketchfab

Fabrication files

  1. File: 3d modelling of mannequin ↩

  2. File: Laser cut sheets ↩

  3. File: additional models ↩