Process¶
Ideation & sketches¶
"Design is a constant challenge to balance confort with luxe, the practical with the desirable" Donna Karan
At the beginning I did not know where to start, there were so many ideas in my head that I couldn’t focus and get down on paper. I still can't!.
After I made the planification of all the things to do and scheduled time and activities, it began to be clearer. One of the first things I started doing was sketching more and defying the different topics I was going to apply on my clothes. I'm definetly going to use 3D printing, computational couture, thermoforming for the scales, second hand clothes, wearables and hopefully some kombucha.
I haven't finish sketching but I have a little more clarity on what I want to achieve. Here are some sketches.
To begin with, I started modelling the feathers that I wanted on a garment. I knew it was going to take time, and I had to do a lot of try-outs modelling in Rhino and printing in 3D.
First, I look at the work of Florencia Moyano's final project because she made some 3D printed feathers. It helped me understand the process a little bit. Her feathers were incredible!
You can find all her documentation here:
I also found some other feathers like the ones from Hannah Eikens, Billie Rubens and BarbMakesThings. I printed Hannah's and Ruben's feathers. BarbMakesThings design as well a feather holder but after I printed it I tried to put the feathers in but the holes are to thin and the feathers didn't fit. It was nide to print them as reference and they are really are nice, but I like more the ones I design.
You can find their documentation and files here and I show you the feathers as well:
Hannah Eikens Billie Rubens BarbMakesThings
Another important part of this ideation, was to find out information about embroidery and traditional symbolisms from mexican culture as I wanted to add some of them to my garments and maybe combine them with an japanese technique called Sashiko o Boro.
Looking for information about Queretaro's traditions specially on embroidery, I found a video of Amealco's artesan, Doña Josefina Pascual Cayetano, with whom I have worked many times before.
Design & Fabrication¶
The journey began
I looked through internet to find different kinds of feathers and as well, some open-source work on feather to get inspired. I found some feathers
"I could not find the name of the author"
Later on I found a OBJ file, at “cgtrader” that I liked. It is a Free 3D model. I like it but it was not for printing, it was only a model, but it helped me because I was able to use the center of the feather and it was perfect for starting modelling the feather per ce.
I drew each filament by itself because I wanted them to have its own shape, movement and personality. It took me a lot of time but at the same time I enjoyed it a lot. I did 3 different versions. The first, left one, is the one I downloaded, but it was not for printing. The second one from left to right, I made it, but I saturated it too much and the filaments looked nice, but in the moment that we printed the feather they glue all together. On the third one, I placed the filaments more separated and trying not to touch each other without placing to many.
Then I selected them all, except the center, and used the pipe command to make them thicker, but some of them got together and some not. After that I had to join the filaments with the center. I tried transforming the pipes into meshes and then by using the Boolean command try to join them but the program said that the command had failed. I send them to the printer, to see how they looked. This ones were printed with PLA
This was the result:
After with the help of Luis Hernández from the FabLab, we manage to model it on grasshopper and change some of the parameters and it work much better, so we printed a bigger feather with PLA and the result was very good, flexible, thin and with movement, but the problems was still that the filament joined together.
We decided to change some parameters on GrassHopper. Together we started to think about different improvements, like to reduce the number of filaments, leaving more space between them once more. When we thought we had finished, we found out there was an error on the top of the feather, but still, we send it to print to se the result, but this time with used transparent TPU. The parameters we used where:
| Total Filament | Model Filament | Printing Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2,51 g | 0.84 m | 41m 31s |
| Initial Layer Speed | Small Perimeters | Vertical Shell Speed | Small Perimeter Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 mm/s | 50% | 80% | 0% |
The result was excellent!
Fabrication files:¶
[Feathers obj](uploads_files_2002188_Plumas.obj)
[Feathers Grasshopper](Feathers__2_.gh)
[Feathers](FP_Samples.zip)
[Feathers](Feathers.zip)
[Feathers](test_pluma_patricia.zip)
[Feathers by cgtrader.com ](https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/animal/bird/feather-014af18f-6a19-407a-911c-b6f85bbed1a6)
I calculated that for the garment I will need more or less 30 feathers, so we continue printing them. After 12 or 15 we started noticing that the feathers did not look the same, some were more thin and fragil, so we change the temperature and presume that because of the low temperature in the air the filament could have humidity, so we built a box, put the TPU filament in and then let it dry over the 3D printing table for 5 hours. After that we started printing again and the result was good again, but this problem cotinued after a few printed feathers we noticed that the problem continued with many broken and fragil feathers. So I took the filament home and left it near the heater during the weekend. Hopefully this strategy works better.
align=left width=600 }
Thanks to my mentors I was able to print other types of feathers as references and see the difference between them. I liked more mine, because I think they look more natural. I’m still thinking whether to use some of the others feathers on to the project.
Here is a video of one of the other feathers.
I needed to give the feather color because the only filament that we had available at University was a transparent TPU, so I decided to used some samples that had a missing part or had a printing error with natural dye, using pericón, pericón with ferro and cochineal, hoping that the pigment wouldl stick on to it because of the material irtself. For my surprise it did. The colors look nice but in a plain color only because I found it a little difficult to combine colors and get an even effect . Here are some examples and videos of me dying them.
Video Cochineal Bath
Video Pericón Bath
After having done that and that the feathers did absorved the natural pigments, I realized that they did not look as natural as they should. So I looked for some images of the quetzal bird, as it is my biggest inspiration. Most of the color thay you can find on the birds plumes arre green, blue, red and some browns. As this colors are difficult to obtain,I gave it a try with Chartpac markers of different colors. As they are made with oil, the paint sticked o was absorbed y the TPU of the feather and if you do it fast before the color dries, the colors mixed themselves and give a nice color gradient. Here are the results.
After the mid term presentation, some of the comments were that I should try to dye the feathers with natural ink, using ethenol. So I did. I looked through for recipes and gather all the ingredients.
Ingredients¶
- Ethanol 96%
- Natural base ingredients
- Measuring spoons
- A pot
- Salt
- Gum arabic (honey)
- Plates to place the ink
I need just a little bit of ink to try out, so I measured 2 tablespoons of ethanol, 1/4 spoon of honey and 1/4 spoon pf salt and three drops of food coloring and heated it just a little bit. Having the mixture still warm I place a feather on it. I got a nice green and blue color and I hanged them to dry. After a while I notice that the color had vanished. Meanwhile I tried to get a colored feather mixing blue, green and red so I place the mixture on three plates and warm it 30 sec on the microwave, because it was just a little bit of mixture and did the experiment. The result was quiet good, but by the time it dried the color was to lite, so I passed the feathers on the mixture again and the results were better. Once the feathers were dried, I notice that the TPU had metl in some places and got a rubber texture. I did not liked the result.
Here some videos dying the feathers with natural ink
Bio-Resin Scales¶
I also started modelling the scales which I wanted them to thermoform with recycle PET or polystyrene for later be used with bio-resin. I model the scales in Rhino and used the array command to arranged them on a surface of no more than 24 * 24 because the thermoforming machine at the FabLab has that dimensions.
I printed the scales on a PLA filament on the 3D printer machine
Once I had all two plastic molds. I made the Bio-Resin to pour on them.
Recipe:
- 48 gms Grenetine
- 8 ml Glycerine
- 240 ml Water
- Pieces of natural cotton threads
Before I poured the bioresin on the molds I gather the cotton filaments of the textiles treads and placed them on each scale. Once I had them ready I started pouring the resin. On the concave mold it was easier fot the textile to kee in place and on the convex one was a little difficult.
Here is a video of me pouring the bioresin:
The results were quiet good, but I noticed that the concove ones did not had the effect I wanted and where to thin when they finished drying.
So I thought on trying cutting them with the laser machine and see whether they look better, all of the same size and shape. I made a flat piece of Bioresin with textiles of different colors on it and cut it on the laser machine.
As this first try did work we decided to made more bioresin and cut more scales. This time we went to the Fab lsab a group of students. It was nice because for most of them it was their first time and the experience of watching the laser machine working and after they separated the scales one by one.
The parameters we used were:
| Speed | Power |
|---|---|
| 1000 mm/min | 45% |
Fabrication Files:¶
OS Circular Fashion¶
Another approach I wanted to take on my final project had to do with OS Circular Fashion. At first, I wanted to make some patterns on the garment that could change of size and adapt to different bodies and one of my inspirations was Porpla. She did an amazing pattern, and I thought about doing that, but I had a problem I was going to use recycle cloths od second hand, so I ‘s difficult to have a big surface to do thar, so I thought on another solution
You can see her documentation here:
At this moment I wasn’t sure what to do but I looked through some Kirigami’s books and my idea change and decided to design three different simple patterns and see how they looked. Because I wanted to simulate the scales but at the same time reflect movement and structure. The samples are small not at the size needed.
One is a space with different lines cut horizontally that you can weave in different ways and get an irregular pattern. Another is similar to the other, but the difference consists on having the lines with the form of an arrow, but not too deep the triangle, so you can begin to turn one over the next and in that way you can forma a texture, volume and cavities.
Another approached I had was making a kind of romboide but with the edges circular. Each piece has some cuts to be able to assemble them together and form a pattern all together and create a textile that you can sew on the garment later on. An example image:
Fabrication files:¶
With the same files I scale the objects to cut them bigger and in the Kirigami Modules I cut them this time with the recycle demin and for that I had to scale them too. Once I had made the changes I send the file to the laser cutter and cut the pieces.
And for the stripes, First I glued two textiles together, one side with blue wool and the other with black cotton textile. I used a special glue for textiles. It was the first time I used it so I was not sure whether it would work. For my surprise it did work, but I do think I need to put a little more glue all around the textile.
After that I cut the textile on the laser cutter and sew it turning the stripes one by one and keeping eye on getting stripe with stripe together. I really liked the result.
Recycle clothing¶
As the final goal is to make sustainable garments I started to ask for clothes that the people wanted to donate for the purpose of my project. I have already a lot of denim clothes and I got a linen purple tablecloth that I needed to dye.
For the tablecloth I wanted to dye it naturally, but my biggest problem was the original color of it which was purple. Therefore, I had to look for a biodegradable dyeinstead od a natural bath and I found it. I prepared all the dye solutions and once it was ready I poured the tablecloth, and some natural tread wool that I had left from another project. I left it for an hour on the bath as the instructions of the product said, and pour in it a cup of salt to fix the color.
The result was very good.
I still don’t know whether the donated clothes will be enough, but we will cut them as soon as posible and start making the patchwork.
Colaboration with the students¶
I am very enthusiastic and looking foward to start colaborating with the students. I have asked the directors of the different Design areas, to lend me some of their students to get involved with the project and collaborate with me, and during this week they are going to give me the sudents name. This will help me gather them together, explain the project and ask them to get involve and exchange ideas and reflexions. Because the semester has just started I need to wait to settle all down. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have there names.
After a while I finally got the names of the ten student with whom I am going to be working. They are students from Graphic Design, Industrial Design and Fashion Design.
We were able to get together and the first activity we did was to present themselves tom get to know each other and then I explained to them the project and the importance of it.I asked them to make a fast reseach about the dragons around the world, specially Quetzalcoatl and extracted some words that they thought where important for the project. Once they had them, they made a map mind. I did took a video, but the sound is not very clear and the transcription was not available.
We started cutting the recycle clothes and continue painting the feathers. After the mid-term review I got a lot of comments about the feathers and the natural dye, so I will try with ethanol and natural pigments and see if with it I can get the effects and colors that I need.
Wearables¶
For the wearables we want to adapt a sensor circuit in both garments for hte to light up when they get together and light out when they are apart.
As the project is in collaboration with the students and they do not know about electronics, A professor from Multimedia Design will be helping us to lead hte students step by step. I be able to acomplished that I started trying simple circuits, the first one was with the proximetor sensor and the second one was with the ultrasonic sensor.
My first attempt with the proximeter sensor did work and the parameters change when ever I turn it to one side or the other.
The code was correct and the compilation as well, it did work.
Then I used the ultrasonic sensor the first attempt was not effective, it did not detect the proximity of an object. I noticed that I was connecting it wrong. I fixed the problem and the sensor worked perfectly. I tried it with the Arduino Uno and with the FabriXIAO, I had the same problem, but in this case the problem was that I had to connect the cables to the analog points and when I did the cahnges it work just find.
Making the garments¶
Once the samples where tried on and did work, the next step was to selected the recycle denim cuts that we had and interfaced them for better resistance and to give boy to each piece. Once we did that we when to the FabLab to cut the pieces. We scales the module in two sizes, one for the front yokes and a bigger one for the back yoke.
After having all the Kirigamies together we interfaced the pieces again to secure the modules and prevent fot them getting apart. After that we started thinking on how to cut the rest of the jacket making a patwork that resembled the movement of the wind and the water, so we made some sketches and after having some we started to cut the on paper and then on the garment mixing colors and textures.
While some of the student continue with the sewing of the demin jacket, we started with the other garment. First we needed to cut the pieces of the garment and then in order to get tho double coloured textile We need to glue them together with an spay adhesive specially for textile.
After having the double colour textile we went to the FabLab to cut the stripes on the back of the garment. Then we started sewing the stipes turning them and gathering all together on the center for getting a serpent scale effect. Here is an image of the process.
Continue with the process¶
The black garment was not that difficult because it is a more structure garment. The demin one on the other hand was complicated because we need to asseble a lot of pieces, but we manage to do it. We worked all together making decisions of what color use and where to place it and the use of the aprons on the jacket.
Both garments are mostly ready, but the embroidery is missing. Let´s get started! First we print some samples of Sashiko and Otomies embroidery. The Sashiko one was going to be used only as a guide, but the Otomi one was for the black garment and because it is difficult to trace on black, we tried to transfered them with a tracing paper, special fot textilecalled "Clover Chacopy". We tried and tried with different colors to mark the design but we were not able to see it even though we pressed the pencil firmly.
As this approached was not successful I had to buy a stick water soluble paper stabilizer which is printable. I did not know about the existance of it until a textile teacher told me. I printed the samples on the soluble paper and sticked them on the garment and we started embroidering it. Is nos an esay job, but I think we are going to manage and finish on time.
We placed the feathers over the demin jacket to se how would they look. We know we will have to make a dhoulder pad to place all the circuit and the feathers together, but at least we can have an idea and this is the result.
Regarding to the development of the electronic circuit for the garments. I have been making different approaches. I try with three leds. I wanted them to make a fading according with the meters that the proximity sensor captured. I tried several times and nothing. I asked ChatGTP for help and I noticed that my connections where correct and after many effortless tries I discoverd together with Luis Hernández from the FabLab that my board was not transmiting the signal. After changing the board, I manage to get it done with the Arduino, but with the FabriXIAO and the Lilypad was not possible, either it measured the length or the fading of the leds.
Circuit:
I decided to tried again the circuit, this time I checked all the connections to discrd any anomaly. I tried it again and at first only two LEDs lighten up, we check them all and we noticed that the LED was not connected correctly. We fixed the problem and "Voila" It worked and the fading on the Leds where great.
Then I tried to uploading the same code but with the Lilipad. Obviously I changed the connections because they change, but after uoploading the code, I noticed that the leds did not light up as much as on the XIAO and I realiced that I needed a 5V because the Ultrasonic sensor works with 5V and the Lilipad only gives 3V. After that I looked for another form of connecting. Luckly I found a SEEED Studio XIAO ESP32C3 and This is the one I will use to connect on to one of the garments.
Storytelling¶
We have been working great all the team together. Everyones gives their opinion, helps each other. If someone does not know how to do something the other ones teach them. For the Storytelling, all give their point of view and together they decided that we should add a new name to the project that give it a soul.
Here an image of all the group:
Mentoring notes¶
• add colors to the feathers (you can also pause the filament half way and change color to have some shades)
• any legends to be used as starting point? Search for both cultures
• craftsmanship from Mexico and Japan - prioritize processes
• laser cut templates also focused on this technique https://it.pinterest.com/pin/308918855669557600/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCraGC2n7qN31FlQSvXYI0JA sashiko
• Wow wearables https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2022/sep/29/fashion-statement-the-2022-world-of-wearableart-preview-show-in-pictures
• https://www.4tu.nl/du/projects/FabulousFeathers/
• https://fullcontrol.xyz/#/models
• https://japan-avenue.com/blogs/japan/japanese-dragon
• PinterestPin by Cristal Woodruff on My Style | Fashion design patterns, Clothes design, Fashion costume.
• https://www.turtlestitch.org
Fabrication Process? https://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/silkworm?overrideMobileRedirect=1 ?
• https://www.variableseams.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnmOOzIXgD81kjzqKyYN18m1nLd5Wt9e6thdQlpE45D17QPG6Pv_a5NxGUypU_aem_oKSXMNxu1wf3vNsq2sIU2w
• https://www.bridgesmathart.org/b2025/bridges-2025-program/
• https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2025/bridges2025-2.pdf
• Parametric design in tinker cat
• For the patter making also Seemly 2D https://vimeo.com/467341802 https://wiki.seamly.io/wiki/User_Manual/en#SeamlyMe_User_Manual