10. Textile Scaffold

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this week, but I ended up feeling fascinated by how textiles can function as scaffolds. Many of the examples Anastasia showed — from composites and leather molding to fabric formwork, crystallization, and wood-textile hybrids — were completely beyond what I had imagined. The fabric formwork in architecture epecially surprised me. Despite coming from an architectural background, I had no idea how deeply fabric has been integrated into architectural making.

Crystallization

How Does it Work?

Crystallization happens when atoms, molecules, or ions come together and arrange themselves into a highly ordered, repeating structure. As a saturated solution cools or evaporates, the particles can no longer stay dissolved, so they begin to organize into a lattice—a geometric pattern that repeats in all three spatial dimensions. The shape of the resulting crystal depends on the internal arrangement of these building blocks.

Slide from Anastasia Pistofidou’s Textile Scaffold Lecture — Crystalization

💭 I’m fascinated by this slide, especially the idea that a crystal forms through an orderly, repeating pattern that extends in all three directions. It makes me wonder whether we can intentionally disrupt this pattern—break its symmetry, guide it differently, or interfere with its growth—to create new structures or unexpected material behaviors.

Process and Workflow

Slide from Anastasia Pistofidou’s Textile Scaffold Lecture — Crystalization

💭 A little reminder: don’t skip this part. I rushed straight into the recipe without really understanding how crystals grow or what techniques help them form well — and my first experiment completely failed because of it.

Recipes

Slide from Anastasia Pistofidou’s Textile Scaffold Lecture — Crystalization Recipe

💭 The amounts vary depending on the water temperature. Start by heating the water (without letting it boil), then gradually add the powder (alum, borax, etc.) while stirring. Keep adding small amounts until no more can dissolve—this is when the solution becomes fully saturated.

References & Inspiration

Slide from Anastasia Pistofidou’s Textile Scaffold Lecture — Alice Potts — Perspire

I am particularly drawn to Alice Potts’ work because she explores how the body itself can become a producer of adornment. Rather than simply creating new products from existing materials, she develops materials that ask bigger questions—highlighting the deep connections between human biology, identity, and design.

Test#1 Alum Crystal and Paper — Without Proper Setup

I realized how much I’ve already spent on new materials in the past few weeks, so for this assignment I wanted to work with what I already had at home: lots of used paper and leftover alum from the BioChromes week.

To explore textile scaffolding using only materials I already had at home, I experimented with different paper structures and transformations. Each square represents a small study in how form, texture, and cut patterns can influence the way a surface behaves, supports, or interacts with added materials.

BEFORE

Paper Scaffold and Crystallization Studies

Top Row

1. Plain Paper Sheet — A simple, unmodified square used as the control sample to compare how alum affects untreated paper.

2. Layered Paper Strips — Thin paper strips loosely arranged and glued onto the base sheet to test how overlapping fibers influence crystal growth and stiffness.

3. Vertical Cut Slits — A sheet with evenly spaced parallel slits to introduce flexibility, directional bending, and potential areas for crystallization to anchor.

4. Cardboard Sheet — A single flat piece of cardboard included to compare how a thicker, cellulose-dense material reacts to alum compared to thin paper.

Bottom Row

1. Crumpled Paper — A sheet intentionally wrinkled and flattened back out to test how surface texture, creases, and memory lines affect crystal deposition.

2. Shredded Micro-Strips — A field of tiny cut fragments adhered to the base to mimic a fibrous or textile-like scaffold with high surface area.

3. Accordion-Cut Sheet with Pipettes — A vertically sliced sheet stretched into a woven accordion structure, combined with pipette supports to see whether alum can stiffen or “freeze” the form.

4. Corrugated Cardboard — A cross-section of cardboard showing exposed fluted structure, used to explore how ridges, channels, and internal geometry influence crystallization.

DURING

Paper Scaffold and Crystallization Studies Immediately After Pouring the Alum Solution.

This photo shows the different paper-based scaffolds right after the alum solution was poured into the tray. Because the tray has ridges, the solution pooled at the bottom and did not fully submerge the paper samples. You can see the surfaces still look wet and translucent, with no visible crystal formation yet. The pipette-supported samples and woven strips are saturated but not immersed, which later affected how the crystals formed.

Paper Scaffold and Crystallization Studies After Drying — Crystal Formation Only on the Tray

After drying, the paper samples look more opaque and stiff, but most of the crystallization happened on the metal tray, not on the paper surfaces. Only small crystal deposits appear in gaps or areas where the liquid happened to touch. This confirms that the paper pieces were not fully sitting in the alum solution—causing the crystals to grow on the tray floor instead of on the intended scaffolds. Some pieces show slight hardening and bonding from the alum, but no full-surface crystal layer developed.

AFTER

Even though I didn’t successfully grow crystals on the paper, I did notice small formations appearing in the gaps between the paper strips. Surprisingly, the alum still transformed the material beautifully. It not only bonded the pieces together but also hardened the paper, allowing it to keep the exact shape it was molded into. The frosted finish created a delicate, glass-like surface that feels both rigid and ethereal.

Test#2 Alum Crystal and Paper — With Proper Setup

Fabric Formwork

I had never considered fabric as a form-making tool before, but this experiment made me realize that instead of forcing ourselves to model complex geometries, we can let the fabric generate its own fluid, unpredictable shapes. The material becomes a collaborator rather than something we try to control.

For this topic, I was inspired by the work of Annie Locke Scherer (shown below), especially how she creates these solid, beautifully sculptural forms using smocked fabric as flexible formwork. Wanting to explore a similar idea, I tried casting a natural clay mixture made from flour and coffee grounds onto a four-way stretch mesh, hoping the material would sink into the fabric and create dramatic deformations.

However, I didn’t fully consider the material properties of bioclay—it’s much thicker and less fluid than concrete—so it didn’t seep through the fabric or produce the same hydrostatic shaping effects. It taught me that the success of fabric formwork depends heavily on the viscosity and behavior of the casting material, not just the pattern or stretch of the textile.

References & Inspiration

CONCRETE Form[ing]work by Annie Locker Scherer

Process and Workflow

1. Smocking the Fabric: I created a diamond-smocking pattern on a four-way stretch mesh and tightened it inside an embroidery hoop. This was my first time smocking, so some of the joins were weak and prone to breaking when stretched too far—but it still helped me understand how the fabric could shape the form.

Diamond Smocking on Four-Way Stretch Mesh — Pattaraporn (Porpla) Kittisapkajon

2. Making the Bio Clay: I mixed all-purpose flour with coffee grounds and water to create a simple bioclay. (Full recipe below.) The goal was to achieve a clay-like dough that is smooth, pliable, and not sticky.

Bioclay Casting on Smocked Mesh — Pattaraporn (Porpla) Kittisapkajon

    Ingredients

    1 cup all-purpose flour
    ½ cup used coffee grounds (well-dried; wet grounds add too much moisture)
    ½–⅔ cup water (added gradually)


    Instructions

    1. In a bowl, combine the flour and coffee grounds.
    2. Add water slowly, mixing until a dough begins to form. 
    3. Knead for 2–3 minutes until the texture becomes smooth and clay-like.

    The clay is ready when it:

    - doesn’t stick to your hands
    - holds its shape when pressed
    = feels similar to air-dry clay or firm dough

    Tips

    - If too sticky → add a bit more flour.
    - If too dry → add a few drops of water at a time.

3. Casting on the Fabric: I pressed the bioclay onto the smocked fabric and allowed the material to settle into the folds and tension of the textile. The final shape was guided by both the pattern of the smocking and the natural behavior of the clay.

Results

Smocked Fabric Bioclay Cast — Pattaraporn (Porpla) Kittisapkajon