Skip to page content...

View Submissions

Please choose an option:


Title of Exhibit Proposal:

Synthesis of Traditional Crafts and New Technology (Ref #191)

Date:
25-10-2006 17:41:37
Status:
Unsuccessful
Rating:
4
Details:
Keywords: Wovens, Craft and the digital process, Digital Inkjet Printing

The word craft - often mentioned when talking about textiles ? usually relates to skills in making by hand. Weaving is an ancient craft and one of the oldest industries, but in a world where fabric is mass produced faster and cheaper than ever before is there still a place for hand-crafted fabrics, and can the synthesis of traditional crafts and new technology succeed?

The aim of the research was to integrate the qualities of specially hand-woven fabrics, using different yarn combinations, with the visual qualities of digital inkjet printing to create unique textile samples.

The goal of the exhibition is to present the results of these experiments and allow the viewer to experience directly, the handle and texture of the woven cloth along with the printed image and also witness interesting features of the cloth such as, the structure of the fabric ?enhancing? or ?interfering? with the digitally printed image or pattern and the effect of different fibres, yarns and colours are combined within one cloth?

Nearly all suppliers and service bureaus for digital textile printing use basic pre-treated fabrics. Suppliers have focused on the range of fabrics most commonly ordered and easiest to manage for inkjet printing. Designing alternative base cloths, which are specially woven with the intention to apply digital inkjet printing, has the potential to create exciting and innovative results.

Typically for optimal colour retention, digital printing requires the base fabrics to be composed of yarns that all belong to the one dye class, i.e. cellulosic fibres would be printed with reactive dyes. Interesting results can be achieved when the base fabric is made from yarns that belong to different dye classes.

With my background in woven textiles, practical experiments were set up which involved creating different base cloths with various weave structures and yarn combinations. The same image was printed onto different base cloths and the results were compared to assess how the structure interacted with the image. Geometric and organic/floral images were printed to test if there were certain ?types? of images or patterns that would be more successful. Different scales of the same pattern were printed, again, to test if there was an optimum scale at which the aesthetics were most successful.

The exhibition would consist of the results of these experiments - a collection of unique fabrics, which could only be created by the successful fusion of craft and new technology.
Images: (Click on the image to view it full size in a new browser window)



Reviewer Comments:

Review #1 : Left on 31-10-2006 12:11:53 #
The abstract focus is on design and industry process, however the conference is concerned with craft. As such, it doesn't fit with the key themes.

3
Review #2 : Left on 14-11-2006 17:36:35 #
This proposal is situated in an interesting area where industrial and craft processes may overlap. A clearer definition of craft process and its specific role in the context of this project is needed. The fabric produced has some intriguing qualities that it would be interesting to see and feel in the flesh.

5
Review #3 : Left on 17-11-2006 15:10:48 #
An interesting study with real problems investigated, however the work appears to be at an early stage with tentative exploration and testing being conducted.

4