USITT: Disney presents “making it our own” digital printing seminar
I never did get a chance to write up a whole bunch of seminars from USITT National convention, because Big River and the end of the semester carried me away. Now that it's summer though, I can go back through my notes and post about them!
This is the first of probably three or four in a series. All of them will have different topics, which for today is custom surface design and digitally printed fabrics, addressed in a seminar hosted by Disney, called “Making it our Own.”
This seminar was hosted by employees of Disney's sublimation print department, which is located in LA. I'm going to preemptively apologize to the presenters for my questionable ability to credit them. Going by the conference program, the presenters were two women named Rebecca Carroll-Mulligan and Brenda Mercure. I admit though, this was an 8 AM session and I did not take good notes on who said what when so from here on out I'm just going to talk about “the presenters” and the like.
Most of the fabrics the department produces now are for costumes for Disney's shows, everything from a one-off show that is performed a single time, to theme park productions which run 20 times a day and feature lots of duplicates of all costumes. The fabrics are worn indoors and outdoors in all weather by performers doing physically challenging choreography, and must sustain a huge amount of laundry processes. It's a facility with three employees, two printers, and a yardage heat press machine, and serves all of Disney's parks and productions worldwide. I was surprised that a company as huge as Disney has such a small facility, but they said it was growing as more departments realized and utilized its capabilities. For example, the sublimation print department has begun doing work for the scenic departments in the parks by creating UV resistant banners.
examples of fabric swatches, pattern layouts, designs, and costume pieces
(I love the “wigs"!)
color test pieces
The presentation included a PowerPoint slideshow with a number of interesting photographs of equipment and facilities--for example there was a picture of their dye facility adjacent to the print shop, and I noted that they have element-heated vats as opposed to steam-jacketed vats. There was a section where they spoke about safety in the shop, but one of the presenters was having some challenges with the microphone, so I couldn't hear what she said at that point. It was unfortunate, because that is a particular interest of mine, and I'd love to know what Disney's policies are for this particular facility.
In general, this was an overall criticism for many USITT presentations in general, microphones and their use. I cannot stress enough how important it is for people giving presentations to understand how to effectively use a microphone. Sure, some of that is the responsibility of the technicians providing amplification, but the onus is also on the speaker to hold a handheld microphone close enough but not too close, to articulate their words clearly, to stand close enough but not too close to a stationary microphone, and to ask for assistance from the technical people in times of difficulty. If an audience can't hear you, are you even presenting? (This seems like a question for a philosophy major.) But anyhow, back to Disney.
On a personal note, I was excited to see some images in the slideshow of both designs and finished costumes done by one of the independent shops for which I worked when I lived in LA, Mia Gyzander Designs. It was fun to see familiar renderings and finished products which were just in the developmental stage when I was there!
The sublimation digital printing process is used by Disney primarily on polyester-fiber fabric, but also on buttons, polymer coated mugs, and so forth. It's a process that requires a particular kind of ink applied by a machine that looks like an enormous version of your desktop printer, and requires treatment with both heat and pressure to set the color. It brings about a molecular bond between the color and the fiber. One of the presenters mentioned that she and her staff observed the way that changes in weather can affect the outcome of the print process, that high humidity can result in a blurry image.
Incidentally, my post a couple days ago about Shanna Parks' historical reproduction mentioned the yardage she had printed for that project, which was done using the sublimation process. And, if you recall my post about Spoonflower's holiday party, you can go back to that link and see images of both the printing machines and the heat press machines. The Disney sublimation printers can move 20 yards of fabric through in one hour. Disney's industrial heat press functions at 400°F temperature and applies 30 pounds of pressure per square inch to the fabric as it moves through the heat rollers.
Sometimes, the Disney department prints yardage, but more often it seemed, they did what's called an engineered print, where the images and designs are concentrated on specific computer drafted pattern pieces. They also have the luxury of being able to cast-to-fit, meaning that they choose performers for particular roles based partly upon stature and build--will they fit in the costume? So, for their costumes which feature engineered prints, they produce them in standard sizes and they don't have as many drastic alterations from performer to performer because of this.
In addition to sublimation printing, they also talked about screenprinting processes which they send out to contractors who produce it on large industrial screenprinting machines designed to produce yardage. In terms of quantities, they cited 30 yards as the quantity that moves through in a batch for mass screenprinted yardage. They create their screen designs with Photoshop and Illustrator; when farmed out to contractors, those folks want the final art in Illustrator because then each color exists on a different layer and can be converted to a multiple screen process easily.
Mention was made about the necessity for updating dye recipes over time using the example of Beauty and the Beast, a show which ran for 20 years on Broadway, and went on to many more years of touring. They showed how slight changes in the costumes resulted in slight changes in the recipes for dyeing different fabrics.
They showed an example of the technological and design changes in the character's costume over time for their long-running shows, in this case the character named Maji from a theme park show called Maji and Moto. They showed examples of how color and design sensibility changed the look of the costumes, and how new technologies changed how the yardage was produced--the current design for the yardage is screenprinted by machine utilizing 14 different screens just to print the stretch fabric from which the tights are made, which comes out to over $100 per yard.
Another concrete example was a Lion King parade costume for a character called Gazelle, whose costume involves a complicated engineered print and for which they must produce multiples because at any given time they have 60 actors in the role.
They showed examples of some costumes worn by the barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans. The fabric for these were created with a double process of screenprinting and sublimation printing. It was interesting to see the depth and complexity of the multiple process yardage.
One of the women mentioned what they've discovered about copying old woven designs which are no longer available (so for example, a costume for a character in a park parade for whom they can no longer source the original fabric because it is no longer being made, so the print shop is given the task of replicating it). She said that they found it much better quality in the long run to digitally render the image of the discontinued fabric pattern from scratch, rather than scanning the original fabric swatches and working from there. The sharpness and accuracy of the resulting image was much better for the digital rendering. She talked about color choices as well, and how in the modern production context they found themselves working with designers all over the world utilizing Pantone colors for long-distance color matching.
Someone in the audience asked for something like a replication of a woven pattern, such as a plaid (an example had been cited earlier of a particular plaid fabric used for Goofy's pants, which the original mill no longer produced), but the presenters said that it was easier and more cost-effective to print the plaid in small quantities as needed than to order and then store the larger quantity--1000 to 1500 yards--that a weaving mill required as a minimum order.
For the character of Dory in the park production of Finding Nemo, they showed the transformation over time of the original Dory puppet created by Michael Curry Design, the surface of which had been hand-painted, then digitally analyzed and set up to be reproduced by sublimation printing at a cost of $95 per yard (as opposed to paying an artisan to hand paint an exact replica each time it had to be replaced). They also showed the costumes which are worn by the puppet operators in that show which feature surface design “the old-fashioned way,” meaning not printed but quilted, and utilizing areas of foam insertion and other kinds of dimensionality, which they call the "blunitards," being blue unitards.
They talked at length about the distressed pirate costumes made from yardage which is pre-printed with stains and dirt. (How timely, given the upcoming release of the next installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise!) You can watch a short presentation on it in the video and detailed photo below.
samples of fabric printed with stains
Some folks in the audience asked about the comparison between natural and synthetic fibers for Disney's purposes, given how in the realm of regional theater from a fine art perspective, natural fibers are perceived as preferable to synthetics in the production of quality historical costume designs. Presenters discussed how longevity and durability is of primary concern for Disney in the majority of their live action productions. For this reason, cottons and silks are considered undesirable because of the vast amount of laundry they must withstand.
That's the end of the coherent part of my notes. There are a few other points of interest I wrote down, but which don't fit cohesively into this post, so they are presented here at the end as a bullet point list, along with a couple of photographs of costumes they had on display with interesting surface design and layered effects.
close-up shot of one of the costumes on display
Another display costume
That's all, folks! (I feel ethically questionable using a Warner Bros. character's tagline to sign off on a post about Disney. Ha ha!) Next up, sustainable production!
This is the first of probably three or four in a series. All of them will have different topics, which for today is custom surface design and digitally printed fabrics, addressed in a seminar hosted by Disney, called “Making it our Own.”
This seminar was hosted by employees of Disney's sublimation print department, which is located in LA. I'm going to preemptively apologize to the presenters for my questionable ability to credit them. Going by the conference program, the presenters were two women named Rebecca Carroll-Mulligan and Brenda Mercure. I admit though, this was an 8 AM session and I did not take good notes on who said what when so from here on out I'm just going to talk about “the presenters” and the like.
Most of the fabrics the department produces now are for costumes for Disney's shows, everything from a one-off show that is performed a single time, to theme park productions which run 20 times a day and feature lots of duplicates of all costumes. The fabrics are worn indoors and outdoors in all weather by performers doing physically challenging choreography, and must sustain a huge amount of laundry processes. It's a facility with three employees, two printers, and a yardage heat press machine, and serves all of Disney's parks and productions worldwide. I was surprised that a company as huge as Disney has such a small facility, but they said it was growing as more departments realized and utilized its capabilities. For example, the sublimation print department has begun doing work for the scenic departments in the parks by creating UV resistant banners.
examples of fabric swatches, pattern layouts, designs, and costume pieces
(I love the “wigs"!)
color test pieces
The presentation included a PowerPoint slideshow with a number of interesting photographs of equipment and facilities--for example there was a picture of their dye facility adjacent to the print shop, and I noted that they have element-heated vats as opposed to steam-jacketed vats. There was a section where they spoke about safety in the shop, but one of the presenters was having some challenges with the microphone, so I couldn't hear what she said at that point. It was unfortunate, because that is a particular interest of mine, and I'd love to know what Disney's policies are for this particular facility.
In general, this was an overall criticism for many USITT presentations in general, microphones and their use. I cannot stress enough how important it is for people giving presentations to understand how to effectively use a microphone. Sure, some of that is the responsibility of the technicians providing amplification, but the onus is also on the speaker to hold a handheld microphone close enough but not too close, to articulate their words clearly, to stand close enough but not too close to a stationary microphone, and to ask for assistance from the technical people in times of difficulty. If an audience can't hear you, are you even presenting? (This seems like a question for a philosophy major.) But anyhow, back to Disney.
On a personal note, I was excited to see some images in the slideshow of both designs and finished costumes done by one of the independent shops for which I worked when I lived in LA, Mia Gyzander Designs. It was fun to see familiar renderings and finished products which were just in the developmental stage when I was there!
The sublimation digital printing process is used by Disney primarily on polyester-fiber fabric, but also on buttons, polymer coated mugs, and so forth. It's a process that requires a particular kind of ink applied by a machine that looks like an enormous version of your desktop printer, and requires treatment with both heat and pressure to set the color. It brings about a molecular bond between the color and the fiber. One of the presenters mentioned that she and her staff observed the way that changes in weather can affect the outcome of the print process, that high humidity can result in a blurry image.
Incidentally, my post a couple days ago about Shanna Parks' historical reproduction mentioned the yardage she had printed for that project, which was done using the sublimation process. And, if you recall my post about Spoonflower's holiday party, you can go back to that link and see images of both the printing machines and the heat press machines. The Disney sublimation printers can move 20 yards of fabric through in one hour. Disney's industrial heat press functions at 400°F temperature and applies 30 pounds of pressure per square inch to the fabric as it moves through the heat rollers.
Sometimes, the Disney department prints yardage, but more often it seemed, they did what's called an engineered print, where the images and designs are concentrated on specific computer drafted pattern pieces. They also have the luxury of being able to cast-to-fit, meaning that they choose performers for particular roles based partly upon stature and build--will they fit in the costume? So, for their costumes which feature engineered prints, they produce them in standard sizes and they don't have as many drastic alterations from performer to performer because of this.
In addition to sublimation printing, they also talked about screenprinting processes which they send out to contractors who produce it on large industrial screenprinting machines designed to produce yardage. In terms of quantities, they cited 30 yards as the quantity that moves through in a batch for mass screenprinted yardage. They create their screen designs with Photoshop and Illustrator; when farmed out to contractors, those folks want the final art in Illustrator because then each color exists on a different layer and can be converted to a multiple screen process easily.
Mention was made about the necessity for updating dye recipes over time using the example of Beauty and the Beast, a show which ran for 20 years on Broadway, and went on to many more years of touring. They showed how slight changes in the costumes resulted in slight changes in the recipes for dyeing different fabrics.
They showed an example of the technological and design changes in the character's costume over time for their long-running shows, in this case the character named Maji from a theme park show called Maji and Moto. They showed examples of how color and design sensibility changed the look of the costumes, and how new technologies changed how the yardage was produced--the current design for the yardage is screenprinted by machine utilizing 14 different screens just to print the stretch fabric from which the tights are made, which comes out to over $100 per yard.
Another concrete example was a Lion King parade costume for a character called Gazelle, whose costume involves a complicated engineered print and for which they must produce multiples because at any given time they have 60 actors in the role.
They showed examples of some costumes worn by the barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans. The fabric for these were created with a double process of screenprinting and sublimation printing. It was interesting to see the depth and complexity of the multiple process yardage.
One of the women mentioned what they've discovered about copying old woven designs which are no longer available (so for example, a costume for a character in a park parade for whom they can no longer source the original fabric because it is no longer being made, so the print shop is given the task of replicating it). She said that they found it much better quality in the long run to digitally render the image of the discontinued fabric pattern from scratch, rather than scanning the original fabric swatches and working from there. The sharpness and accuracy of the resulting image was much better for the digital rendering. She talked about color choices as well, and how in the modern production context they found themselves working with designers all over the world utilizing Pantone colors for long-distance color matching.
Someone in the audience asked for something like a replication of a woven pattern, such as a plaid (an example had been cited earlier of a particular plaid fabric used for Goofy's pants, which the original mill no longer produced), but the presenters said that it was easier and more cost-effective to print the plaid in small quantities as needed than to order and then store the larger quantity--1000 to 1500 yards--that a weaving mill required as a minimum order.
For the character of Dory in the park production of Finding Nemo, they showed the transformation over time of the original Dory puppet created by Michael Curry Design, the surface of which had been hand-painted, then digitally analyzed and set up to be reproduced by sublimation printing at a cost of $95 per yard (as opposed to paying an artisan to hand paint an exact replica each time it had to be replaced). They also showed the costumes which are worn by the puppet operators in that show which feature surface design “the old-fashioned way,” meaning not printed but quilted, and utilizing areas of foam insertion and other kinds of dimensionality, which they call the "blunitards," being blue unitards.
They talked at length about the distressed pirate costumes made from yardage which is pre-printed with stains and dirt. (How timely, given the upcoming release of the next installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise!) You can watch a short presentation on it in the video and detailed photo below.
samples of fabric printed with stains
Some folks in the audience asked about the comparison between natural and synthetic fibers for Disney's purposes, given how in the realm of regional theater from a fine art perspective, natural fibers are perceived as preferable to synthetics in the production of quality historical costume designs. Presenters discussed how longevity and durability is of primary concern for Disney in the majority of their live action productions. For this reason, cottons and silks are considered undesirable because of the vast amount of laundry they must withstand.
That's the end of the coherent part of my notes. There are a few other points of interest I wrote down, but which don't fit cohesively into this post, so they are presented here at the end as a bullet point list, along with a couple of photographs of costumes they had on display with interesting surface design and layered effects.
- They showed some interesting effects of printing on a matellasse for a base fabric.
- They showed printed nylon which had been fused onto a neoprene base.
- There were some flocked appliqué samples which had been heat pressed.
- They mentioned a stilt walking training program that Disney sponsors for their stilt walkers, and how the stilt walkers' costume designs incorporate necessary PPE such as padded shorts to protect their tailbones in case of falls.
- When they wash test their fabrics they wash them 25 times.
- One presenter talked about tonal painting on footwear using Angelus brand shoe paints thinned enough to go through an airbrush. The wardrobe staff on site in the parks touch up the shoes in this fashion as part of their daily maintenance duties.
close-up shot of one of the costumes on display
Another display costume
That's all, folks! (I feel ethically questionable using a Warner Bros. character's tagline to sign off on a post about Disney. Ha ha!) Next up, sustainable production!