Comments | labricoleuse: USITT Fabric Modification Symposium

labricoleuse

USITT Fabric Modification Symposium - Day 3!

Aug 02, 2008 20:48

If you are just joining the blog, you'll want to check back to the two previous posts to catch up on the first two days' worth of this symposium, which has been hosted by the Center for Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill and at which i've been assisting and participating in some of the courses.

Day one covered the first session of four different ( Read more... )

dyeing, rubberizing, shibori, education, discharge, textiles

Comments 29

ladycelia August 3 2008, 01:37:21 UTC

Oh man, I wish that there was more information on the caulk techniques! Some of those are amazing.

labricoleuse August 3 2008, 01:42:02 UTC

It's hard to explain them without video, but i think i might cover some of them in dye class this time around, and if so, i will see if one of my students can help me film some of it and YouTube it or something.

The general gist is, stretch the spandex as much as possible, apply the caulk in various patterns, squish it flat between polyethylene vinyl (like clear tablecloth vinyl), then peel the vinyl off when the caulk's cured and release the spandex. The rest is experimenting with HOW you goosh the caulk on in different patterns--blobs, stripes, squiggles, etc.

labricoleuse August 3 2008, 01:49:53 UTC

Oh, and the metallic effects involve applying the same kind of foiling that is depicted up in the screenprinting pix, but sticking it to the caulk before it totally cures. When you pull the sheet away, the metallic part attaches to the caulk areas (like for the rings one).

The really dimensional ones like curls and pineapple have been slashed into after the caulk's cured and the spandex released.

ladycelia August 3 2008, 01:53:35 UTC

This is very helpful--gives me a good starting point.

I'd imagine that the cure time is quite a bit longer, what with the layer of vinyl. Is it just 'by guess and by golly' on the timing, or is there a recommended 'try this long' time frame?

Thread 16

kleinerkolibri August 3 2008, 04:43:41 UTC

I love the adhesive/foil effect with the screenprinting! I've never thought of that. What sort of foil does it involve? I'm over the moon about the EZscreens, I saw them being used at a quilt and sewing expo here in tampa this spring, but could not remember what they were called. So cheap and easy! No more painful hours of screen filler painting for me!

labricoleuse August 3 2008, 12:55:15 UTC

It's a foil film you can get at art and craft stores--one side is matte (like the tain side of a mirror) and the other is shiny and has the clear crisp texture of mylar or very thin acetate. You can get it as small as tiny pre-cut 6" squares (which i've seen in the craft stores for applying to flowerpots or cut wood shapes and the like) or by the giant roll in screenprinting supply stores. If you call around asking for "foil embossing film" that should get you what you want.

kleinerkolibri August 4 2008, 00:36:22 UTC

thank you! I can't wait to try it out!

kleinerkolibri August 4 2008, 00:38:24 UTC

I wonder how wash safe this is....what sort of adhesive did you use? Thanks for being so helpful, I love expanding the applications for techniques.

Thread 6

girfan August 3 2008, 09:41:55 UTC

Those scarves are lovely! I know I would certainly want to buy one if it was offered for sale.

labricoleuse August 3 2008, 13:00:43 UTC

See, that's heartening to hear. One way that theatre companies (at least in the US/Canada) are trying to diversify their funding sources is via merchandising--many of the larger companies are finding ways of putting in gift shops to sell logo items, scripts, posters, etc. Artsy hand-dyed and -printed scarves of this sort are something that clearly are popular in the Shakespeare festival gift shops; i wonder whether they'd be good sellers for regional theatres as well.

symposium ext_114423 August 4 2008, 01:25:50 UTC

this sure is a lot of info being provided at once! i'll keep a bookmark for this series of posts handy. some of the fabric swatches are fantastic!

foil embossing with Foil-On Adhesive anonymous August 4 2008, 17:51:18 UTC

The source for the adhesive is
Screen-Trans Development Corp.
100 Grand Street, Moonachie, NJ 07074 USA
tel: 201.933.7800fax: 201.804.6371
They have a sample kit for about $25.00 which includes adhesive, foil samples and instructions.
The results are machine washable but NOT dry cleanable. We have used it with cut stencils, screens. We also use it for to make knitted cord chain mail look like metal.