DR2007 Surface Design - Debbie Ng

Fabric of thread

Materials needed:

• Sewing machine
• Water soluble stabilizer
• Threads, yarns, fabric strips, trimmings
• UVA resistant clear acrylic spray
  

Steps:

• Cut two pieces of water soluble stabilizer sheets. Arrange threads on top of one sheet, and put the other sheet on top. Bring the sheets to the sewing machine and sew it together. Soak the sewn together fabric in water until the stabilizer dissolves. Leave to dry.
• You can also leave it to dry over a cup, so it will hold its shape after it has dried.
  

Applications:

Bowls, cups, fabric, scarves, vases

Documentation:

arranging threads

mum helping me thread our sewing machine

soaking in water to dissolve water soluble material

experimenting with a denser grid than the first one

Plastic fusing

Materials needed:

• Plastic bags of different colours
• Baking paper
• Iron

Steps:

Cut up plastic bags and arrange as desired. Sandwich between baking paper and iron on.

Applications:

Packaging, clothing, bags.

Documentation:

the fusing process

Reflection:

I really enjoyed fabric of thread. I really love the delicate nature of the works. The threads move around as I’m sewing, so it’s a little tricky to keep them in place. I decided to do the sewing at home because we have a traditional Singer sewing machine that belonged to my late grandmother. It was quite surreal sitting beside my mum as she taught me how to use the sewing machine, and learning tips and tricks from her. Quite a meaningful process. I can see myself experimenting further with this technique. 

Plastic fusing is another fairly quick and easy technique, with a lot of potential to play with colours and textures. I might have placed the iron on my design for too long, and it resulted in many holes. However, that could also be part of the appeal.

Materials needed:

• Fabric crayons
• Fabric paint
• Brushes
• Flat items like leaves, thread, flowers, feathers
• Polyester cloth (shiny)
• Iron
• Wood
• TheMagicTouch Transfer Paper

Steps:

Dry transfer

This involves drawing your designs on paper with fabric crayons and cutting the designs out. Place baking paper underneath your selected fabric, and your design face-down on top of the fabric. Place another sheet of baking paper on top of the design, and put the iron on it for about 10 seconds (peek to see if the design has transferred onto the fabric).

Wet transfer

Direct transfer: similar steps to dry transfer, except that fabric paint is used instead of fabric crayons.

Indirect transfer: paint a solid block of colour on paper, then place an item (e.g. leaf) on the fabric, with the solid colour swatch on top, and cover with baking paper. Put the iron on it for about 10-15 seconds.

Digital transfer: Print an image / design on TheMagicTouch transfer paper. Use the heat press to transfer your design onto wood / a shirt.

Applications:

• Fabric print
• T-shirt print
• Wood block print

Documentation

using the paintbrush to create textures

dry transfer with crayons

my swatches

Reflection:

Transfer printing is a great way to ease into the module, as it is a fairly easy technique to master. I rarely get to work with my hands as I’ve been doing a lot of digital design, so it was quite refreshing to go wild with the crayons and paint. While creating the designs, I noticed that the paint colours were pretty dull after they dried on the paper. However, I was pleasantly surprised during the transfer process as the colours on the polyester fabric turned out to be really vibrant. I experimented with some layering, re-transfering etc.

Some of my favourite samples:

dry transfer with crayons

wet transfer with acrylic paint

combination of wet and dry transfer

indirect transfer

wet transfer. i layered a few transfers on top of each other.