PEmbroider File Preparation
Fabrication
Reflection
Throughout this project, I familiarized myself with the relatively unintuitive PEmbroider and Adobe Illustrator software. Since I had little experience with both programs, initial work was slow. However, once I saw physical examples of some files and saw how the machine actually worked, I gained some more intuition and enjoyed the process more.
I’m happy with the final product, but if given more time would explore the topic more. I would like to see how layering data on top of each other (either on one piece of fabric or translucent layers that can be moved and arranged however you want) can further improve the visualization. I was surprised how manic the final product looked, almost unrecognizable as data. Finally, through using earthtime.org and PEmbroider (both created by CMU professors) to explore the housing crisis (an issue pushed along by gentrification encouraged by the spread of CMU), I think there’s an interesting level of irony in the piece.
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Written Reflection
Your process for conceptualizing and making your object
Our process started with imagining the reality of the future and comparing how it may differ from the present. Our conclusion was that humanity’s longing for physical touch will continue or even intensify, as we imagine the world of the future to be filled with smooth, cold computer screens and digitized interactions. This initiated our exploration of a comfort object for people of all ages of the future, specifically exploring the different textures we could create and use that contrast with that of flat screens. Thinking about different toys and comfort objects we use today and how these date back to several years back, we decided to build a stuffed octopus, where each tentacle would have a different texture.
What worked well and why you think it worked well
The sizing of the octopus was a concern at first, as we intended to make the octopus handheld for personal use. However during the critique, the octopus was able to be shared amongst multiple people, each experiencing a different tentacle and thereby a different textural experience. Another element that worked well was the plain color of the octopus, as it let the different textural aspects be further emphasized and removed distractions. The lack of color also implies that future life is overstimulating, and to relax people may turn to plainer-colored comfort objects made of natural fabrics rather than bright, artificially colored synthetic materials. Additionally, the varied combinations of fillings and outer textures resulted in a wider range of experiences without overcomplicating our fabrication process.
What you would improve or change and why
The finishing of the edges could be improved. Though the raw edges give a more rough feeling that also provides another dimension to a textural experience, with more time and skill, the toy could be more securely fabricated. Also, the lack of variety in fabric allowed the experience to be solely about the fillings and the outer textures, though we would like to explore other natural materials to create even more combinations.
What you learned through this project and what you might take from this project with you into future projects
This project had a more intense brainstorming process, which allowed us to combine our ideas and talk about what we wanted to do for the project extensively. I think this extended brainstorm and discussion about the project further clarified our goals and what we wanted to create. Also, we learned a great deal about modifying initial project goals throughout the creation process. Being able to accomplish our intended goal while being flexible with specific design requirements will be a useful skill in future projects.
I had very little experience with using the sewing machine and making plushies, so the entire fabrication process for this stuffed octopus was quite challenging for me. In terms of skills, I was able to further improve my ability to use a sewing machine and make 3D structures with it. Because of this, I feel much more confident in being able to incorporate this fabrication method into my future projects.
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I plan to use captures from earthtime.org, a website created by the CREATE lab at CMU that compiles satellite data and various databases to visualize human impact and demographic shifts geographically. I will compile various images from the website that represent different data about Pittsburgh. To represent these images, I want to create a repeat pattern with a blank map of Pittsburgh with time on the x-axis and different measurements on the y-axis. By not immediately revealing what these graphs represent, I can probe the viewer to consider different aspects of the data (colors shifting and taking over other colors) and then later connect those to the real-life data they represent.
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Choice of Materials
As it’s a screenprinting project, the materials are less important than what the visualization represents. I will likely use a cricut machine, tape, and other materials associated with screenprinting. I don’t plan to use very complicated colors, with a base of black maps with different data being represented with relatively easy to differentiate colors (red, blue, green, yellow, other stock colors).
Timeline
11/30 – final collection of all images in photoshop for cricut, full sketch of what I intend to make
11/30-12/6 – Repeated Studio Days of Cricut/Screen Printing, need one session for the base layer of maps. While that dries, preparing the screens for the next day
Overall, I need at least a few separate days of studio work to prepare all the screens and print them
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In the future, despite advanced technologies and a changing world, there are certain aspects of the human condition that are consistent with what we experience today. Currently, children usually have comfort items like teddy bears and blankies to calm them.
In the future, these comfort items are increasingly used by adults. Because everything has become smooth (phone screens, glass buildings, computers), people need textured sensory stimulation. To have a break from scrolling and interacting with smooth, flat, cold glass, people have tactile toys to give them a break. These toys are therefore made with rough, angled, warmer fabrics and textiles. Rather than a smooth teddy bear being calming today, people find spikier and rougher objects comforting as a break from the smoother, flat objects they interact with all day.
Materials
The textiles of the future are largely synthetic, colder, and uninteresting to the touch. These are easier and cheaper to produce than the natural fabrics of today. Therefore, in the future, people long for rough cloths like linen, cotton-seed, denim, burlap, and wool. Therefore, we will be using these rougher natural fabrics in our project.
Idea Summary
We will be making a teddy bear out of these rougher materials to symbolize this shift. Teddy bears have been used for centuries and are associated with warmth, love, and childhood. It’ll be stuffed with synthetic cotton balls, but the exterior fiber will be all natural and rough to the touch.
Essentially, we are making an uncomfortable teddy bear by our modern standards.
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New York is flooded and billions of dollars in real estate is now underwater in almost all major countries. Temperatures vary wildly across the globe, with many areas seeing incredibly harsh winters and scorching summers. As a result clothes must be incredibly adaptable to the wearer’s environment, with most clothes having snap-on attachments to layer up or down.
- Money has been abolished
With the collapse of all major nation states, there is now no traditional currency to exchange for goods and services. In lieu, most goods are distributed by need and availability. To symbolically hold a semblance of payment, everybody exchanges shiny rocks and trinkets that they’ve found in the rubble.
- New textiles can’t be produced
With most aquifers drained, water is a precious commodity. Crop blights and diseases have spread among almost all natural fibers, and most people turn to discarded material to incorporate in their clothes.
- New community traditions have emerged
Without nation states to pledge citizenship to, micro-communities have formed locally. Small neighborhoods and blocks band together and family structure is no more. Now much freer in movement and mind, information is exchanged at an alarming rate. To symbolize a connection between these groups, people cut off parts of their clothing and sew them onto the clothes of a close friend. Your fashion results from your relationships in a physical sense, and you can be identified by your appearance immediately.
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During the experimental portion of the project, when I was getting a feel for weaving and what I liked about it, I especially enjoyed the contrast that you could make with the dyed wool. This helped clarify what I wanted to do for my final piece, which would highlight contrasting color fields that each featured a different method of weaving I particularly enjoyed. I wanted to create a 3D effect with the rya knots in the first field, jumping out of the page in a mess. Then, I moved towards the flat interlocked section and eventually a window through the piece.
I think that the contrast between the sections worked well, especially when coupled with the different methods of making a circle (rya, flat, window). I think this works well because the sections are clear cut and each have their own feeling/brightness to them. However, I think I would put more thought into the solid fields in the future and possibly try a pattern like horizontal/vertical stripes within them. Also, my “circles” didn’t exactly look like circles and I would’ve liked them to be more planned out.
From doing this project I have a greater appreciation for clean lines/perfection in professional weavings. Even the smallest mistake, like not having a tight selvedge or skipping a warp had a permanent impact that was hard to fix after moving forward a few lines. In the future, I think I would like to explore more with different techniques and using the warps in interesting ways rather than hiding them.
FIVE DIRECTIONS
- Different shapes, possibly hearts or stars in the middle of the fields rather than circles
- Swap out colors of warps to highlight the window portion/multicolor possibilities
- Eliminate the sections in favor of a gradient with shortening rya knots going to flat interlocking to a widening window that eventually takes up the whole loom
- Change colors to be less contrasting and more complementary/pleasing to the eye
- Alter the window portion to have a weblike structure “supporting” it, sectioning off parts of the warps like Jennifer’s piece that go towards the center window
This is my weaving in progress as of 9/23/21
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This weaving by Claire Zeisler, named “Hanging”, is a product of the Bauhaus weaving workshop. This weaving was made in 1950. It mainly uses tan and red, with the red almost bleeding out of the skin-colored fabric. A large part of the warp is exposed towards the bottom, resembling the “innards” of the piece. In addition, a tangle of objects — a glass ornament encased in netting, a skein of golden yarn, an embroidery hoop — are attached to the piece. This is intended to be used as a wall hanging.
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