As well as the colour workshops I did yesterday, in preparation for the workshops next week I needed to source some various materials to use for laser cutting, embroidery and digital print.
For laser cutting I thought I might try muslin and possibly a thin natural paper (lokta) if that would work, for a delicate look and to mimic the leaf skeletons I was talking about in a previous post. The embroidery machine cannot be used on materials that are too thick, which is unfortunate for me as I would have liked to use a thick organic cotton canvas I purchased… so I decided I would use calico (as this would probably give the best outcome), and I will also enquire about whether the machine will work on muslin, although I suspect that it may be too thin.
When it comes to the digital print workshop, I came across abit of an issue. My whole project is about appreciating and respecting the environment therefore I have been using natural/organic/sustainable/eco-friendly fabrics, however both the sublimation printer and the heat press only work on synthetic fabrics. Most of the time, the production and use of synthetic fabrics do much more harm than natural fibres (although I am aware that alot of cotton production is extremely unsustainable due to the huge amount of water wastage and use of chemicals, which is why I chose to buy organic cotton as it is better for the environment as it involves no or minimal chemical processing). During the workshop, I will use synthetic fabrics to transfer my prints onto as this will be most effective, but I will also do some further research into other natural fabrics and printing methods that exist in the sustainable textile industry.
an.andycaptures 