AUT BCT Caitlin Maeve

Blog Posts for the BCT Work of Caitlin Maeve

[mybctexperience]

The Complete Derailment

Due to CoVID-19 and the New Zealand Lockdown we have not been able to work on a lot of our project. Then the World of Wearable Art has canceled their competition and show for this year.

This does not dissuade us from completing this garment to the fullest! Though it does put a stop to it’s forward momentum for the time being. We are still able complete a few pieces within the semester deadline without the use of AUT’s facilities. Though if we get the chance we could complete even more with access to those facilities!

Alas we are needing to move into a different area for the Uni portion of the project this semester. After that the garment will continue as a background project ready for the World of Wearable Art stage next year!

[mybctexperience]

Studio Work 13

Meeting 9, Summary of Day:

Thursday 19th March 2020 12:30pm - 5pm ish

Done - Got Spray Foam for Crown. Started stabilising Collar Armature.

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Meeting 10, Summary of Day:

Friday 20th March 2020 9:40am - 6pm

Discussed - Redo of resolution of 3D printing models, Crown status, Places to use the Spray Foam.

Images:

[mybctexperience]

Screen Printing Setup

Studio Day 4, Summary of Day:

Wednesday 18th March 2020 9am 4pm & late

Done - Emails for 3D Printing (Test and Connectors). Screen Printing Setup (Screens picked out, emulsed, first 3 colours mixed and ready for Friday Morning). Elastic in Petticoat readjusted (unpicked, measured, cut and restitched).

Start first Studio Assignment writeup.

Images:

Forgot to take photos of the color mixing process, and the large amount of hand sewing... So much hand sewing.

[mybctexperience]

Little Bits

Meeting 8 (kinda), Summary of Day:

Monday 16th March 2020 11am - 5pm ish

Done - Ordered the Collar’s LEDs. Sewn Elastic to Petticoat.

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Doing some Work, Summary of Day:

Tuesday 17th March 2020 2pm - 8:30pm ish

Done - Hot Glue the Collar Joints (at the moment).

Images:

The LEDs we’ve ordered.

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Joints all glued for now, also started shaping.

[mybctexperience]

Seeing Goals Visually

Meeting 7 (short), Summary of Day:

Friday 13th March 2020 10am - 3:30pm

Researched - WOW Deadlines, LEDs.

Discussed - LED acquiring, Colour blending, Working order, Process of Sponsored Invoicing, Screen Printing first round, 3D modelling progress.

Done - Upload Photos for Tiger. Got work onto the Whiteboard. Recutting Crown Fabric. Sewing some of the Crown. First lot of images for the Screens on the USB.

Images:

The leather dye arrived!

Writing up a “breakdown board”. As we do each bit we get to wipe it off.

Sewing a clean edge around the new crown fabric. We changed the way we’re going to make the crown. Now using the existing prototype instead of staring from scratch. Saves time and extra stress.

[mybctexperience]

Material Gathering

Meeting 6 (Material Gathering), Summary of Day:

Thursday 12th March 2020 11am - 5pm

Discussed - Performance for Garment/model and things we need to think about, Pulse Sensor strap making (for ease), Amounts of iridescent fabric needed for the skirt.

Done - Gathered: Black & white elastic, Hook and loop fastenings, Eyelets, Stuffing, Skirt organza.

Image:

[mybctexperience]

Skirt/Petticoat Work

Studio Day 3, Summary of Day:

Wednesday 11th March 2020 9am - 4pm

Discussed - Only Half of the Skirt being 3D Printed, How to get the 3D Printing shaped, The Meeting tomorrow, Screen size for printing, Coding and wiring of the LEDs, Connections between 3D printed pieces, Thin defusing fabric for over skirt, Colouring the 3D printing, General painting, 3D printing prices, Getting funding, Talking to the WOW Educational Partner Representative at AUT, Different ways of using our time.

Done - Cutting the Curve in the Skirt. Measuring out Pieces of 3D printing we need. Getting (at least some of) the 3D printing paid for. Sewing the Skirt Curve.

Images:

Cut the curve into the skirt petticoat.

LED measuring and 3D printing measuring.

Sizing the screen for screen printing.

[mybctexperience]

Collar Structure Stabilising

Meeting 5 (short), Summary of Day:

Monday 9th March 2020 10am ish

Most junctions of Collar are now hot glued. (Much more stable than before, easier to shape)

Thermoplastic arrived, Tiger will be testing.

Images:

Some joints stabilised by hot glue.

[mybctexperience]

Armature Prototypes

Meeting 4, Summary of Day:

Friday 6th March 10am - 12pm ish

Research - Type of Elwire, LEDs.

Discussed - Work done yesterday, EVA Foam being feasible, Where to place the spikes in the skirt, Skirt curvature, Thermoplastic used on 3D printing, Skirt armature, LEDs or Lighting Elwire, Output of Arduino and battery packs, Skirt shaping, Next meeting (will message me if on Monday or not), Getting the highest estimated price for the 3D printed skirt (full and half).

Prototype skirt armature. Confirmed 3D printing for skirt.

Images:

Small scale armature prototypes for the thermoplastic spikes.

[mybctexperience]

“Making” Advancement

Meeting 3, Summary of Day:

Thursday 5th March 10am - 4pm ish

Print is ready for pickup (will be tomorrow, Tiger). EVA foam laser cutting test completed. EVA Foam Chainmail Prototype completed. Sewn the Petticoat ready for elastic. Sewn the Crown ready for armature and stuffing. Measured, cut and tested (general shape and fitting with fabric) wire for the Collar. Replaced support at back of Collar. Calculated final length of LEDs needed for Collar.

Images:

EVA foam laser cutting test completed.

EVA foam chain mail prototype completed.

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Cutting and sewing the crown material.

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Process of measuring, cutting, shaping and testing wire to adjust the shape of the collar from the plain prototype.

[mybctexperience]

Fabric Cutting 1

Studio Day 2, Summary of Day:

Wednesday 4th March 9am - 4pm ish

Research - Thermoplastic (Worbla), Different coding for LEDs, LED strips. Elastic, Hook and Loop Fastenings.

Discussed - Types of plastics for spikes, When coding can be started, Picking up materials, Pulse sensor as part of the final Garment (or not as it may be), 3D printing pickup, Screen Printing Induction, Laser cutting file, Crown fabric and stuffing, Meeting times, Laser cutting tomorrow morning, LEDs (Length we require), State of Collar, Pricing and money.

Done - Checked Induction stats (all go). Cut the Fabric for the Top and Petticoat. Ordered the Thermoplastic. Ordered Leather Dye. Measured Crown fabric.

Images:

The leather lacing arrived!

The two halves of the top to be screen printed all cut out.

The petticoat for the skirt cut out.

More fabric measurements. Gotta get used to seeing them.

[mybctexperience]

Screen Printing Layers

Meeting 2, Summary of Day:

Monday 2nd March 12pm - 5pm ish

Researched - Leather dye.

Discussed - Pliers for wire cutting and bending (bring in tomorrow), Downloading the laser cutting pattern, Resizing the 3D model and getting it printed (testing the new chainmail), Changing lengths on the Collar, Screen Printing Induction tomorrow afternoon(?), Screen Printing colour layer separation, Fabric measurements, Next Session plan, Screens for screen printing.

Done - Sent email for setting up laser cutting tests. Reply for Wednesday session (anytime before 3pm). Resized the Chainmail Model. Sent email for the printing. Basic Collar plan. Started Screen Layers (using Medibang). Fabric measurements for cutting. All the WOW dates on the calendar. Some highlighting and finalising materials. Digital Screen Printing Layers.

Screen Printing Digital Colour Layers:

There are ten colour layers of the design. I didn’t get it perfectly for the colours but I’m hoping the blending will fix a lot of it. Started to aim for a paua design as I went on. It Is difficult to hand replicate the reference exactly.

Images:

Fabric measurements.

Deadline organising and meeting planning.

The colours and layers needed do the screen printing design on the tank top.

[mybctexperience]

Studio Work 2

Meeting 1, Summary of Meeting:

Thursday 27th February 10am - 12pm ish

Researched - Ribbons, Leather, Eyelets, Elastic (white), Leather dye.

Discussed - Measurements for both the top and skirt, Laser cutting times for the EVA foam, Latest time to have a screen printing induction done, Meeting timings, Reminders for Tiger, Making the screens for printing, Colour blending, Lacing for the top (Suede, dye a shade of blue), Leather instead of EVA foam.

Started a final list of Materials and Pricing.

Brought Suede cord for lacing.

Basic list of colours/shades on the top design.

[mybctexperience]

Back to Studio and Straight into it!

Studio Day 1, Summary of Day:

Wednesday 26th February 2020 9am - 4pm

Researched - Spray foam, LEDs, Fabric printing, Screen printing, Stuffing, Velcro, EVA foam, Elastic.

Discussed - Petticoat fabric (dark colour), Screen Printing (using AUT), Arduino or Lillypad (chosen Arduino), Thermoplastic (spikes on skirt), Armature in the skirt, EVA foam, Base length of LEDs needed already, Hot glue as a clear seal over the collar armature joints, Mimicking the pulse on the Wearable stage and only talking about using the Pulse Sensor in context of BCT, Next 3D printing prototype, Prototyping the EVA foam.

Images:

Our brief overview for the class.

Our work station already.

[mybctexperience]

Ocean Meridiem - Over The Break Work - Index

Weaving the Garment Tank Top - Part 1

Non-Digitaly Designed Crown Prototype

Collar Prototype 2.0 - Part 1

Collar Prototype 2.0 - Part 2

3D Printing Dying Tests

Weaving the Garment Tank Top - Part 2

Machine Embroidery for the Tank Top?

Fabric Sourcing & Re-Dying

[mybctexperience]

Fabric Sourcing & Re-Dying

Mama and I discussed what to use as the fabric of the top. Light or dark tones or colours. We went to a fabric shop in town to discuss it with the staff there as well. It was suggested that since we would have lighter vibrant colours on top of the fabric that we should use a dark colour or black as the base. If the base was lighter it could wash the design out under the stage lights. We ended up scoring a set of black sheets at an op shop and grabed some black dye to rejuvenate the black.

Re-dying Process:

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Machine Embroidery for the Tank Top?

Another grand idea for transfering the image onto fabric is machine embroidery. Dad suggested that we go to Robêrt Embroideries to see what they would be able to do.

I worked with Nicky Robert and her Designer, to translate our design image to the fabric. I sent both the top image by itself and the origninal reference image to give an idea of where we were coming from. We’re still aiming for the coral itself, but there is a slight hint of paua shell theme coming in as well.

The Designer took a look at the design and had a discussion with me about the style of stitching and the theads I wanted to use. She also showed me a Sample of what she had been thinking of.

Later I recived a phone call from Nicky saying that the price for the amount of working going into the translation of the design would be far higher than originally expected. If I could get an artist to redraw our design they might be able to get it done, otherwise they cannot help us. Machine Embroidery will not be the way for us to finish the top.