NATUREAL
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A PROCESS JOURNAL FOR SURFACE DESIGN DONE IN SEMESTER 1 OF ACADEMIC YEAR 2015-2016 CREATED BY TAN WAN TING MALISSA
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CONTENT 1. HEAT TRANSFER: INK & CRAYON ON CLOTH 2. HEAT TRANSFER: DIGITAL PRINT ON CLOTH & WOOD 3. FUSING PLASTICS 4. DISSOLVABLE MATERIAL 5. FELTING: A) DRY & B) WET 6. APPLIQUE 7. FIELD TRIP - TOUCH & PRINT 8. KNITTING 9. STITCHING WITH ELASTIC THREAD 10. SMOCKING 11. THERMOCHROMATIC PIGMENT 12. VACUUM FORMING 13. FIBER ETCHING 14. THERMOPLASTICS 15. RASTERING ON WOOD 16. RESIN ENCAPSULATION 17. LATEX 4
1. HEAT TRANSFER: INK & CRAYON ON FABRIC MATERIALS USED 1. Fabric Crayons 2. Transprint Inks 3. Brushes
4. Paper 5. Dried Flowers 6. Baking Paper
STEPS 1. Create desired design on paper with crayons and/or transprint inks. 2. After design is done and has dried completely, place it face down on the fabric and cover the paper with a sheet of baking paper. 3. Heat up the Iron and iron it over the baking paper, occasionally checking if the design has been transferred onto the fabric.
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7. Fabric 8. Iron
^ Design on the right contains a mixture of fabric crayons and transprint inks.
The designs created with the inks appeared much lighter and fainter whereas the ones done with the crayons appeared to be stronger and more saturated after they are transferred onto the fabric. For the design on the top right, I sandwiched a stalk of dried flower in between the design and the fabric. How it was done is shown in the photo above it. After ironing, the flower left its silhouette on the design transferred onto the fabric.
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2. HEAT TRANSFER: DIGITAL PRINT ON FABRIC & WOOD MATERIALS USED 1. Digital image printed on TTC 3.1 Paper 2. Digital Image printed on CPM 6.2 Paper 3. Baking Paper
4. Old T-Shirt 5. Thin Plywood 6. MDF Wood
* Designs printed on TTC 3.1 Paper are for transferring artworks to fabric whereas CPM 6.2 is for transferring artworks to non-fabric, smooth surfaces such as wood, metal, cardboard, plastic, etc.
STEPS 1. Print desired photos or designs onto TTC 3.1/CPM 6.2 Paper. 2. Turn on heat transfer machine to desired temperature (400oF for TTC 3.1 on T-Shirt Fabric, 350oF for CPM 6.2 on wood) 3. Place printed paper (TTC 3.1 for fabric, CPM 6.2 for wood) with printed image facing down onto the T-Shirt and Wood. 4. Place a sheet of baking paper above the printed paper. 5. When machine has heated up to the appropriate temperature, place the artworks into the machine, locking the cover of the machine and let it heat for 30 seconds. 6. When the time is up, remove the artwork from the machine and quickly peel off the paper from the t-shirt or wood.
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I went home and sanded the plywood to smoothen out the surface. I tried transferring a new image at 350oF for 40 seconds only once and the image came out nicely. I also tried printing on the MDF wood which had a much smoother surface and the images turned out great as shown below.
The two samples on the left are printed from the CPM 6.2 transfer paper on plywood at 350oF for 40 seconds. After the first round, the image isn’t very well transferred. I then tried another 3 more rounds of 40 seconds, but the image is still not transferred smoothly due to the grains on the wood.
The two samples on the left are printed from the TTC 3.1 Paper onto a Old Singlet at 400oF for 40 seconds. I folded a few other old t-shirts and stacked them under the singlet when I placed it in the machine. However, I did not think that the shirts below are uneven and eventually left a mark on the printed image as shown on the right. The texture of the fabric has also caused the image to be printed unevenly.
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3. FUSING PLASTICS MATERIALS USED 1. Plastics
2. Baking Paper
3. Iron
STEPS 1. Layer various different types of plastics together. 2. Place a piece of baking paper on top of the plastics so that it doesnt stick to the iron. 3. Heat the iron and iron over the baking paper.
Above is one of my favourite samples. What I did was to cut open a thin plastic bag, place a few dried flowers, some thinly cut pieces of straw and cellophane in. I folded the plastic into half, covering the flowers, placed the baking paper over it and ironed over them.
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Below, I cut strips of various types of plastic - plastic bag, thinner plastic from NTUC, straws, cellophane and some bouquet wrapping paper. There are some materials I included which I feel might not be considered as plastics but I wanted to try them out and see if they will melt under heat just like plastics.
Below, I stuffed various colored thread within straws and flattened them out, placing them side by side under a sheet of baking paper and heating it under the iron. Some parts of the straw stuck together while the other parts did not really stick well. I tried heating it under the iron quite a number of times, however some parts of the straw started having holes within it, probably due to too much heat.
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4. STITCHING ON WATER SOLUBLE CLOTH MATERIALS USED 1. Water Soluble Cloth 2. Normal Sewing Thread 3. Thicker Thread
4. Sewing Machine 5. Water
STEPS 1. Setup the sewing machine and load it with sewing thread. 2. Place the water soluble cloth and sew about randomly. 3. I layered a few thicker threads and got the sewing machine to sew above it. 4. When the design is completed, soak the water soluble cloth in a small container of water until the cloth dissolves completely. 5. Let the cloth dry on a hard odd-shaped surface and the cloth will take the shape of the surface when it dries and harden.
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In these photos, I sew various lines with a multicolored thread and also added a star shaped design through the sewing machine. I cut strips of yarn and sew them on with the sewing machine. Other than using the sewing machine, I also tried to hand stitch short marks everywhere with various colored thread. After I completed the sewing, I washed the cloth under running tap water. Some parts of the cloth looked like the water soluble cloth did not dissolve properly after washing, due to the thread being sewn too tightly together. I laid the design over my DKNY perfume bottle as I wanted it to have a curved shape when it dried.
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5A. FELTING: DRY MATERIALS USED 1. Wool Felt 2. Felting Needle
3. Sponge Pad
STEPS 1. Separate the wool felt into strips and layer them in different directions above each other on the sponge pad. 2. Roll them into the desired shape and poke it repeatedly using the felting needle until the wool felt locks together and the shape has hardened, taking its form.
I initially tied 3 felting needles together to poke the felt as I thought it would be faster. However, I tried using just 1 needle and realised that as long as the felt is poked correctly, using just 1 needle works better than 3 needles together. 13
5B. FELTING: WET MATERIALS USED 1. Wool Felt 2. Bubble Wrap
3. Soap 4. Water
STEPS 1. Separate the wool felt into strips and layer them in different directions above each other on the bubble wrap. 2. Add some soap and water onto the layered wool felt. 3. Gently rub the wool felt with bare hands or with the bubble wrap. 4. After the wool felt has been blended evenly, rinse away the soap and leave it on a flat and dry surface to dry. I wanted to create something that resembles a seashell as I found the swirls on the surface really interesting. I curled the different colored strips of wool felt and placed them side by side. It was hard to tell how it would turn out as rubbing the felt will cause some of the layers to end up overlapping the others.
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6. APPLIQUE MATERIALS USED 1. Cloth 2. Sewing Thread
3. Sewing Machine
STEPS 1. Set up the sewing machine and load the sewing thread in. 2. Cut a piece of small cloth and lay it above another piece of cloth. 3. Line the needle of the sewing machine near the side of the edge of the smaller cloth and sew along the sides, ensuring the two pieces of cloth are sewn together.
I sewed a piece of translucent cloth along the edges to another piece of cloth, leaving one side unsewn. I then cut colored thread and stuffed them into the open side. Next, I used the sewing machine to sew up the open end so the colored thread is trapped inside. 15
7. FIELD TRIP TO TOUCH & PRINT One of the weeks, we had a field trip to Touch & Print, one of the companies that provide high quality customizable heat transfer printing services in Singapore. We were first introduced to the differences between printing in RGB & CMYK. I learnt that the CMY in CMYK are the primary colors. When CMY are mixed together, we get dark brown and not black. The K in CMYK is for making black and printing pure black. I also learnt that printers don’t print anything that is white. The printers detect white areas as areas that are not supposed to have anything printed. Next, we were taught about the different types of printing. 1. Transfer Print Laser/Toner: for wood, for non fabrics - Powder that is like a plastic form is printed on the paper. - After the heat transfer machine applies heat, the powder printed on the paper melts and transfers the print onto the other surface where the paper is facing down on.
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2. Cutting (Vinyl Transfer) - For fabric only - A blade is used and vector image is sent to the machine which cuts out the vector image on a sheet of vinyl paper. The remaining unwanted areas are to be peeled off. - Next, place the design face down on a piece of fabric and heat press the design onto the fabric. Remove the clear sheet from the fabric and the process is completed! The photos below is a demo on Vinyl Transfer shown by Leon, who taught us about the various printing techniques.
3. Screen Printing - Silk screen to be coated with photo sensitive emulsion. - Print desired design in Black & White onto a transparency. - Place the transparency outside the screen, the right side down and place in the exposure unit to expose the emulsion. - After emulsion is exposed, wash the silk screen with water to wash out the emulsion where the image was. - After the screen has dried, lay the fabric or any suitable material under the screen. - Use desired ink and spread it across the screen below the image. - Use a squeege to evenly spread the ink across the image. - Carefully remove the screen and the print is completed. 4. Sublimation - Process of solid to gas - Special Ink, special coating - Gas transfers onto the special coating
- Base must be white - Requires more than 200 degrees to work
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Apart from explaining on printing techniques, Leon also mentioned that colors shown on a computer screen is different from what comes out from the printer. He also explained that the screens on a Macbook are more scaled down and the colors are more realistic compared to some PCs that overly bright screens. There was another interesting thing Leon showed us on youtube. It was the Chibitronics circuit stickers. It requires a LED sticker, coin cell battery and conductive copper tape to work. Copper tape is stuck onto a surface and connected to the LED sticker and battery. When connected properly, the LED will light up. There are also many ways to design the circuits and also possible to make the lights blink when you slide your finger across the circuit. I find such inventions special and unique. I really like such interactive DIY projects and was glad to have been introduced to such stuff. Leon also brought us over to the Prototype Lab at the National Design Centre, where he got one of the staff there to show us around the place. Prototype Lab is a place where people of all ages come to make something that they are interested in making, just that they do not have someone to teach them and the appropriate machines or tools for making it. I was totally unaware that there is a space like that in Singapore. I thought that we could only learn and do such stuff in school. I feel that having such a space gives everyone a chance to learn and do craft work when they do not have a chance to try and experience it. On the left is a really cool print which appears different when taken using a camera with its flash on. The 1st photo on the left is taken normally without any flash while the 2nd photo is taken with flash on.
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8. KNITTING MATERIALS USED 1. Knitting Needles
2. Yarn
3. Wire
STEPS - Knit Stitch 1. Cast on a desired number of stitches on one of the needles. 2. Hold the needle with the cast on stitches on the left hand and the empty needle on the right. 3. Push the tip of the right needle into the first loop of the left needle, so that the right needle crosses behind the left needle. Make sure the yarn is at the back of the needles. 4. Hold the yarn tightly and wrap it counterclockwise around the tip of the right needle so that it sits in between the two needles. 5. Gently pull the tip of the right needle back through the first loop towards urself together with the yarn. 6. Slowly pull the right needle all the way through then bring the right needle up, so that it’s on top of the left needle. 7. Pull the new loop on the right needle to the tip of the left needle and let the old loop slide off. 8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 until all the stitches have been transferred to the other needle.
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After successfully knitting something, I wanted to try knitting something usable in a different way. Instead of using one type of yarn, I used two different colors. Black & white yarn both neatly aligned side by side in order. After few weeks of hard work, I finally completed the product. It is to be a handphone pouch with a pocket for the EZ-link card. I felt really happy and excited that I managed to make something usable. I already have in mind to knit a scarf for my upcoming winter trip next month!
I feel that the hardest to knit of all is the wire. I was used to knitting really tightly on the yarn but when I knitted too tightly for the wires, I was unable to slip the needle into the loop as there wasn’t any space. I then tried transferring the loops onto a satay stick which was much thinner and had some allowance for the knitting needle to slip in. The good thing about knitting with wires is that if the needle were to slide out accidentally, the loop will still be in shape and not disappear just like when knitting with yarn.
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9. STITCHING WITH ELASTIC THREAD MATERIALS USED 1. Fabric 2. Sewing Thread
3. Elastic Thread/Elastic Ribbon 4. Sewing Machine
STEPS 1. Set up the sewing machine and wind bobbin with stretched elastic thread. 2. Place sewing thread at the top of the machine while the elastic thread should be placed at the bottom. 3. Step the pedal and begin sewing. 4. When the machine has sewn to a desired length, release the pedal and cut the thread below and above the fabric. 5. The fabric should now be stretchable due to the elastic thread.
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Another method will be to load the sewing machine with sewing thread and sew a zigzag pattern onto a stretched elastic ribbon (held on tightly at both ends) placed on a piece of fabric. I used this technique to create a stretchable opening for a simple pouch which I had all along wanted to try making.
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10. SMOCKING MATERIALS USED 1. Fabric
2. Sewing Thread
3. Sewing Needle
STEPS - Lattice Smocking 1. On the back side of a piece of fabric, draw dots to represent corners of squares of 1or 2cm width. 2. Starting from the square in the first column, draw diagonal lines slanting towards the same direction in alternating squares of the same row. 3. In the next row, start from the square in the second column and draw diagonal lines slanting towards the opposite direction in the alternating squares of the same row. 4. Using the needle, pick up some fabric at the first dot on the first row and follow the diagonal line picking up more fabric at the dot which the line leads to. Tie a knot after sewing the fabric at the two dots together. 5. Move on to the next dot on the same row and repeat. 6. For the next row, just follow the diagonal line and sew even though the line slants towards another direction. On the right is an example of a shell smocking pattern I did.
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11. THERMOCHROMATIC PIGMENT MATERIALS USED 1. Fabric 2. Plastic Bowl 3. Plastic Spoon
4. Silkscreen with design 7. Transparent Base 5. Squeege 6. Thermochromatic Pigment
* Acrylic paint can also be used instead of the transparent base.
STEPS 1. Mix 1 spoon of Thermochromatic Pigment to 3 spoons of Transparent Base in the plastic bowl evenly. 2. Lie a piece of light colored fabric on a flat surface and place the silkscreen with the design above it. 3. Use the spoon and scoop out a portion of the mixed pigment and spread it evenly along the sides of the screen. 4. Hold the silkscreen down hard and using the squeege, drag it from where the pigment is placed on the screen till the other end. Spread the pigment evenly across the screen until the design is covered. 5. Once its done, carefully lift up the silkscreen to check if the design has been printed.
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As there were two different colored pigments available, I tried mixing both colors in my design as I really liked how they create a gradient when they are smudged together. I like how the the color of the pigment becomes so saturated when the environment changes from room temperature to aircon temperature. I find this technique a very interesting one as its something that changes upon interaction with it. Something which I found amusing was when one of my classmates used a hair dryer to blow dry her design on the tote bag, the printed design slowly disappeared under the heat from the hair dryer as shown on the right. 25
12. VACUUM FORMING MATERIALS USED 1. Vacuum Forming Machine 2. PVC Sheet
3. Hard object (to make the mould)
STEPS 1. Turn on the Vacuum Forming Machine, place the hard object on the metal rack in the machine then activate the long lever to push the object back down. 2. Place a sheet of PVC on the top and pull the heater slider all the way and wait for the pvc to get heated up. 3. When the PVC is smoothen out and soft looking, push the heater slider back in and then press down the small lever on the front of the machine to turn on the vacuum. 4. Quickly pull the long lever to bring the object back up and hold it there, letting the PVC take its shape before releasing the small lever to turn off the vacuum. 5. Remove the PVC sheet and remove the hard object from it. The PVC mould is then completed.
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13. FIBER ETCHING MATERIALS USED 1. Silk Viscose Velvet 2. Fiber Remover 3. Silk Screen with Design
4. Squeege 5. Iron 6. Water
STEPS 1. Place Silk Viscose Velvet on a flat surface and place the silk screen with design above it. 2. Pour a small amount of Fiber Remover at the sides of the silkscreen. 3. Use the squeege and spread the Fiber Remover evenly across the silkscreen, covering the design. 4. Carefully lift up the silkscreen, remove the velvet and let it air-dry. 5. When the velvet has completely dried, use a iron to iron the back of the velvet till the parts that have been coated with the Fiber Remover have turned brown. 6. Finally, wash the velvet in water until the areas coated with the Fiber Remover disappears, then hang it up to dry.
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The photos on the right show the process of Fiber Etching, the velvet when it is still wet and after ironing and dryed after washing.
I had problem getting the correct type of velvet for this technique. I went down to Poppy Fabric at Arab Street which Professor Galina recommended and asked if the velvet contained cellulose material but the staff are unsure about the composition of the velvet themselves. Luck for us, Professor Galina brought a huge piece of velvet to class for everyone to share after knowing that we had trouble getting it. After completing the entire process, the sample I did became really flaky. I am unsure if it is supposed to turn out this way or it was because I left the fiber remover on the velvet overnight. Another way Fiber Etching can be done is using watercolor. The first step will be to paint something using watercolor on watercolor paper. After the watercolor has dried, paint some Fiber Remover on it and let it dry. I left my watercolor papers to dry overnight. After they have dried, I place a piece of baking paper above it and ironed till the areas with the Fiber Remover turned brown. Once it turns brown, wash the paper in water and use a brush to gently rub against the areas that have browned. I had 3 different pieces, however only one piece seemed to work. The rest had a really faint mark of the design i painted on using the Fiber Remover.
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14. THERMOPLASTICS MATERIALS USED 1. 100% Polyester Fabric 4. Aluminium Foil 2. Marbles/Hard boilable objects 5. Unwanted Pot 3. Rubber Bands 6. Stove
7. Water
STEPS 1. Cut a desired amount of fabric. 2. Place some hard boilable objects and wrap them in the fabric with rubber bands. 3. Add some water to the pot and boil it on a stove. 4. Wrap the fabric in aluminium foil and put it into the stove to boil for about an hour. 5. After boiling, unwrap the aluminium foil and remove the objects from the fabric. The fabric will take the shape of the objects wrapped in it. 6. Hang the fabric up to dry and its done!
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The photos below show the process of boiling and unwrapping the aluminium foil after it has been boiled for an hour. The photo on the right shows how the outcome looks like.
I found two small containers of seashells which I had collected and bought from Pattaya since my secondary school days. I wanted my works to contain objects from nature, hence I tied the seashells up in the 100% polyester fabric to boil. I forgot to bring rubber bands so I ended up using sewing thread to tie the seashells in the fabric. It was more difficult using thread to secure the objects and also harder to remove it. However, I felt that thread covers lesser of the fabric when it is tied, making the tied area under small objects less obvious looking. Below, I wrapped marbles in the fabric to make it look like a cluster of jellyfishes and boiled them while wrapped in aluminium foil in a unwanted pot. The results are quite satisfactory as shown in the last two images on the right.
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15. RASTERING ON WOOD MATERIALS USED 1. Hi-Resolution Digital Image 3. Laser Cutter 2. Wood (Less than 3mm Thickness) * Hi-Res Digital Image has to be in Black & White, at least 96dpi, saved in jpeg, png or bitmap) STEPS 1. Select a desired image and convert it to Black & White and set it to at least 96dpi in Photoshop. 2. Increase the contrast of the image to make the black & white areas more obvious during rastering. 3. Before switching on the laser cutter, ensure that the compressed air is switched on and also turn on the exhaust fan for the machine. 4. Turn on the laser cutter. 5. Import the image onto Coreldraw X3 and set it to the desired size. 6. Adjust the print settings for the black color to low power and high speed for rastering. 7. Check the location and size of the image under the print preview and click ‘Print’ when ready. 8. Place the wood in the machine where the image is seen on the print preview page and press ‘Start’ on the laser cutter.
The rastered image did not appear clear enough on the wood.
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My first try did not turn out to be successful. I thought that the cause of it is the grey shade of the guinea pig’s fur. I then tried rastering another photo consisting of my boyfriend’s and my face instead. The raster appeared slightly more obvious probably due to the stronger white areas in the photo, however my face got cut off at the side. Probably because I forgot to adjust the image size to fit the wood before sending it to print. I decided to increase the contrast and also adjusted the levels of the other images in Photoshop. After adjusting the contrast of the photo, I decided to try a photo with more details; a photo of my family and relatives taken on my grandma’s birthday. The raster turned out to be really successful and the details on each of the faces could be quite clearly seen on the rastered wood. I then concluded that the laser cutter could only raster the black and white details clearly. The machine is unable to raster the shades of grey as they do not have much contrast. I readjusted the contrast and levels of the other photos and they all appeared much clearer than before.
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16. RESIN ENCAPSULATION MATERIALS USED 1. Mould 2. Liquid Resin 3. Hardener 4. Plastic Bowl & Spoon
5. Weighing Scale 6. Release Agent 7. Small objects (encapsulated in resin)
STEPS 1. Place the plastic bowl on the weighing scale and pour a desired amount of liquid resin into the bowl. 2. Note down the weight of the resin in the bowl and pour around 1% of hardener in and stir the mixture well using the spoon. 3. Spray the mould with release agent and pour a desired amount of resin mixture into the mould. 4. Add a few small objects into the mixture in the mould and let the resin mixture harden. 5. When the mixture has hardened, remove it from the mould.
I poured the resin into a small plastic cup and added in a dried rose, some dried flowers and a few dried rose petals.
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The photos above are from the first sample I made. It did not turn out successful as there were crack marks on it.
I poured a small portion of resin into the mould and waited for some time for it to harden slightly. I then added the dried rose in, waited a little while then I poured in more resin and placed a few dried flowers and dried rose petals in. After the resin has hardened fully, I realised that there were crack marks in it, also, there was a obvious line separating the resin into two different sections. My guess was that I waited too long for the resin to harden the first two times, thus causing it to be unable to blend with the final amount of resin i poured in. Professor Galina said the cracks might also be due to having too many items placed inside. I then did another smaller sample using a smaller container. This time I added in lesser objects and added small dried flowers and seashells quickly after pouring the resin in. The sample turned out to be much successful as compared to the very first one.
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17. LATEX MATERIALS USED 1. Mould 2. Liquid Latex 3. Hardener
4. Release Agent 5. Plastic Bowl & Spoon 6. Weighing Scale
STEPS 1. Place the plastic bowl on the weighing scale and pour a desired amount of liquid latex into the bowl. 2. Note down the weight of the latex poured in and add 2-4 grams of hardener for every 100 grams of liquid latex. Mix well. 3. Spray the mould or object to be coated with the latex with the release agent. 4. Scoop a small amount of latex and spread it evenly around the mould or object. 5. Leave the latex to air dry and remove it gently from the mould or object when completely dried.
I used the mould I did from the vacuum forming technique to make the latex. There were some of the mould which I forgot to coat the release agent and they ended up sticking to the mould and were unremovable even after I tried pouring hot water on it.
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REFLECTION Throughout the entire semester in this class, I have learnt a lot of different fun techniques which has really made my love for hands-on projects grow a lot. Although some of my friends who have previously took this class told me that it is a time consuming, heavy workload but still fun class, I still insisted on taking it. I felt that for someone who really loves DIY and hands-on projects, this is not a class to be missed. Every single class passed really fast as each and every one of us in the class were so engrossed with what we were doing to even notice that it was time for us to go home for dinner. Sometimes, I was really excited with my progress and ended up forgetting to take photo of the process for the journal. After every class, I would bring home what I have done and proudly show them to my parents and friends. Although a lot of money is spent on the materials for the class, I feel that it is all worth it. After going through the classes, whenever I spot a cushion or object with a interesting surface at the shops, I would go up to it and examine it, trying to figure out how it was made and what was the technique used for making it. I also feel that the techniques learnt in this class has really given me a lot of ideas for hands on projects that I can’t wait to get started on during my free time. Some of the techniques and skills I have learnt in the class such as applique, sewing, knitting were skills that I have always wanted to learn but my mum refused to teach me. I am really glad to have been able to learn so many techniques and I can now start making really cool usable stuff that I can bring out and flaunt in front of others.
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