“Fusing” the idea of joining two things together.

Looking at smart materials we looked into non-traditional ways of textile design i.e innovative fabrics. Using materials that favour function over aesthetic.

We were given a list of materials and this is what I used to start of the concept of fusing.I started off with fusing flat contrasting materials like the cotton and the spaced mesh, fused using an iron and melting between the plastic. This has a lot of positive attributes like it now being waterproof and easily cleaned.

I then wondered what it would be like with something chunky like a knit. would it trap? how would the plastic melt with the knit? how could this benefit the arm? I choose a thin base and layered this under the cut out pleather. The idea of this overlapping came from the cells under the microscope, the chaotic energy clashing with the more open circular structure and I’ve tried to keep this element throughout all the sampling, then having the crazy loopy knit on top again adds to the really small overlapping cells taking charge of the larger structures. Encased within the plastic did work however it didn’t stick to the knit as much as id hoped leaving just a large lump in the middle of the sample, this meant it wouldn’t benefit the wound or body but instead apply pressure.

 

I then played around with melting and heat transfer. I choose to cut out circular heat transfers to mimic the cells under the scope, I used the iron to apply heat and i feel it worked well, as I love print it was essential to have at least one printed element within a sample. I also used heat to melt little circular fabric pieces, as they were meltable i was able to melt them into circles, this was perfect as it embodied the cells irregular structure and membrane wall. I layered these on top snd was able to tramp within a sheet of fabric combining all the techniques into one fabric.