Smoke Experiment

I purchased a few smoke bombs/pellets with the intention of dyeing fabric. I wanted to see the impact of the smoke dye on habotai silk and how effective this method would be. I did the experiment twice, once with a dry piece of habotai and another with a damp piece. I used habotai because of it's properties; the fibres are known to take to dye quite well.

Here is a video of the smoke dyeing experiment taking place:



These are the results of the smoke dyeing experiment. The piece of habotai silk at the top is the piece that I had dampened before dyeing. The one at the bottom was dyed dry. I am happy with the effect that the smoke dye had on the damp piece. I like the cloudy inconsistency of it, as I didn't expect for it to dye at all. The one at the bottom didn't turn out as well, although I noticed the closer you put the fabric to the "source" (the orange coloured smoke bomb) the higher the intensity of colour. Overall, I think the experiment was rather successful.

Homemade Smoke Bombs

Looking at the effects and the physical movement of smoke to inform design ideas. I love the colours, intensities and volumes it creates. I'd like to somehow try and recreate this within my designs.

Poetry

Smoke By Philip Levine b. 1928 Philip Levine

Can you imagine the air filled with smoke?
It was. The city was vanishing before noon
or was it earlier than that? I can't say because
the light came from nowhere and went nowhere.


This was years ago, before you were born, before
your parents met in a bus station downtown.
She'd come on Friday after work all the way
from Toledo, and he'd dressed in his only suit.


Back then we called this a date, some times
a blind date, though they'd written back and forth
for weeks. What actually took place is now lost.
It's become part of the mythology of a family,


the stories told by children around the dinner table.
No, they aren't dead, they're just treated that way,
as objects turned one way and then another
to catch the light, the light overflowing with smoke.


Go back to the beginning, you insist. Why
is the air filled with smoke? Simple. We had work.
Work was something that thrived on fire, that without
fire couldn't catch its breath or hang on for life.


We came out into the morning air, Bernie, Stash,
Williams, and I, it was late March, a new war
was starting up in Asia or closer to home,
one that meant to kill us, but for a moment


the air held still in the gray poplars and elms
undoing their branches. I understood the moon
for the very first time, why it came and went, why
it wasn't there that day to greet the four of us.


Before the bus came a small black bird settled
on the curb, fearless or hurt, and turned its beak up
as though questioning the day. "A baby crow,"
someone said. Your father knelt down on the wet cement,


his lunchbox balanced on one knee and stared quietly
for a long time. "A grackle far from home," he said.
One of the four of us mentioned tenderness,
a word I wasn't used to, so it wasn't me.


The bus must have arrived. I'm not there today.
The windows were soiled. We swayed this way and that
over the railroad tracks, across Woodward Avenue,
heading west, just like the sun, hidden in smoke.

Containment of Smoke

Exploring the idea that smoke can be contained.

Smoke Installations

Considering smoke as a way of communication, by projecting onto it.



You can watch your words go up in smoke as part of an art installation in London's Trafalgar Square. Called Memory Cloud, the work by architects/designers Stephen and Theodore Spyropoulos create a huge cloud of smoke on to which the artists will project messages sent by members of the public via text message. Its' first performance was in Bristol in June 2007, called Smoke Signals.

Frozen Smoke

Considering smoke in the solid form.


A group of scientists have engineered a new form of "frozen smoke" that could potentially detect pollutants, store energy, and improve robotic surgeries. Frozen smoke is popular term used for aerogel, a manufactured material originally created in 1931 by Samuel Stephen Kistler, which has the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid. In fact, aerogel holds 15 titles in the Guiness Book of World Records, including 'best insulator' and 'lowest density solid'.

Considering the different forms that smoke can take (or appear to take) and the properties behind each form to inform design ideas. I would like to explore the idea that smoke can be contained.

Mark Mawson

Beautifully bright ink-in-water shots by the Sydney-born, London-based photographer Mark Mawson. The formation and movement similarly to the "mushroom cloud" of the atomic bomb.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Footage

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (6th and 9th August 1945) and looking at the movement and formation of "the mushroom cloud".

Formations: Atomic Bomb Sequence

Staff Sergeant George Caron, the tail gunner, described what he saw: "The mushroom cloud itself was a spectacular sight, a bubbling mass of purple-gray smoke and you could see it had a red core in it and everything was burning inside. . . . It looked like lava or molasses covering a whole city. . .." The cloud is estimated to have reached a height of 40,000 feet.

Smoke Signals: Papal Conclave

Is that black smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican? One of the most famous traditions of the papal succession ritual is the appearance of smoke from the chimney of the conclave room. The eligible cardinals conduct a secret ballot until someone receives a vote of two-thirds plus one. The ballots are burned after each vote. Black smoke (straw is mixed with the ballots) indicates a failed ballot, white smoke means a new pope has been elected. Since the cardinals meet in isolation, it’s the only way to inform the public about the proceedings.

Fashion Innovation Design: Communication & Language

Where there's Smoke, there's Fire

Looking at the way in which smoke is used to communicate. The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of communication in recorded history. It is a form of visual communication used over long distance. In general smoke signals are used to transmit news, signal danger, or gather people to a common area. I will look into the different forms of smoke signals and the meanings behind each one, and also look into the general movement of smoke to inform design ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_signal#History_and_usage

Subtraction Cutting

I really enjoyed using subtraction cutting. I found that it was quite easy to follow and wasn't mathematical like methods of pattern cutting I have explored before. I like how a process so simple can produce something so complex and not one had turned out exactly the same as the other. Doing this method once shows how you can achieve different effects through trial and error. I like how volume and shape can vary quite easily by simply placing the circles in different places and by changing what fabrics you use (some may have better draping qualities, some may hold the shape better and be quite stiff). I would love to look more into subtraction cutting to experiment further with this and perhaps use this technique within my designs.

Conceptual Design: Evaluation of the Entire Process

As a whole I enjoyed the design process for Conceptual Design. I felt the brief gave a lot of freedom as to what you could research and design, enabling you to put your own stamp and identity onto the designs, down to the trims, fabrications, silhouettes etc. Looking back there are several things I would have changed, however I've learnt from the mistakes I had made and turned previous weaknesses into strengths.
Had I managed my time effectively there were certain things I could have done better. I started research but as my concept was very unclear, the research process was made very difficult and I lost track of what my concept was. Once I had decided on a clear concept, that is when my research started to improve and my design process could properly begin. If I had to do a similar project in future, I'd definitely ensure that my concept is clear before making a start on research, to give me a clear indication as to where my designs can go. I had taken far too long in the research stage (along with other deadlines and unforeseen circumstances) that my time to do the designs, print ideas, knit research, flat drawings and accessories was rather limited and rushed, and not done to the best of my ability. I have not had to do a project of this size in such a small space of time, however the project was so intense that it made me learn things I wouldn't have done before had I had a longer time to do it. This included drawing my designs. In previous projects the design stage would have been much longer and I would take my time doing each one individually. This project taught me to draw much more rapidly and improved my drawing skills to some extent. Had I managed my time more effectively I would have further improved these by perhaps using Photoshop to insert models’ heads, hands and feet (my usual weaknesses in drawing) to make my designs stand out and look a lot stronger. I think this too would improve my colour application and experimentation with prints.
Through this project I also got to do my first project on both women’s wear and men’s wear. This design process taught me that men’s wear isn’t for me, although I tried my best with it, I prefer designing for women’s wear as it gives me a lot more freedom with my designs. I would have further experimented with my fabric samples (a usual strength of mine) however on this occasion, due to time management, I did not have the time to do so.
Overall, I enjoyed this module and there were many things I learnt, mainly developments and improvements I can make to further enhance my skills and strive to my full potential.

Conceptual Design: Insanity?

Research Page 1: Ideas informing colour palette & fabrication.



Research Page 2: Print Ideas.



Final Collection (1): Womenswear



Final Collection (2): Womenswear



Final Collection: Menswear