Technical Research Archives - Sprigs and Brides

June 22, 2020July 2, 2020

Text as picot layer

Ian had made the large box in April and I still had no idea whether I was going to be able to get a laser design to put in it, so I thought I’d crack on and at least make an embroidered layer. After the success of the text layer in the small box I decided to make the text as picot as a separate layer, as embroidery on net. Click on the gallery below to view how I went about it, more info in the captions

a lace design — I printed off the design as a template and taped it all together at full size. I laid the net over the top to line up the design as I went

an embroidery machine — The embroidery set up. It’s easier to use the machine at this height rather than seated

Lace drying in the breeze — You canmake out the shadow of the text on the grass

Trimming the lace — Trimming the stabiliser from the embroidery

Washing the lace after embroidery — Washing the lace to remove the stabiliser after embroidery. I was worried that the cotton bobbinet would shrink. It didn’t, although the embroidery pulled in a little. I found that it was possible to get it back to shape after washing by blocking it onto an ironing pad with pins, and pressing lightly

1of18

June 9, 2020July 2, 2020

Making the final boxes

I knew I wouldn’t be able to make a lightbox of the quality I had envisaged, so I commissioned a local craftsman to construct it for me. Ian at Custom Woodwork in Cotgrave took on the challenge and accommodated multiple changes of plan after the Covid-19 lockdown.
He suggested we use a French Cleat hanging system, which means the heavier the item is the more securely it is held in place. The cleat is screwed to the wall and therefore easier to level before lifting the box into place.
The build quality of the boxes is fantastic and they work perfectly.

I’d been using the laser cutting facility at NTU, which had been great. Just before CV-19 lockdown, I’d cut my final design in light card and decided on a design for the engrave. Then… nothing was avilable for me to use. After a number of failed attempts to find someone to engrave the box pieces, I found Keith at Handytech. Keith has been a great ally, who picked up my prject with gusto and helped me find solutions to seemingly intractable problems. His laser wasn’t as big as the flat bed at uni, but he cut the large Charnia design from six individual pieces of card, which slotted back together perfectly. He also engraved the outside edge of the medium size box, again splitting my designs to make them fit in his machine.

July 20, 2019June 26, 2020

Lighting ideas

I’ve been exhibiting in Karlsruhe, Germany for almost ten years now. I was invited to join a group exhibition by the GEDOK group in summer 2019. I showed two new lampshade designs, incorporating my laser cut design and LED lights. You can see the lampshades in the gallery below

1of7

The blue version had a holographic insert which distorted the lights inside, the gold was simply cut silk. This, combined with a large filament lightbulb, was really eyecatching. I found it distracting that you could see the inside, so if I were to repeat the design I would bond silk to both sides of the stiffening.

The blue lampshade twinkled (see the video below)

I was supposed to travel to Karlsruhe with the work and install it myself. However, I didn’t make it to Germany as my Mum had a stroke the weekend before I was due to leave. I decided to stay at home with her instead. Luckily my fellow artists were up for a challenge and put the whole display together for me. It meant I had to design some step by step instructions for putting the light together. They did a fantastic job!

The lampshades on exhibition in Karlsruhe July 2019, image supplied by GEDOK Karlsruhe

I used the waste from the laser cut to make a wall art piece. See the gallery below for more information on how it worked

Using laser cut waste, a simple idea to use pieces of silk waste from the lampshade

1of10

April 20, 2019July 2, 2020

First LED light box

During late Spring 2019, I tried new ways of using lace and light in a way that satisfied some of my key words and followed my initial investigations into darkness and shadow.

I bought a wall mounted LED light box (think late night kebab shop illuminated menu board) to explore layering and shadow with a more controlled light source. I got very excited when I first set it up, hoping that lighting the lace from behind would reveal new ideas and shapes. To diffuse the lights I got some frosted polypropylene from Bonington shop and decided I wanted to have it curved. I draped some lace in front of it…

IT DID NOT LOOK GOOD...

I was SO disappointed. But I decided to try the lace behind the plastic. It blew my mind

The centre image shows the lace in front and behind. You can see that the lace behind the frosting is refracted and has an almost digital quality. As you move your perspective, you see the image break and almost glitch

Video shows laser cut lace behind polypropylene sheet

January 22, 2019July 2, 2020

Laser cutting

Sailing the sea of #sketchbookwoes, I found myself spending a lot of time in the laser room with Sue Turton. After a basic intro into what the laser may be capable of, I was fascinated by what I could do, not just through cutting but using a low powered laser to engrave or etch on the surface of the material.

laser engrave — Laser engrave on tracing paper is one of my favourite effects

laser cut — Laser engrave test on papyrus

laser engrave silk — Laser engrave on silk is very pretty but severely weakens the fabric

1of20

The university has a number of flatbed lasers for cutting but one large Grafixscan machine which can be used to engrave all kinds of materials. the construction of the machine meant the base material did not have to be totally flat or thin, and the Grafixscan was super fast, producing engraved samples in minutes or even seconds.

It could engrave areas from a jpeg or (which I preferred) lines of less that a millimetre from a vector file. These lines to me were as the bobbin thread in a lace machine, fine as hair. I imagined ways of using this to engrave a ‘net’ ground on which to embroider. As it happened I didn’t go down this line, but at least it gave me an avenue to investigate while I got my sketch on.

You can just hear my gasp of delight…