This week we individually worked on elements of our designs with paint and fiber optics. See our updates below.
Divya
This week I prototyped my design it came out pretty well. I made a stencil to trace on the denim. I found that waiting for the white acrylic base to dry before painting made it look better. I was not happy with how the mountains turned out and need to come up with a better design for them to appear within the geometric shapes. I tried mixing the mauve and sky blue and the sky blue and yellow. The combinations did not look as good as when they are used alone. I would like to use more and different colors than what i used(I like the mauve and sky blue) I am happy with how the paint looks on denim. It attaches to the denim well, not looking like it is something placed, but rather a part of the fabric.
The images below depict the design before and after being exposed to uv light.
I also began testing how to sew fiber optics into the shape of a bear. I used the stencil and poked holes around the bear. I started weaving the fiber optics through the holes, but it has not been finished. The fiber optics keep getting knotted making it a slow process.
Sophie
I practiced weaving fiber-optics into the pocket of a jean jacket. I didn't have an Exacto knife to cut small holes for the fiberoptics, so I used my regular scissors and the holes came out very large and ugly. I also didn't love my design that I came up with for the fiber optics in the pocket. From here I would like to try putting the fiber optics on the pocket and weaving thread over them, to diffuse the light more and give a more aesthetic and less bulky look.
I also practice painting the milky way on the back of my jacket. I used a base of black acrylic and painting white acrylic over it using a sponge brush and a stippling brush. I then layered the sky blue photochromic pigmented paint over the white and then continued to layer white and the pigment on top of each other to give a cloudy feel to the milky way. Unfortunately, because I layered the white on top of the pigment and didn't layer the pigment on top of itself multiple times, the color change is very faint in my painting. I learned from this that I need to layer the pigment over itself a few times and then try adding a cloudy, very thin layer of white over it in certain spots, but only one layer of white.
Summer
This week I continued to explore different combinations of layering the dynamic pigments so that different aspects of my design are visible in different lighting condition. I found that the glow in the dark white pigment complimented the orange uv pigment in the sun, through contrast, and shade, as the two whites blend together. As well, in a dark environment, the stars are still visible but had a more delicate look to them since I mostly added the glow pigment as an accent.
I also began prototyping with our sewable neopixels to find away to include them elegantly in our final designs. I began by soldering jump rings to the neopixels, which was more difficult than I expected it to be. I then sewed conducive thread to the neopixels to create leads and attach the led to the underside of the fabric so that the board was not visible. I then used alligator clips to attach the leads to my Arduino. This worked moderately well, but the connections were still fiddly so I will try clear nail polish to seal the connections. To continue these prototypes I plan on using some flux to better control the solder positions of the jump rings in order to find the best way to attach them in our final designs. I plan on also experiment with attaching the leds to cotton then making holes in the denim for the light to shine through, as a method of de-cluttering the surface of my denim. Additionally I have bought some transparent sequins to layer over the exposed leds for a more diffused look. I should have prototypes these different methods by next week.
Goals for Week 4
Prototype fiber optic connections with LEDs
Work on ways to understand the threading
Find secure ways to connect LEDs with conductive thread
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