Graduate exhibits 2015: Royal University of Art graduate Adam Blencowe has produced a series of samples to show a new approach that brings “unprecedented precision” to the felting of woven textiles .
Felt, one particular of the oldest varieties of textile, and is created by matting and pressing fibres together. This can be carried out by means of moist felting or a dry method recognized as needle felting, which Blencowe centered on for his Fuzzy Logic venture.
Needle felting utilizes notched barbs that punch into woven textiles to choose up fibres, then pushes them into the neighbouring material. The fibres tangle together and kind a bond that marries two pieces of cloth together, generating it feasible to include colour and texture.
“The marks designed in the procedure turn out to be patterns and pockets that enrich and decorate the surface of the fabric, but also present the chance to make the materials three-dimensional,” mentioned Blencowe.
Relevant story: Felt Follows Type by Hanan Kedmi
To digitise this procedure, the designer hacked a standard jigsaw by developing a needle holder that attaches to the blade, and incorporating a 3D-printed presser foot. He then mounted the modified device onto a pc numerically managed (CNC) machine.
The combination of technologies enabled him to bond, mend and reinforce textiles by matting the fibres from one cloth into the other with a precision he claims has not been achievable in felting prior to.
The undertaking began with an open short from Scottish company Bute Materials to investigate ways to enhance their textiles. The large content of wool in their products led Blencowe to discover felting techniques.
“Making use of needle punching as a starting stage, a process used to mesh fibres with each other can be applied to woven textiles, I discovered there was a gap in the application of the approach,” he advised Dezeen. “It existed both as a labour-intensive hand-developed craft or inside of a mass manufacturing space to create non-woven textiles for sector.”
With digitised needle punching, Blencowe is able to customise materials inside brief production runs.
He is now hoping to build a selection of home items including blankets, throws and rugs, developed in small batches using remnant materials and plain woven fabrics.
“The technology has a broad selection of applications, and demonstrating the machine is the only way to locate out what these may well be,” he mentioned.
Associated story: Jule Waibel’s pine cone-shaped seats are produced by steam-folding wool felt
“In the future I am hoping to operate on some style collaborations as well as exploring how the approach can be employed in combination with upholstery, and new fibres and textiles that provide new product choices.”
Blencowe completed the project as part of the Style Merchandise programme at the RCA. Felting was also employed by graduate designer Hanan Kedmi to make jewellery pieces from personal computer components mounted in the material back in 2010.
Yet another hacked tool was produced lately by Paris style studio Suitable Audiences, which combined a 3D printer with a tattooist’s needle to type an automated tattoo “printer” that can create indelible artworks on skin.
