Assessment of plastics in the National Trust: a case study at Mr Straw's House

The National Trust is a charity that cares for over 300 publically accessible historic buildings and their contents across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There have been few previous studies on preservation of plastics within National Trust collections, which form a significant part of the more modern collections of objects. This paper describes the design of an assessment system which was successfully trialled at Mr Straws House, a National Trust property in Worksop, UK. This system can now be used for future plastic surveys at other National Trust properties. In addition, the survey gave valuable information about the state of the collection, demonstrating that the plastics that are deteriorating are those that are known to be vulnerable, namely cellulose nitrate/acetate, PVC and rubber. Verifying this knowledge of the most vulnerable plastics enables us to recommend to properties across National Trust that these types should be seen as a priority for correct storage and in-depth recording

Ono: an open platform for social robotics

In recent times, the focal point of research in robotics has shifted from industrial ro- bots toward robots that interact with humans in an intuitive and safe manner. This evolution has resulted in the subfield of social robotics, which pertains to robots that function in a human environment and that can communicate with humans in an int- uitive way, e.g. with facial expressions. Social robots have the potential to impact many different aspects of our lives, but one particularly promising application is the use of robots in therapy, such as the treatment of children with autism. Unfortunately, many of the existing social robots are neither suited for practical use in therapy nor for large scale studies, mainly because they are expensive, one-of-a-kind robots that are hard to modify to suit a specific need. We created Ono, a social robotics platform, to tackle these issues. Ono is composed entirely from off-the-shelf components and cheap materials, and can be built at a local FabLab at the fraction of the cost of other robots. Ono is also entirely open source and the modular design further encourages modification and reuse of parts of the platform

Consumer perception of inkjet printed textiles

Digital inkjet printing for textile printing represents a key development in clothing production. The application of inkjet printing for textiles follows the trends within both the printing and textile industries in regards to the demand for personalization in order to gain consumer interest and buying power. There has been much research done in the hopes of getting inkjet printed textiles to the public on a mass scale. However, very little is known regarding the consumer on their preferences when it comes to the image quality, look, and feel of digitally printed textiles. This study attempted to address this problem by finding out such preferences from not just the consumer but also the buyer of merchandise, specifically that of the boutique market, for clothing stores. There were two methods utilized within this experiment. The first is the use of structured interviews of boutique owners within the high end boutiques of Rochester, NY to find out what their general feelings on fashion, clothing and print on demand textile options are. The boutique owners were interviewed for approximately 30 minutes through the use of a formatted structured interview. The second part of this experiment was a psychophysical experiment. This part of the experiment dealt with the image quality preferences of the boutique owners and observers, that fell within a specific set of criteria outlined by the researcher, for inkjet printed textile samples. The observers were asked to rank order the different inkjet samples according to preference of image quality, tactile feel and for specific applications. This part of the experiment took approximately 30 minutes for the observer to complete and followed an experiment outline. It is through the qualitative and quantitative data gathered by both parts of the experiment that the researcher has attempted to answer the research objective, what does the consumer prefer in regards to image quality and feel of inkjet printed textiles? The findings of the experiment show that the consumer is highly aware of the image quality within their clothing and specifically favor textiles with high OBAs and tighter weaves of fiber. Depending on the application of a shirt or a bag the observer showed that tactile feeling is more important to the observer for clothing but image quality standards are willing to be lowered when dealing with accessories such as the bag as long as the sturdiness of the textile is acceptable

Block party: contemporary craft inspired by the art of the tailor

Block Party: contemporary craft inspired by the art of the tailor, is a new touring exhibition from the Crafts Council curated by Lucy Orta - Professor of Art, Fashion and the Environment at London College of Fashion, and renowned visual artist whose own practice fuses fashion, art and architecture. Block Party explores the alchemy of the centuries-old skill of tailoring by presenting work by 15 UK and international artists who push pattern-cutting beyond the fashion garment. The artists Lucy Orta has selected take pattern-cutting as a starting point to produce sculpture, ceramics, textile, moving image and collage. Through experimentation the artists have found new ways to assemble pattern shapes, not to create garments but to manipulate shape to realise new outcomes. Block Party focuses on three themes; Storytelling, Embracing the Future, and Motif and Manipulation. In Storytelling artists use pattern-cutting as a means of expression. Turner Prize-nominated Yinka Shonibare MBE presents a child mannequin, dressed in a historically accurate Victorian outfit crafted from African fabric to reference culture, race and history. Claudia Losi’s 24m whale made of woollen suit fabric was transported around the world to stimulate discussion and storytelling before being deconstructed and transformed into jackets in collaboration with fashion designer Antonio Marras. In Embracing the Future existing pattern-cutting methods are manipulated and challenged through the use of innovative processes and technologies. Simon Thorogood’s patterns are created using digital programmes whilst Philip Delamore of the Fashion Digital Studio at London College of Fashion seeks to apply the latest developments in 3D digital design to the garment making process. In Motif and Manipulation the beauty of the paper pattern block is the visual inspiration. Ceramist Charlotte Hodes directly incorporates these familiar shapes into her ceramics whilst Raw Edges re-appropriate the use of a pattern block by creating a flat paper pattern of a chair which is then filled with expandable foam to create the 3D ‘Tailored Wood Bench’

The Technique of Security Print on Textiles with a Hidden Sign in the Near-Infrared Spectrum

The INFRAREDESIGN® is introduced into the fabric dyeing technology in order to give a new dimension to security cameras in urban areas. The visible pattern of colors also contains a carefully designed hidden image. The hidden image is detected instrumentally in the infrared area. The arrangement of pigments on the fabric is determined using computer graphics by programming dual, "twin" colorants. Recipes for ink components consisting of colorants cyan, magenta, yellow and black are proposed in this article. The inks differ in monochromatic photography in the near-infrared spectrum. The clothes have two images, two independent pieces of information. One is intended for the visible spectrum and can be seen with the naked eye in daylight. The other image is separated (detected) with a camera which "sees" the intended infrared graphics. Cameras in the streets of our cities observe the environment during the day and night. Through the lens of the "night camera", the interested observer discovers messages designed on his or her favorite brand. The clothes are given new value in the eyes of the observer; the brand is elevated to a new level of "dual communication". Security print is a combination of vector and pixel graphics which manifests itself in the visible and near-infrared spectrum

An exploration of digital technology over a number of manipulated textile surfaces

Ink jet printing for textiles has brought many benefits to the textile print industry. It has an ability to print on demand, using thousands of colours, and at reduced costs compared with rotary screenprinting for small scale production, ink jet technology has already established itself as a reliable method of printing for the textile industry. This research investigates a new approach to ink jet technology. Numerous new surfaces are fed through a textile ink jet printer in the generation of bespoke printed textiles. This is an experimental approach to textile ink jet printing, recording practical solutions, and uncovering innovative processes for a new direction for digital technology for textiles. Various surfaces have been enhanced using screen print techniques and embroidery, or manipulated by hand and digitally printed in the production of an array of unique digital resist techniques. This research combines the use of textile hand craftsmanship with digital technology, crossing the boundaries and discovering ways of combining these disciplines. This research will highlights some of the possibilities with applying a hand crafted approach to ink jet technology for textiles, it demonstrate the control of colour, resist effects and the sensitivity of design which can be achieve using these new processes. In addition to this, the research will demonstrate the added value of this crafted approach to digital design, as well discussing the potential for reproducing these complex textile craft techniques and digital resist effects using CAD and ink jet technology.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo