For the last 2 weeks, I have joined a textile workshop at Edinburgh College of Art and conducted interesting fabric tests. It was very much fascinating for me to see that textures of fabrics could be significantly changed by different types of print pastes.
At the screen printing, we applied opaque, normal, puff binders and glue on screens having geometrical patterns, and overlayered these patterns onto fabrics. What is interesting is that some parts of fabrics applied with puff binders get a haptic texture when they are pressed by a heat press in 6 seconds. Also, a specific part of a fabric applied with glue gets the texture of the fabric which is laid on the top of it after being pressed by a heat press (see below image)
On 29th October, Lindy and Remo have seen what we have created so far, and given insightful comments. Lindy mentioned how the extent of stretch of fabrics could be changed according to the woven axis of fabrics, which could affect the shape of concrete cast by fabric formwork - bulge, shrink, or straight shapes. Furthermore, stitches or attaching different types of fabrics could be used as an interesting methodology of fabric formwork which influences on concrete models.
In my case, I am interested in developing fabric formwork for an affordable rammed earth construction. Considering the tactile texture of soils, I assume that it is nearly difficult to express the subtle details of fabric textures on the surface of rammed earth. However, this technology could be certainly applied to poured earth. (Different texture finishes of rammed earth and poured earth could be an interesting expression of earthen façade.) Moreover, the extent of stretch of each fabric can be explored further to create a dynamic shape of rammed earth through fabric formwork.