Textile Print Designer

Theatrical costume fashion designer Katie Keener is a graduate student in technical theatre on University of vermont at Chapel Hill, where in actuality the theatre in residence is Playmakers Repertory Company. Included in her studies, Katie recently created a project entitled: Digitally Driven Replicas of an Antique Textile Printing Block.

ShopBot’s Randy Johnson, Thea Eck and I also found Katie come early july whenever she had been showing the woman work on the USITT Special Exhibition at UNC. Katie described the project, “My textile publishing task includes a classic, wood-carved printing block looking for repair, in addition to procedure of generating a unique printing block using two practices: by means of 3-D imprinted plastic, and a unique carved-wood block made on a CNC machine (a ShopBot Desktop).”

Katie explained, “The project addresses the entire process of printing with a normal block, producing a 2-D file, translating it to a 3-D file, therefore the printing procedure for the repaired blocks. The study comes with printing advantages and disadvantages with brand new obstructs versus the antique block.”

The following is a set which ultimately shows how the antique wooden block prints the pattern, then design as imprinted by a 3-D printed block, a CNC’d block, and finally just how it appears to be whenever printed by Spoonflower, a digital material printing organization.

Listed here are Katie’s write-ups of the woman processes:

3D Printed Textile Block Replica

• The task was done in the makerspace at UNC, that will be area of the University Libraries’ analysis Hub initiative. Its function is enable UNC students, staff and faculty to explore rising technologies and foster a creative community of producers and making.
• After submitting the printing demand, collection staff facilitated the printing task and procedure.
• The JPEG ended up being tracked and saved as a 2-D Vector structure, SVG.
• The SVG file was then converted into a 3-D format, STL File.
• After the file was reformatted, it had been sent to print in the U Print device using abdominal muscles (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene).
• 3D printers render an actual item from an electronic model by the process of fused filament fabrication.
• Plastic filament is fed through a hot nozzle that computer moves, creating layer upon level from the foot of the product upward.
• The bottom associated with block had been imprinted in a honeycomb structure to truly save on item and fill big areas.

CNC Printed Textile Block Replica

• ShopBot Tools is a business that makes CNC devices. The end product could be called machined, created, or imprinted. Materials that can be imprinted are wood, synthetic, steel, roof tiles, plus.
• ShopBot employee Sallye Coyle encouraged and facilitated the process of learning brand-new computer software, running a ShopBot, and printing a complex textile block replica.
• Corel Draw was familiar with convert a 2D file into a 3D file by tracing the image’s sides and conserving it as a Vector file.
• The Vector file ended up being uploaded into V-Carve Pro and edited to clean up things, dimensions, and test simulation.
• A 60 degree V-Bit was chosen to perform the details and level of this traditional textile block design. The little bit ended up being set to carve at 12, 000 rpm.
• The carve depth is just how deep the bit will plunge into the product without dropping the integrity associated with design.
• A-flat depth amounts down at a group level. No level level enables the bit to plunge into the material since deep as you are able to.
• A simulation reveals the machine’s road to print the block.
• Editing and troubleshooting after viewing the simulation allowed for a smooth, and successful printing.
• Estimated print time: 9 minutes
• Real printing time: 19 mins

Katie explained that presentation at USITT specialized Exhibition ended up being successful. “From showing at UNC, I was awarded subscription capital for national summit in Salt Lake City (March 2016). We plan on providing here to continue the conversation.”