Laser Cut Fabric -- Central Park Trees

Yesterday laser cut silk organza layers. The holes represent the outline of the trees in Central Park. These laser cut experiments yielded something quite ethereal and beautiful. 

I am SO looking forward to adding other layers of laser cut LINES AND SHAPES!

Catching up with things I have been meaning to do for a few weeks. I finally created an author's page on Amazon's "Author Central":

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00E22KJ62

It is a rainy day here in north Florida.... a good day for staying in and doing miscellaneous things. I'll be working on my newest piece about Seneca Village in Central Park. Last week, I laser cut several sheer layers for it. Maybe I'll post a few pics this evening.

But for now....a little nap is in order;)

Day 2 -- Laser Cutting Residency

I spent the morning preparing my illustrator files that I had transferred from AutoCAD. Then I prepared the fabrics that I was going to use....ironing 6 sheets of 24" x 36" fabric. I chose cotton organdy for the large lines and shapes. Silk screen fabric was selected for the fine lines. My previous testing indicated that this particular fabric would not fray and I was concerned about that for the filagree -type lines. I spent some time patiently applying Misty fuse across the surface of each piece.

I did this all in preparation to start my quilt about Central Park and Seneca Village in New York City. This afternoon I laser cut the street grid around Central Park as well as the major and minor pathways throughout it. 

Here is a link that describes the displacement of a strong and viable African-American community to build Central Park:

http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village

Day 1-- Week 2 at the Laser Cutting Residency

During the first week I made a catalogue   documenting the settings needed to laser  cut many types of fabric.

This week I am making a small experimental piece using the extra laser cut samples. Part of the challenge was understanding how to use Adobe Illustrator. I started by drawing a scoring/ cutting template using AutoCAD and then I saved it as an EPS file. Then I was able to open the file in illustrator. The laser cutting machine interfaces with ai files and PDF files. You have to put the lines to be scored on its own layer and the lines to be cut are on a second layer. As you can see, a lot of planning has to go into this process!

I wanted to see how I could use scoring to help me locate items to be fused to a background peace. In addition I wanted to use scoring as a guide for sewing seams.I am learning a lot as I go  -- even the mistakes are quite useful.

I won't go into excessive detail here… i may write an article about this experience. But please take a look at the images you see above.

Residency Post -- Day 2

Today was a good day. I really got into the zone of doing some organized testing  of using the Epilogue Laser Cutter for scoring and cutting fabric. The images above summarize my process:

1. The laser cutter in action.

2. The fabric right after being cut.

3. The fabric after I removed the fabric to create the voids. Here you see a "Lace-like" result. -->EXCELLENT<--

4. Another image of the "Lace". I am focusing on creating "positives" -- the voids being "negatives". 

 

In case you are interested here is a very short video of the laser cutter in action:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9iihirbcpz0dkc0/IMG_0580.MOV

Residency Post -- Prep for Day 2

During day 1, I spent most of my time just settling in. In addition I did some pre-  testing in preparation for what I'll be working on tomorrow ( Day 2)

Tomorrow (Day 2) should be a busy day. Plenty of trial and error! I will be conducting the first round of laser cut tests on about 25, 4" x 6" fabrics with a crisp hand. Fabrics Include linen, cotton, silk organdza, crinolin, buckram, and polyester.

Today I spent time preparing the research matrix. It will include information such as the power, frequency, speed, time, etc. of the laser. I will be using a Epilog laser cutter that has a 24" x 36" bed. 

I want to document how well the machine cuts obtuse and acute angles as well as straight and curved lines. In addition to actually cutting the fabric-- I will be doing some testing on engraving the fabric. Yes, engraving fabric, how splendid is that!

Below is a drawing that I prepared in AutoCAD and then translated it in to Adobe Illustrator. The Turquoise lines represent cuts through the fabric  and the red lines represent engraved lines. This particular laser cutter interfaces with vector-based files. As you will see in subsequent blog posts I will be creating a kind if "lace". 

 

Mapping Time -- Seneca Village In Central Park

​MAPPING TIME AND PLACE:

Path/Place – Line/Shape - Figure/Ground –

                              Light/Shadow -

                              Positive/ Negative 

 

Just started my residency at the Florida State University Facility for Arts Research ( FAR). I will be conducting some laser cutting experiments using abou 25 different types of fabric. This will lead to an Art Quilt map about Seneca Village, an African American Community displaced to build Central Park in NYC. 

 

Please visit FAR's blog on my work!

http://artsresearch.fsu.edu/2013/07/goodwin/