Designing dynamic and irreversible textile patterns, using a non-chemical burn-out (ausbrenner) technique

Magazine article, 2008

In this ongoing practise-based design research project, a new technique for designing textile patterns is developed and explored; a non chemical burn-out (ausbrenner) technique.As a first part of the project, experiments with conductive and traditional textile materials in knitted structures were designed. The knitted samples were made in cotton, wool, viscose, polyester and Kevlar (Kevlar 2008), and have all been combined with Kanthal heating wires (Kanthal 2008). When a voltage is applied to the textile, the heating wire leaves burned out patterns in the textile material. The result is a new technique, where we can design irreversible textile patterns. We also suggest new design variables of relevance when designing dynamic textile patterns. The overall aim is to explore different materials, material combinations and techniques for developing textile circuits and designing dynamic textile patterns. The knitted textile patterns change over time when a voltage is turned on or off in the textile circuits.