Mask multiples and Prototyping

Today's task has been starting the mask multiples. There was some worry that I may not have had access to a heat gun today and so would be behind with the risk of not having my masks finished in time. Because of this I wanted to see if I could create the same effect using a hairdrier and it did work, but it was very time consuming and didn't form the same clean lines that using the heat guns create. Thankfully I was able to have access to a heat gun for the full afternoon.

I have now vac formed all 23 face sections, and used my afternoon in the workshop heat moulding the horns by hand with the aid of a heat gun. To make sure the horns ended up in the same place on each masks - a difficult task when having to do each individually by hand - I used the spare plastazote face I had formed and formed the horns onto that where I wanted, then cut it out and used it as a template, drawing around it over the multiples before forming them to get them perfectly placed.

Vac formed heads

Template mask with heat formed horns

Heat moulded horn from template mask

With our full prototypes due in tomorrow, my task this evening was to finish my cape prototype. While I am not yet satisfied with the shade of pink the silk has dyed I decided to use the meter I had died for a sample for my prototype. I do plan to do more sample testing early next week (end of this week if I get my masks finished early enough) to make sure the silk is dyed to a good depth and vibrancy.

I began by making a template for a half cape with pattern paper (which was slightly too short so as you can see in my photograph above (left side) I have freehand drawn on the end of the bottom curve. I then cut out the cape, opened it out and overlocked around the outside in black.

I tried out different ways to get the cable ties to stick out the way I wanted them to, including regretably tying them through button holes in lines across the top which did not work - they ended up lying flat and looking very untidy and out of place - and have left me with some very untidy button holes at the neck - but in the end I found that if I fastened the cable ties through two pieces of plastazote, then passed them through a button hole in the center back they stuck out beautifully and move very well when the wearer walks. The plastazote can be glued to the silk with non toxic fabric glue that I found in a local shop, which will then have Velcro attached to it to attach it to the center back of the T-shirts and prevent the ties from flipping over - also for the childrens capes I will need to attach the ties to a wider section of plastazote then I have used for my prototype to give them a more stable base and avoid them flipping over.

This led me on to dying the centre back black. This was one of the parts I was most worried about in terms of it working out the way I hoped. Thankfully it worked very well.

In order to get the black in the middle I sprayed the black dye - as I planned after my previous dye evperimentation. I then left it lying flat for half an hour before washing out the excess dye. This ended up too pale and purple-ish, so I hung up the silk upsidedown and sprayed it again, this time leaving it for another half an hour. After washing it again this left me with a dark grey-purple that I feel looks very effective.

After completing my prototype I have found I want a larger dark patch for the kids capes but with the small amount of space afforded to me in my kitchen where I was forced to dye my prototype I could only do a smaller patch in this instance.

After this I cut out the spots out of a donated high viz jacket and, after laying them over to create an effect that fit with the design I stuck them down to the silk with the fabric glue.

Finished cape prototype

On reflection I would have liked to be able to spend more time prototyping the cape and getting it finished more neatly in time for tomorrow but with my first session next monday, getting the multiples finished to a high standard has had to take priority.