Download TEXTILE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY PRODUCED WITH A DIGITAL

TEXTILE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
PRODUCED WITH A DIGITAL INK JET TEXTILE PRINTER
Professor Colleen Muscha
[email protected]
College of VATD—School of Theatre
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Theatrical costume designers often re-create textiles that are no longer available to the
costume designer from the retail market as these may have gone out of fashion. This is
especially true with print fabrics which go in and out of fashion most quickly. It is extremely
difficult to find appropriate printed designs on suitable garment fabrics to use for historical
period costumes for theatrical productions.
Traditional printing on fabric for a theatrical costume is done with various hand crafted
techniques such as block printing, stencils or screen printing. This can be very time
consuming and often lacks intricate details and subtleties of color. There is also a need for a
large area for the printing space while printing and as the pigments dry. Another technique
used by costumers is hand painting images on fabrics by stretching the fabric on a frame and
carefully brushing in each color. These techniques are very time consuming, usually taking
several days or even weeks to complete.
During the 21st century new technologies in the textile industry have moved to large digital
printers that are manufactured solely for printing fabrics. This has eliminated a great deal of
time for fabric set up and printing. It also affords the capabilities to print photo realistic
images if so desired along with intricate historic period prints. A multitude of colors are
printed all at once therefore alleviating the need for multiple color runs for each new color.
After inputting the image into the printer software, the printing can take place in just a couple
of hours. The quality of a digital print is superior. Time needed to achieve these results is
cost-effective and labor-saving.
Digital textile inks mimic those used in conventional textile printing. Many of the same type
of inks used in screen printing and hand painting have been modified to run in various types
of ink jet print heads. The ink that is proposed for this project is fiber reactive. This dye
requires fabric that is pre-treated to accept the dye. The inks require moist heat fixation
through the use of steam heating. Reactive dyes require fabrics that are made of cotton,
rayon, silk or linen. Since these are dyes and not pigments, the color penetrates through
fibers to the back side of the fabric. This is useful for lightweight materials such as chiffon
and crepe de chine, which could be used for a dance number where the underside of the
fabric often shows with the movement of the dancer.
After researching a number of textile machines, the one that stood out for ease of use, smaller
size of unit and technical capabilities is the Diva I from Expand Systems. The Diva printer is
Mutoh based with a unique fabric handling system. In the textile industry, this type of
machine is used for sample runs to check the pattern and color. In a theatrical setting, this
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machine is ideal as we do not need to print off tens of thousands of yards of fabric that is
needed for a manufacturer, but this type of short run machine can produce the needed five to
50 yards that might be needed for a theatrical production.
Creating the images needed for the machine can be done on typical computer drawing
programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter which are already available to the
students in the theatre computer lab. Either a JPEG or TIFF is the file format needed for the
RipMaster Software used for the printer. In order to feed the information to the printer, a
dedicated laptop computer connected to the printer will be needed for the printer to work.
This new computer will be the one with the RipMaster software downloaded on it.
Fabric printed will be used for costumes as needed for School of Theatre productions. The
School has been presenting quality productions for nearly 40 years, providing a full
professional experience for the audience while maintaining outstanding theatre education to
students in all areas of theatre, including costume design and costume technology. The
addition of this technology will bring benefit to all who work on these productions as well as
to the audience.
IMPACT ON INSTRUCTION
The School of Theatre strives to provide our students with a competitive edge over other
institutions by providing leading technologies in all fields of production. By giving them the
tools, skills and experiences to enter their respective field with this knowledge will give our
graduates an edge when entering the profession.
Though this technology will be mostly utilized by the costume program, all School of
Theatre students (300 undergraduates and 45 graduate students) and production staff will
benefit with the addition of the technology by working with and viewing the results of
costumes created with digitally printed fabrics.
Graduate students in the MFA Costume Design Program currently are required to take Fabric
Modification and Computer Rendering for Costume Design. In Fab Mod, students learn
traditional techniques of dyeing various types of fibers/fabrics with a number of dye types,
printing using blocks, stencils and screens and hand painting fabrics. While in Computer
Rendering, students learn various digital drawing programs. With the addition of the Diva I
printer, both of these classes will be joined in a new and exciting way. This machine
supports software and design techniques we currently use in class. Students will be able to
digitally create and print fabrics of their own design, whether for a class project or School of
Theatre production.
Universities use the Diva to teach the techniques of digital textile printing. The Diva has met
the budgetary requirements set by administrators and has met the needs of the faculty
because it can handle more fabrics than any other machine in the market in the same price
range. Diva has an added bulk ink system to allow one to change ink without stopping a print
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job. This machine has a low energy consumption level and minimal environmental impact
(as supported by university standards at Baylor and NCSU).
The Diva I printer is also used in the industry by Spoonflower, an e-commerce company and
[TC]2, a textile research company. Among peer institutions only textile programs have any
type of digital printing equipment, which includes North Carolina State University. Florida
State University School of Theatre would be the first theatre department to have its own
digital textile printer. This will aid in positioning the school and the university as a leader in
the field of costume design and technology, which will give FSU an advantage to recruit
superior candidates into the MFA Costume Design Program.
PROJECT PLAN
Once approved, initializing the project should take approximately three to four months to
order, receive and install equipment, and be trained on equipment and accompanying
software. The project team will consist of costume design and technology professors,
costume shop staff and graduate costume students. The cost of the Diva I includes a one-day
training session on use of the printer and a three-day RipMaster software training session. A
dedicated laptop is required to be connected to the textile printer with a RipMaster software
program in order for it to print.
The plan is to have the equipment ready for these sessions by the first week prior to fall
classes. Each of the members of the costume team should be proficient with the software and
the machine by the end of the fall semester.
RELATIONSHIP OF TO OTHER UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES
HOW THESE ACTIVITIES WILL BE ENHANCED AND/OR LEVERAGED
With the wide range of productions that the School of Theatre presents each year, there
should be a number of opportunities for this technology to be utilized. These productions
reach a wide variety of students, faculty, staff and the community.
Once learning to use the equipment is accomplished by the project team, we could provide
additional workshops and demonstrations of the equipment that might appeal to other units
on campus such as dance, art, and textiles. We also can make presentations in conjunction
with regional or national theatre technology symposiums, such as the United States Institute
for Theatre Technology. This technology opens new realms of opportunities for honors,
graduate or post-graduate costume research in textile design.
ONGOING SUPPORT PLAN
The department will provide ongoing support for maintenance and cost of support as part of
the regular operating budget. Fabric and ink will be charged to the various students for
personal class projects and to the show production budget if used for costumes for a specific
show.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT TEAM
Project leader: Professor Colleen Muscha, Director of the MFA Costume Design Program
 Instructor for Fabric Modification and Costume Computer Rendering
Associate Professor Martha H. Cooper—Costume Technologist
Claire Walker, FSU Costume Shop Manager
Michele Belson, FSU Theatre Costumer
Graduate Costume Design Students
BUDGET AND BUDGET EXPLANATION / JUSTIFICATION
Besides the Diva I Textile printer, a textile steamer that can steam yardages of fabric at a
time will be needed to fix the dye. The textile steamer that is proposed is the Jacquard Ink
Jet Fabric Steamer I. For the training sessions, a supply of fiber reactive ink jet dye and pretreated fabric will be needed to train each person on the project team. A dedicated laptop
with the RipMaster software will always be connected to the printer for it to work.
Item
Description
Diva I
Textile Printer: Includes training sessions,
installation, RipMaster Software
$ 44,000.00
Shipping
For Diva I from Durham, NC to Tallahassee, Fl. Plus
shipping insurance
Jacquard Inkjet Steamer I (includes shipping)
$ 1,000.00
$
Linen
Fabric*
Laptop*
Steam Jet Fabric Core—metal roll for yardages of
fabric used in the steamer
8 fiber reactive dye cartridges @ $125. For training
sessions
Rolls of pre-treated cotton for tests and training
sessions—Cotton Percale 44” x 50’
Rolls of pre-treated rayon for tests and training
sessions—Spun Viscose Challis 44” x 50’
Rolls of pre-treated silk for tests and training
sessions—Crepe de Chine 12mm 42” x 50’
Rolls of pre-treated cotton for tests and training
sessions—5.5 oz. Natural Linen 44” x 50’
Dedicated laptop to connect to printer
Shipping
* Shipping for: ink, core roll, fabric and laptop
Steamer
Core Roll*
Ink*
Cotton
Fabric*
Rayon
Fabric*
Silk Fabric*
TOTAL
Requested Amount
$ 22,495.00
300.00
$ 1,000.00
$
233.00
$
263.00
$
277.00
$
290.00
$
500.00
$
200.00
$ 70,558
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