Comparative study of the illumination effect on the appearances of woven fabrics composed of single and multiple colors of yarns

Color has been strategically used to attract consumers in the textile and clothing industry, and yarn color mixing is one of the most typical methods of imparting color to textile products. However, the fact that color appears different depending on the illumination has concerned textile designers and sellers at the point of color communication and sale. This study quantitatively analyzed how the color appearance of woven fabrics composed of single and multiple colors of yarns changes under a broad spectrum of illumination conditions. The lightness, chroma, and hue appearance values of 36 chromatic fabrics, in which red, yellow, green, and blue yarns were woven together, under 16 different illumination conditions were calculated. For the illumination conditions, correlated color temperatures (CCTs) of 2700, 4000, 5000, and 6500 K and luminance of 100, 1000, 4000, and 8000 cd/m2 were employed. The color appearance values of fabrics under the 16 light sources were compared with each other and also with their true physical colors. It was observed that the ranges of the varying lightness, chroma, and hue appearances of fabrics ranged up to 8.49, 16.24, and 27.04, respectively, indicating the huge effect of illumination on color appearance changes. In particular, the lower CCT of light sources induced the larger lightness appearance changes of fabrics from their actual physical colors. It was also found that the magnitudes of the color appearance changes of fabrics induced by light sources differed significantly according to the number of yarn colors and the overall colorimetric properties of the fabrics.

WHAT THE ELITES ACTUALLY WORE IN 500–300 B.C.E. CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM TEXTILES, BAMBOO, AND BRONZES

This article uses evidence from textiles, bamboo, and bronzes to explore what the elites wore, who made up the design communities behind the elites, and how luxurious these items were considered to be in 500–300 b.c.e. China. It first examines the reliability of the art historical sources available for the reconstruction of this history and cautions the readers against certain past interpretations of the textiles and accessories of the period. It then delineates a brief history of how certain textile patterns and weaving techniques developed and how their producers selected and obtained sources of inspiration and interacted and exchanged ideas with producers of other types of artifacts. It argues that textile designers seemed to favor certain types of sources and had formed their own distinct, though not impervious, community. After carefully examining the weaving techniques of several pieces of fabric, it proposes a means of building a more reliable and solid foundation for art historical reconstruction. Textiles and accessories were symbols of the wealth, status, and power of individuals who wore them. This article will explain how a combination of the production techniques of textiles and accessories, together with a sharing of designs and techniques within the community of producers, contributed to the formation of those symbols.

The importance of sensorial empathy and the language of touch when crafting textiles for people who are visually impaired

This article reflects upon a pilot project crafting textile samples/prototypes for people who are visually impaired. It explores the role that sensorial empathy and further understanding of the language of touch play in the textile crafting process for makers working with people who are visually impaired, and that aesthetic and experiential textiles (while important to all) are especially important to people who are visually impaired. The project undertakes craft research in an area that is generally overlooked by textile designers. The makers/participants were sighted second-year undergraduate textile design students at Nottingham Trent University and the end users, who acted as informants, were service users at My Sight Nottinghamshire (a charity in the United Kingdom addressing visual impairment). The project is situated within human-centred design, with a focus on physically intuitive designs crafted for people with visual impairments. The application and usage of the samples/prototypes are aimed at inclusivity, with engagement centred primarily around haptic touch, and so looking at the textiles may not reveal their potential application, which becomes more apparent through physical engagement. The project was inspired by work within sensory studies, including the concept of sensorial empathy, and research relating to the language of touch through tactile encounters with art objects from a visually impaired perspective. The methods used in the project drew upon empathic design processes, which were informed by sensory ethnography ‐ particularly 'emplacement' and the holistic consideration of mind, body and place ‐ and selected aspects of social haptics, particularly 'environmental description'. Recommendations include further development of the language of touch to support textile craft when working with people who are visually impaired and further consideration of 'grounding' as a concept regularly described by the informants.

Fatigue Degradation of the Ram-Air Parachute Canopy Structure

In this work, the authors continue researching issues related to fatigue of aircraft structures made of fabrics. Parachute systems are widely used in military, sport and recreational aviation. Braking parachutes as well as skydiving and troop parachutes are characterized by the repeated use of parachute canopies, which are exposed to wear and fatigue. Until now, parachutes were difficult to design aviation systems due to their complex and unsteady opening characteristics, large changes in the geometry of canopies, suspension lines and tape risers as well as exposure to stochastic atmospheric turbulence. The fatigue of the canopy fabric, suspension lines and tape risers is a problem that must be addressed by textile designers and designers of reusable parachute systems. The authors of this work demonstrate the complexity of operating a parachute in hard multiple use conditions and propose ways to extend the parachute’s service life without compromising safety.

Culture-Building and Contemporary Visual Arts Practice

The significance of a call out for artists for the exhibit Contemporary Artists Respond to the New Orleans Baby Dolls is the opportunity it provides for artists to come outside of themselves as painters or textile designers and address their art from a different point of view. The significance of the exhibit is the opportunity to demonstrate how the community is an important part of grassroots culture and how this culture is surviving by adapting and evolving in response to contemporary conditions. The chapter offers an exploration of the unfolding of this process through the interactions of artists and those who mask as Baby Dolls.

SILKWORMS AND SHIPWRECKS: SUSTAINABILITY IN DOMBEY AND SON

Seeking to prepare her friend Lucretia Tox for the revelation of Mr Dombey's engagement, Louisa Chick, Dombey's sister, turns to the natural world to illustrate the inevitability of change: It's a world of change. . . .Why, my gracious me, what is there that does not change! Even the silkworm, who I am sure might be supposed not to trouble itself about such subjects, changes into all sorts of unexpected things continually. (434; ch. 29) For Mrs Chick, the silkworm seems to exemplify the truism that change is a natural and inevitable part of life but, in the context of global sericulture, her example is perhaps more apposite than she realizes. Silk production not only radically terminates the natural metamorphosis from caterpillar to moth, it also constitutes an industry subject to the volatilities of global trade and regulation, the cycles of fashion, the impact of new technologies, not to mention the vagaries of disease, climate and habitat. While Britain had been importing raw silk from China in limited supplies from the eighteenth century onwards, by the time Dombey and Son was written, the devastation of sericultural crops in France and Italy by a disease which had been spreading since the 1820s allowed Britain to benefit from the treaty port system (established as a result of the Opium Wars) and re-export raw silk to the Continent (Ma 332–3). Thus, silk – circulating around the world, and linking producers of the raw material in India, China, or Japan with child labourers in Macclesfield, handloom weavers in Spitalfields, textile designers in France, and wealthy consumers in London – positions the humble silkworm within complex and dynamic networks of uncertain sustainability.

A common thread

Public engagement with science can not only inform the public about exciting research, but also help guide the path of the research being conducted. Many researchers are now involved in innovative engagement projects that involve using the skills of artists and makers to help visualise and engage people with their science. Equally, those working in the creative industries such as art, textile and design are becoming interested in how they can use science to inspire their work. Helen Albert speaks to Rhiannon Gregory and Amy Congdon, two young textile designers who are applying their creativity to tackling key scientific issues such as antibiotic resistance and tissue engineering, as well as considering how these techniques could be used to create commercially valuable products. Dr. Lorna Dougan, a physicist and Rhiannon's collaborator also shares her thoughts on art-science collaboration.