DEVORE ETCHING:
Devore is a French technique which creates ‘burnout’ areas on plant-derived
textiles when an etching acid is applied to the surface of the fibre in a pattern. The acid removes the fibres, creating a beautiful sheer area. The acid medium may be painted, stencilled or silk-screened onto the fabric.

DIE GRINDING:
A die grinder is a handheld power tool used to grind material such as metal, plastic or wood. They are either electrically or pneumatically powered. The cutting is done with a burr, bonded abrasive or coated abrasive. The name comes from their use in touching-up hardened steel dies.

DYE GRINDING:
A dye is either liquid or is soluble in its vehicle (such as water), resulting in a solution which binds to the substrate. The colour of a dye is called a pigment. Most of the pigments used before the Industrial Revolution were obtained from minerals such as yellow ochre, reds from various iron oxides, white from gypsum etc. The most expensive colours were blue and green, which were both obtained from precious stones (lapis lazuli and malachite). To release the colour for the dyer, the minerals were ground finely in a bronze or stone mortar, and then combined with liquid into which the textile to be dyed is immersed.

FORGED METAL:
Forging is the process by which metal is heated and shaped by applying a compressive force. Properties such as strength, ductility and toughness are much better in a forging than the base metal, and forgings are consistent from piece to piece. Forging also yields parts that have high strength to weight ratio.

JOOMCHI:
Joomchi is a paper felting process used to make extraordinary garments which can be worn, washed and worn again. They are traditionally produced in Jeonju, Korea .using a paper called Hanji, which is made from the bark of mulberry trees. As well as making garments from Hanji, the artists of Jeonju combine paper yarn with silk, linen or other natural fibres to make garments and innovative woven hangings and 3-D pieces.

KATAZOME:
Katazome is a form of paste resist surface design. Wherever the paste sticks to the cloth it prevents any colour from staining that spot. The paste is made from rice flour, and the patterns used are transferred by a traditional stencil made from mulberry paper treated with persimmon tannin and smoked to preserve it.

KATAGAMI:
Katagami is the traditional Japanese art of making paper stencils to use in Katazome printing. The resulting printed fabric is traditionally used in kimono making.

KIRIGAMI:
Kirigami is the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting. The designs are usually symmetrical, using patterns such as snowflakes or orchid blossoms. The three main rules of kirigami are fold, draw and cut; the kirigami artist keeps the image outline and cuts out the rest.

KIRYU ORI:
Kiryu ori is a traditional Japanese industrial art technique used for the production of textile items. Textiles woven in the traditional manner include:
Silk: High quality silk manufactured locally from the 10th C. includes silk crepe, horizontally and vertically woven brocade, raised pattern brocade, and gauze that is frequently used in layers for summer kimonos.
Wool: High quality close-weave woollen textile that is strong and soft.

LOST-WAX CASTING:
Lost-wax casting (cire perdu) is the process by which a metal sculpture is cast from an artist’s work. It is an ancient practice, used by the Ancient Greeks (Pliny mentions it), Romans, Indians, the Pre-Columbian civilizations, and in South East Asia.

OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING:
Open source programming is a language and environment for people who want to create images, animations and interactions. It is free to download and open source, uses 2D, 3D or PDF output, is suitable for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and windows and over 100 libraries extend the software into sound, video and computer vision.

OXY-ACETYLENE WELDING:
Oxy-acetylene welding is a type of welding that uses fuel gas and oxygen in two separate cylinders to weld metal. The use of gas and oxygen allows the flame to heat to around 3,500 degrees C. It is now used mainly in the production of Art metalwork, pipe and tube work and the glass industry.

PHOTO-ETCHING:
Photo-etching is a process to create line or tone in integrated circuits. The process is one in which patterns are formed using photoresist-covered substrates acted on by enzymes. The resulting photoresist is then exposed to ultra-violet light, and becomes a barrier that allows only the chosen part of the etched material to be etched. It requires precision tools as it involves a very intricate method of cutting and engraving metal.

PLASMA CUTTING:
Plasma cutting is the process that is used to cut steel and other metals of different thicknesses using a plasma torch. Inert gas is blown at high speed out of a nozzle, while at the same time an electrical arc is formed through that gas from the nozzle to the surface being cut, turning some of that gas to plasma. The plasma is sufficiently hot to melt the metal being cut, and moves fast enough to blow molten metal away from the cut.

POWDER COATING:
Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing dry powder. The coating is typically applied electrostatically and is then cured under heat to allow it to form a skin which is used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint. It is mainly used for coating metals such as whiteware, and in the automobile industry.

SHIBORI:
Shibori is the Japanese term for several methods of dying cloth in which certain areas on the cloth are reserved from dying by various ways of binding or stitching. There are 6 main techniques:
Kanoko: commonly called ‘tie-dye’, where sections of the cloth are tightly bound with thread, creating a pattern of circles.
Miura: called ‘looped binding’: a thread is looped around each section twice and the resulting dyed cloth has a water-like design
Nui: called ‘stitched shibori’: a simple running stitch is used on the cloth then pulled tight to gather the cloth. A wooden dowel is used to pull the thread very tight.
Arashi: ‘Storm shibori’ where the cloth is wrapped on a diagonal around a pole, then very tightly bound by wrapping thread up and down the pole. Next the cloth is scrunched on the pole, resulting in a pleated cloth with a design on the diagonal.
Itajame: Shape-resist technique, where the cloth is sandwiched between two pieces of wood.
Kumo: ‘Spider web shibori’ is pleated and bound very finely and evenly. This is the most difficult and valued shibori.

THERMO MOULDING:
Thermo moulding is a manufacturing process for producing parts from both thermo-plastic and thermosetting plastic materials. Material is fed into a heated barrel, mixed and forced into a mould cavity where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the mould cavity. Injection moulding s the most common method of production with some commonly made items including bottle caps.

TURRET PUNCHING:
Turret punching is a process that produces shapes by selectively removing material from sheet metal. These sheets are clamped into a machine that is programmed to move within a specific location within the matrix of the machine, the correct punch shape and size is selected at the turret, and the machine produces the required hole.

The transformation from flat cut card to a 3D form is dramatic and requires the card to be of a certain thickness – not too thick so the card curves easily and not too thin so the sharp edges that spring out hold their crisp shape.

This work, String Pictures, mirrors his autumn 2011 runway collection, which featured icicle-like creations, exploring the potential of different materials. He’s made his name with eccentric creations for the Melbourne Cup and is president of the Millinery Association of Australia.

In recent works with Balletlab’s Aviary for the Melbourne Festival, he used dramatic feathers for large headdresses, moustaches and beards. And Toni Maticevski, another Love Lace finalist, also worked on this production.

This work understands lace as an abstract formative principle, a product of processes and mechanisms from which structures and patterns emerge.

The artists have used behavioural-based computational models to allow the visitor to re-design fantastical lace motifs in different styles of lace, including knitting, tatting, crochet etc. and the results can be printed or laser cut. We have done several in the exhibition to see the end results.

It’s a highly interactive work, and the simplicity of the visual effects belie months of very complex programming to create this interactivity.

Joep explores the limits of hand craftsmanship and mass production. You wonder why anything could be made in plain mesh when there are these new possibilities. Custom patterns are designed in close co-operation with their clients for many different purposes in building and interiors.

Joep and his brother Joeren are feisty industrial designers who see no boundaries between design disciplines. They both studied in Eindhoven, well known for its innovative approach to industrial design, with a very successful output of students worldwide.

The large pieces of galvanised steel fence are made in India in a workshop in Bangalore using traditional bobbin lace techniques. The production is carefully organised and Joep has developed an understanding with his ‘lace’ workers; paying them well, providing them with health care and insisting their children attend school.

It is a work of grand understanding of our planet Earth. Echelman’s installations have stunned many cities around the world. She imbues her work with powerful global themes. ’1.26′ reflects the microsecond shortening of the day that resulted from the 2010 Chilean earthquake’s re-distribution of the earth’s mass.

The gigantic 24 x 20 metre aerial net installation was displayed in the centre of Sydney during the City of Sydney’s Art and About Festival from September to October 2011. Dramatic coloured lighting enhanced the impact of the work which pulsed gently in the wind across Sydney’s main thoroughfare, George Street.

Morley’s sophisticated work in metal might not immediately be seen as lace, but she read the brief and understood exactly what I was after. Lacie Lorrie has a powerful sense of where it came from and its relationship with Morley is written into its rusting body. The network of holes represents the roads this old logging truck took in its working life in New South Wales.

When the proposal initially came through, the truck was photographed in a paddock, lovingly admired by cows and donkeys. Its rusting bumper bar looked like a trembling lower lip which gave it a very human appeal.

She’s knitted an exact scale replica (and when I say exact, it is very precisely measured) of the female organs – urinary tract and uterus. Her choice of concept and materials varies dramatically from one work to the other but the uneasiness she brings to the viewer is constant.

From a scientific background, she obviously knows the revulsion that it causes but it doesn’t seem to bother her in working with human hair – in fact she shows complete mastery of this material. Pynor works with ultimate respect for these fine fibres.

Recent work is a study of people who have drowned in the River Thames, and she’s created some extraordinary images on glass from these statistics.

Jahn’s was a masterful interpretation of lace – a computer generated form in three dimensions with a very strongly organic presence. This work not only satisfied my quest but also used the latest technology to create it.

Jahn fabricated the work using a SLS Nylon 3D printer through the company called Shapeways – a very expensive machine. The overall shape was designed by writing a computer program that draws arc networks which were then wrapped in a sort of digital blob to make the geometry for the 3D printer.

I think Jahn would be the best one to explain in detail – this is quite a complex process – but the end result is a really beautiful piece.

With subtle combinations of standard and non-standard fibres and finishing processes, Paleologos creates 3D and sculptural knitted fabric structures. Some made by hand, some using a knitting machine but working it manually, some crocheted, some hand knitted. The dark centres of her work are hand worked.

Paleologos has elevated knitting to sculptural forms. The transition from hand to machine work is imperceptible. Once threads are knitted they are then manipulated by hand to perfect the shapes. Blends of cotton and wool combined with metallic threads will stay where they are positioned because of the metallic structures. Wire has a memory and can be shaped to perfection and just stays put.