Ok, long time, no writing.
We are now in 2018, and I have tried several things out, but at the moment, I still do not have a corset.
Why?
Having two kids takes up pretty much all my time, and thus I have not even had time to write about the small steps I have taken.
So, what has been done?
Living space for the corset
I did write to my local FABLAB to see if I could let my corset grow there, and they were delighted to have me! I told them I'd pop by several times... But never got the time for it.
I would have liked to cut the worbla on their lasercutters while I was there, as I am quite familiar with that process, and have used it before to cut coutil for my corsets. The plan slowly changes into making the corset at home, and then move it to FABLAB when possible, but then I realized I could have it in a clear IKEA box... In December I got giant african land snails as pets, and they are often housed in IKEA boxes, and that gave me the idea. So I have a place for the corset to grow, although it will probably not have time to grow visibly as I had hoped, but only time to be decorated with plants. It will also not be a permanent home for the corset, but as someone suggested on the FR members group on facebook, I could always dismount the plants (aka kill it) and dry up the corset. It doesn't HAVE to stay underwater just because it is build for it.
Facing so many other obstacles, this really is a minor problem, and I'll deal with it when that time comes.
Model
I found a model!
Kitty Mortensen has kindly agreed to being my model, and we managed to make a mockup of the pattern. I then proceeded to heavily embellish it, as I wasn't planning on using it for anything other than getting the pattern for cutting out worbla. That turned out to be a mistake, I later found out...
Finding plants
I have talked to my local petshop, and they have several good plants avaliable. I have also talked to an old friend of mine with a giant aquarium, and he has loads of spare plants that I can get for free. So that is all taken care of! Succes!
Testing worbla
Turns out that worbla is not the dream material I hoped it would be.
One of my main fears, that it could not handle the stress of corsetry, turned out to be very true. It tears quite easily, and what is even worse, then the 'seams' where two pieces are joined together are not solid at all. Worbla is also quite terrible for freehand moulding, and works much better for draping over a solid body. Thus my first try out turned rather wonky, and disintergrated just from being bended and handled after it cooled down...
It did however work quite well for adsorbing sand on the surface once heated. So that is something I can use for the next level!
I also tested how it bonded to fabric, when heated and pressed together, and that is acceptable enough, that I'll try so make a corset base in fabric, and then bond the worbla to that. Here I could have used the original mockup, but alas, it is now a completel different project of its own.
What's next?
I have 5 days left of my maternity leave, where I have a few hours a day to myself. So I need to complete the corset in that time.
Therefore I need to:
Wish me luck...
We are now in 2018, and I have tried several things out, but at the moment, I still do not have a corset.
Why?
Having two kids takes up pretty much all my time, and thus I have not even had time to write about the small steps I have taken.
So, what has been done?
Living space for the corset
I did write to my local FABLAB to see if I could let my corset grow there, and they were delighted to have me! I told them I'd pop by several times... But never got the time for it.
I would have liked to cut the worbla on their lasercutters while I was there, as I am quite familiar with that process, and have used it before to cut coutil for my corsets. The plan slowly changes into making the corset at home, and then move it to FABLAB when possible, but then I realized I could have it in a clear IKEA box... In December I got giant african land snails as pets, and they are often housed in IKEA boxes, and that gave me the idea. So I have a place for the corset to grow, although it will probably not have time to grow visibly as I had hoped, but only time to be decorated with plants. It will also not be a permanent home for the corset, but as someone suggested on the FR members group on facebook, I could always dismount the plants (aka kill it) and dry up the corset. It doesn't HAVE to stay underwater just because it is build for it.
Facing so many other obstacles, this really is a minor problem, and I'll deal with it when that time comes.
Model
I found a model!
Kitty Mortensen has kindly agreed to being my model, and we managed to make a mockup of the pattern. I then proceeded to heavily embellish it, as I wasn't planning on using it for anything other than getting the pattern for cutting out worbla. That turned out to be a mistake, I later found out...
Finding plants
I have talked to my local petshop, and they have several good plants avaliable. I have also talked to an old friend of mine with a giant aquarium, and he has loads of spare plants that I can get for free. So that is all taken care of! Succes!
Testing worbla
Turns out that worbla is not the dream material I hoped it would be.
One of my main fears, that it could not handle the stress of corsetry, turned out to be very true. It tears quite easily, and what is even worse, then the 'seams' where two pieces are joined together are not solid at all. Worbla is also quite terrible for freehand moulding, and works much better for draping over a solid body. Thus my first try out turned rather wonky, and disintergrated just from being bended and handled after it cooled down...
It did however work quite well for adsorbing sand on the surface once heated. So that is something I can use for the next level!
I also tested how it bonded to fabric, when heated and pressed together, and that is acceptable enough, that I'll try so make a corset base in fabric, and then bond the worbla to that. Here I could have used the original mockup, but alas, it is now a completel different project of its own.
What's next?
I have 5 days left of my maternity leave, where I have a few hours a day to myself. So I need to complete the corset in that time.
Therefore I need to:
- make a corset base for the worbla layer. I would prefer a synthetic fabric as polyester or nylon, but if I fail to find that I will have to use oldfashioned coutil in cotton. I'll go shopping tomorrow. The corset base will be boned with synthetic whalebone as I have it on hand, and it is waterproof.
- drape worbla on the corset base, while the model is wearing it. I think this will be done in two steps: First step is to bond worbla and add sand to the surface. This I will try to do on a dressform stuffed to a somewhat similar shape. Then I'll heat it slightly when the model is to wear it, so it will mold to her shape.
- decorate the corset with branches and snail houses I have found.
- add plants.
Wish me luck...
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