PRODUCTION REPORT

KNITTING VIA A FLAT KNITTING MACHINE

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Materials used

- Knitting machine
- Lightweight Yarn (cotton, wool, etc.)
- code for a specific pattern
- needles

STEP - BY - STEP GUIDE

1. How is it controlled? Through analogue or digital means?
The technique is controlled through digital means. In this case, circular and flat knitting machines that precisely execute and follow the code of the pattern.

1. Which industry sector?
This technique is used in the mass production industry sector as it follows patterns accurately and strictly without causing errors. (If the machine has an error, the machine immediately stops so the mistake can be fixed.)

Existing products

Shirts, bedsheets, clothes. Depending on which machine is used, flat or circular knitting can be used to create certain outcomes. As circular knitting machines are always knitting a tube-like form, it is often used to create products such as socks and other tube-like products.

Intervention 1
In order to come up with an intervention, it is important to look at the steps, as well ads the different parts of a knitting machine and what their function is. This way, by altering or even replacing or taking away a certain part, we can also change how the technique is used - a so called intervention.

What happens when you alter the order of the steps in the knitting machine?

Intervention 2

One of the main reasons knitting machines are a big part of the mass production industry sector is that you can program it to follow a certain pattern, allowing millions of identical pieces to be produced after a pattern. The tension, the speed and material are always the same when you want to create numerous identical pieces.

Hence, I want to change up this idea of ‘perfection’ and strictly following a pattern by allowing the knitting machine to create the exact opposite. What I mean by that is programming the machine to NOT follow a specific pattern, but instead allowing the digital algorithm to decide for itself ‘randomly’. This solves the purpose of utilising the knitting machine in a completely divergent way creating a unique outcome every time.

What will the outcome look like?

Intervention 3
One of the elements of a knitting machine that makes the outcome look ‘neat’ is because the same amount of tension was used throughout.

An interesting intervention would be to purposefully alter that tension and see what happens to the pattern, as well as the technique itself. Will the outcome look completely different from the outcome that used the same tension throughout the production process? Will there be more knots? Will the outcome have a distinguished shape compared to the ‘faultless’ one?

Intervention 4

Knitting machines generally use lightweight yarn in order to not clog the machine. An intervention could be to experiment with different thicknesses of yarn throughout to see how it would affect the pattern. Essentially, the intervention would be to intentionally alter the appearance of the outcome whilst keeping the dependent values the same.

1. The needle bar goes forward- the open needles clear the web
2. The weft thread is laid on the needles
3. The weft thread falls loosely
4. The needle bar draws back, the weft is pulled in the open needles
5. The needle bar draws back, the presser bar drops, the needle loops close and the weft is drawn back through the web
6. The needles open, a new row has been added to the web which drops under gravity

PRINTING WITH A UV FLATBED PRINTER

HOW DOES IT WORK?

1. A digital file (in vectors) is sent to the computer with the printer's software.

2. There, you can select the layers (if you want to use primer and a top coat) that you want to be printed.

3. Select your settings (size, thickness of canvas, etc.)

4. Print!

- UV PRINTER INK (in CMYK)
ink is jetted out of the printer to create an image and to cure it to the canvas

There are different kinds of ink:
hard ink - high resistance to abrasion
flexible ink - retains the image on flexible objects
edible ink - safe for ingestion
specialty ink - used on materials with different surface textures

- UV PRINTER PRIMER
primer is used to increase the adhesion of the ink to the canvas. It does so by altering the surface of the canvas on a molecular level.

- UV PRINTER PART FIXTURE
makes sure that you are printing on the correct spot in a secure manner, as well as delivers the part you want to print on to the print head to shoot out ink.

The flatbed printer uses a flat fixture that is fed straight through the machine for printing one side of the canvas.

MATERIALS NEEDED

You can add multiple layers of topcoat to seal off the image and make it more resistant to abrasion.

1. print on a slightly tilted canvas or a canvas with different heights. How will this affect the image?

2. Rearrange steps: instead of primer, ink, top coat(s) - top coat, ink, primer

3. Replace the YMCK ink with other dyes or substances. How will this affect the print and the material printed on?

4. Whilst the dye is still malleable and almost soaked, add pressure through one of the vents. Can the image be distorted? or is the adhesive trying to keep it together? What will the outcome be like?

INTERVENTIONS:

play around with light... can you alter the location of the light?