For this project, I was interested in the link that is created between a material and the body. I wanted to explore a material and then find ways of adapting it to the body. Does the technique exist independently of the body, or does it have to be thought out beforehand? I wanted to find a technique and stick to it without mixing it with others. There was an idea of repetition that I wanted to satisfy. At the beginning, I didn't know if I wanted to build a structure in harmony with the body or if, on the contrary, I wanted something that would break up the natural organic forms of a body.
I chose plastic thread, also known as 'scoubidou'. It's a flexible material but difficult to handle, so I thought it might be interesting to go against its nature and try to adapt it to the body. I had yarns of different qualities, some of which lent themselves well to curves and folds without getting damaged too much, whereas those I had in large quantities were stiffer and got damaged at the slightest fold. Initially, I carried out 2D tests using heat (hit press, iron), which wasn't very conclusive because the material lost its appeal (playfulness and uncontrollability). I did several tests with heat, but I found the results boring so I wanted to add volume. I started using the heat gun to see how the material reacted to the heat. I took several threads at a time so that there was more material. The threads melted and gave a big thick mass but the process was tiring because with the pressure the threads deviated and it was difficult to control them. So I decided to give them freedom of movement while melting them, which resulted in filaments resembling a nervous system or a single-celled organism called a 'Blob'. When it's still hot, you can still give it a shape, but as soon as it cools it's frozen and doesn't change position.
This technique was the most interesting for my project because it lent itself well to repetition. I had to force the material to adapt to the body, but once the different pieces had been placed, the structure didn't move any more. I made pieces of different sizes and placed them (while they were still warm) on the mannequin so that it would take shape.
Then I placed them on the mannequin and assembled them using fishing line. To give volume to the structure, I added pieces (still using the same technique) that I modeled as half spheres so that the structure would stand out a little from the body and regain its initial liveliness. I think it would be interesting in the future to work with the material but with the resources it offers me without the intervention of heat, and perhaps it will be a project where the material doesn't follow the shapes of the body, but transgresses them.
