So here is my final =) A few pictures of the process and final product… I learned a lot while doing it, and hopefully you will too.
So I started with the idea.. A jacket the would have two states, one patterned and one not. I wanted to accomplish this with the use of thermochromic inks, conductive thread, batteries, and magnets, I wanted the jacket to be solid when open, and show a pattern when closed (closes circuit).
The first step was selecting the fabric, inks, and trying them out. With the trail swatches everything when smoothly: the inks worked well, when heated they disappeared, and then re-appeared.
However, while doing the final jacket, things did not go quite as smoothly =) There were a few problems I would like to address… Mainly the inks seem to have not worked well with the fabric, even after working well on the swatches. I ended up getting odd results, the inks turned green after a few hours… I am assuming it is an issue regarding the curing temperature / method (heat press at 130 C for 3 minutes). For the samples I did not cure the inks as per the manufacturers specs, so they only worked for a couple days and eventually faded…
So in conclusion I will have to say this is still a work in progress. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to make the inks work with this fabric, after contacting the ink vendors. I will keep you posted. If not, I will have to explore what other fabrics will be a better choice for these inks.