Plissée of Canvas

Material: Mollino nettle canvas and craft cardboard, size 20x120cm. Nettle canvas is used for large scale painting in theaters. Craft cardboard is used for the molds.

Tools: Cutting plotter, embossment tool, thread, steam oven

Process: Plissée is an old technique, where two cardboard molds are used to press a folds pattern with steam into a fabric. Here I tried it in a traditional way to pleat canvas fabric. First I prepared the molds and folded them twice. Then I made a sandwich, with the molds on the outside and the fabric in between. Together I folded these three layers and fixed them with a thread wrapped around. The wrapped up packet was steamed and after cooling down I released from its molds. In this magic moment the final fold appears in the fabric. If you use materials with synthetic fibers it its washable, with natural materials the fold will disappear again when it gets wet.