Self-Introduction/ Past experiences

中文

My creative inspiration comes from my travel and movement. Once in 2013, in a resident program in Mexico and Oaxaca, I accidentally participated in a community-building project of a local art group Bandui Lab. They convert local myth, folktale to toy design. At that time, Bandui Lab collaborated with three Aztec villages and coached the idle carpentry workshops in the local villages to cooperate in making these toys made from local nature materials, wood, fibre, embroidery.... Although it was a simple model of social design, it was the first time I saw that design and art can participate in such interesting field research project, and have a basic but clear production system, including coaching local villagers to set up physical stores and guiding them through art workshops. The local residents participated in the design of these dolls together, although they eventually disbanded due to funding problems. This experience has taught me that our society is just one of many bubbles.

After this experience, I organized two workshops in 2017, 2018 with the Taiwan Atayal tribe with a French e-textile community called e-Textile Summer Camp. This workshop itself may be successful in form and publicity. as well as many exchanges between the local community and the participants and e-textile practitioners, including shallow cultural experience and technology exchanges, however the exchange didn't continue and no sustainable "production system" was built. It might be the exchange was lead by agency and proxy.

The most recent attempt was to build a greenhouse with a Tibetan community. I met Tsansar Kunga and generated this idea with him in Taiwan in 2017. He's the founder of Tashi Gatsen Charity School in Quinhai. The goal is to provide basic education and a year run greenhouse for the students. I had few ideas to combine art with this charity project, but after three visits to Qinghai, I found my thought was naive and lacked of social design experience. In addition to this year’s pandemic and travel restriction, the construction of the greenhouse is postponed. I now only focus on how to get funding and knowledges to design the construction of the second greenhouse.

Website/ Portfolio:
www.shihweichieh.com

I'd love to share two ways of "dyeing", it maybe not certainly a "tutorial", but it's maybe inspiring in some aspect:

1. Laser Dye（more for people with electronic background）：

"Laser dye" is way to create image on natural fibre with 405nm laser scanning and Cyanotype process by the help of DIY laser system. I use this DIY laser system for cutting, engraving, audiovisual performances and digital print on garment.

hardware

The laser system is mainly composed by 4 major parts:

1. galvanometers module
2. laser source, I use 405nm for cyanotype prints, RGB laser for performance.
3. DAC card: MOTU MK4orAxoloti board
4. computer (optional, if you use axolotl, you don't need one)

software

Made by max/msp. After the above hardware is assembled, voltage can be delivered to the assembled hardware through the DAC card to generate the laser pattern we want. Basically, five waveforms are generated in max to control X, Y Axis for laser movement and R, G, B channels for the laser color.
Laser Dye Projectlaser dye max patches

2. Dye sensitized solar cell, DSSC

This is the technique I was practicing and researching before. I really like this DIY craft because it shows the connection between craft, botany, and chemistry. Although the basic making is only in high school level, but with complete equipment, it still can produce enough current close to product level. The materials are easy to obtain and the cost is relatively cheap. DSSC exploits plant dyes to absorb sunlight to transfer electrons, usually the juice of purple plants contains high Anthocyanidinworks good as DSSC dye.

The making

Actually I learn everything online, for example here: How-to-Build-Use-A-Dye-Sensitized-Solar-Cell。

Current research and references

1. The making of gel electrolyte: I mix iodine and Arabic gum powder to make my gel electrolyte, to extend its life.
2. The textile version: Usually DSSC is made of ITO or FTO glass. I tried to make it on textile but unfortunately without success.
3. I have used the blue Gentiana flowers found in communities in Tibet and Qinghai to make dye-sensitive solar energy, which may become the teaching content of local communities. I have also used Taiwan butterfly pea flowers to make, but I found that plum dye is the best.
4. 這篇論文指示，藍染亦可以成為染敏太陽能電池的電解質。
5. 織的染敏太陽能

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用蝶豆花製作的染敏太陽能影片