A little bit of info before you start...

- Make sure you find expanding foam which is malleable (or flexible).

Two-part foam mix will not work with this method!

- Do this outside, or in a very well ventilated area. The cold will not impact the material properties.




- Keep out of sunlight until you reach the step of exposing information onto the material via sun bleaching.

!!! Wear a fume mask - regular FFP2 masks will not protect you !!!

With this out of the way, check this out

This project consists of three parts, but only two are necessary to achieve a result. You will need:

- Expanding foam flexible and blue, one container is enough;
- 14 sheets of baking paper;
- sticky tape;
- a heavy object to be used as a weight;
- some wire or thin but durable rope;
- knife but an exacto is also fine;
- a clamp or a baking roll.

THE ASSEMBLING

THE EXPOSING

Refer to the "Material Research - Retake period" for full instructions and process, this is a simplified instruction that avoids all experimentation.

1. Start off with rolling 14 sheets of baking paper into rolls and taping those to avoid them losing their shape.




2. Follow the instructions on the can of expanding foam, figuring out how to active it. Usually it's a matter of shaking the can for 20 seconds.



3. Spray the expanding foam into the rolls from both sides, making sure to leave 3-4 cm of space for the foam to expand into. Make sure you begin spraying from the middle moving outward. Let the filled tubes rest on a piece of paper or plastic foil.


4. Leave the tubes in a well-ventilated and dark area for around 8 - 14 hours to cure.


5. Unfold the tubes, making sure that you support the tube of material from either end, never the middle.


6. Cut any excess material off that isn't flush with the tube.

keep in mind that these rolls mustn't be too thick, as the material will have to bend after curing.

WEAR GLOVES AND PROTECTIVE FACE EQUIPMENT AT THIS POINT

You have your tubes of material ready, now its time to assemble them into the chosen pattern.

1. Pick any paper weaving pattern you'd like, taking into account that it can not be a three-dimensional shape, but should be flush with the surface.

2. Make a paper mock-up of this pattern, taking note of all the bends your material tubes will have to make.

3. Use either a rolling pin or a clamp to squish the material into a flush shape, and have it in that shape for around 5 minutes.











4. Continue with all of the tubes, squishing them, waiting for a while, and then weaving them into place, making sure that there is always a weight on top of the pattern to stop it from expanding too fast.


5. After the assembly of the pattern is complete, with the weight still on top, use your wire or thin but durable rope to tie all of the ends together, making sure that they are all roughly in the same line throughout the side of the pattern. Do this for all applicable sides.

This is done to destroy some of the structural integrity of the material and give you time to assemble the pattern.

Now that you've done the most difficult part, it's time to get creative!

1. Use any drawing or bit of information you'd like, provided it fits the size of your material pattern, avoiding tiny details that might not show up in the final exposed image.

2. Cut this drawing out on a thicker piece of paper (black paper is preferred) using an exacto or other knife/scissors, whatever you prefer.

3. Attach this to your material pattern, making sure that you tape your stencil well to the pattern.

4. Optional (but highly effective), make sure you cover the sides of the material pattern as well, as the travel of the sun might also bleach the sides.

5. Leave it out in the sun during peak hours to expose the image into the material, making sure to pick a day where the sun can shine unobstructed by clouds.

6. Periodically checking the colour shift, you get to decide when you'd like to remove the object from the sun.

I found that a couple days can produce the most striking difference in colour, but the change becomes exponentially less noticeable with every passing day.