Color is one of the most important factors in a room. It creates a sense of feeling in a space and often determines the success of a design. One of the number one paint manufacturers in the United States is Sherwin-Williams. They have hundreds of colors to choose from and many resources to help when choosing a paint color. Some of the most popular of these resources include an application for smart phones, color fan deck and box, and magazine issues.

ColorSnap is the new smart phone application for iPhones and Androids. It is a free downloadable app that allows for color matching. For example, there is an item that you love on a flower outside your house and you wonder what color that is because you know your living room would look beautiful painted that way! With this Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap app a picture can be taken from your smart phone’s camera and the closest match to that color will appear. You may also scroll for more shades of that color if it is not what you are looking for. Once the desired color is found it can be saved for future reference and the Sherwin-Williams number will be given to you to take to your local Sherwin-Williams store. With this app it will also show you coordinating palettes and find a store near you.

The Sherwin-Williams fan deck and box are some of the most used items in the design world for paint. Included in the fan deck are over 1,000 different colors organized by the saturation level of that color. This is widely used for finding a desired color for a space. Each sample contains the Sherwin-Williams color number. And if the color is needed for a design board, larger samples are available in your local store or through ordering on the Sherwin-Williams website. If you are a design professional you may be qualified to order a Color File which contains both interior and exterior large paint samples in a portable box.

The third most popular Sherwin-Williams resource is their magazine issues called Stir. These issues contain information on the current color trends and advice on color. It is a resource that helps you in your color knowledge all together! The most current 2011 Stir issue contains articles on high spirited, bright hues and how to approach these kinds of colors. It also contains the 2012 Colormix which reflects earth’s natural colors, such as neutrals, greens, blues, and reds. There is also a STIRvey, which is a survey done by Sherwin-Williams which evaluates how valuable resources such as blogs, technology, and media are in the design world for finding and using color.

Sherwin-Williams is a great design source for your paint and color needs and they have excellent resources for their customers. Visit www.sherwin-williams.com for more design ideas, tips, etc. or visit your local Sherwin-Williams store.

Campus Materials

In any commercial space certain materials must be obtained, and with these materialsthere is criteria that must be met. Schools are a major type of commercial building. People pass in and out of these facilities on a daily basis, therefore every textile, material, and surface must be durable. There are six types of fabric application, seating, window covering, wall covering, panel systems, floor covering, and fiber-based art. Most of these are used in every commercial space.


In the Student Union Building at Texas Tech University, many different fabric applications may be found. One of these is seating. Because the Student Union Building is a high traffic area and is used on a daily basis, durable material must be used. On most of the upholstered chairs you may find a polyester blend material. The application of this material is actually quite successful. It is a comfortable material and because of its material blend of polyester it is easy to clean and fairly durable. This material can be found on these chairs in geometric shapes and in solids. Durability is very important because students sit on the chairs every day, even sleep on them sometimes! The chairs have been upholstered in this material for a few years and have hardly any wear to them, if not any, and will probably stay that way for a couple more years. Unfortunately, users tend to get tired of the material and want something new and updated, despite the condition it may be in. The ability for the fabric to stay clean is also an important factor because people are always on them and the chairs are located near areas of food.


Texas Tech University was very successful at choosing a very durable material for their seating. It has held up for a few years and a lot of students eating, sleeping, drinking, etc. on them. The pattern placement was also good. It showed a flow match placement. This where the pattern of the fabric matches where each cushion ends and the next starts. This is very pleasing to the aesthetics side of the building. Overall the seating in the Student Union Building was very successful in their application.

All About Looks

All About Looks is a fabric and upholstery store in Lubbock, TX, it is the only one of it's kinda in the west Texas area. When visiting here you will find a variety in their materials from bedding to draperies. They not only sell but they offer design services as well.All About Looks is a family owned company, these ladies have experience and talent in their design work. When visiting any one who works there will help you out and tell you anything you may need to know.

All About Looks stays on top of all the current trends and if you have a question about it you can take a look at some of the design magazines they have in their store. When visiting this store the trends you will see are natural fibers, brightly colored home decor and material, variety of wallpapers, and reupholstering furniture. You may also notice that polyester and polyester blends have taken the place of materials such as silk. These blends work well in heat and sun, great for the West Texas weather! Another hot item being seen is recycled materials, such as truck tarp. Companies are also beginning to used digital printing as a means to make prints on a fabric. This is a system that uses a Pantone software (Pantone.com) which allows consistency in color and it is  more economical. Wallpaper is another hot trend, we usually think of wallpaper as being ugly and old looking, but now their are so many options, some can even be painted on. One thing that has lost it's popularity is mini blinds or roman shades, basically anything with a chord. These are bad for the safety of children, so the world is moving to more stationary treatments now.

As a designer or just someone who is remodeling their own home, some things must be known, such as material codes, especially for commercial use. The durability of a fabric is also important especially when reupholstering a piece of furniture. Generally the tighter a material is woven the more durable it will be. There is alot to know when beginning a project, but if you ever need help All About Looks has design services to help with any need. They offer on-site upholstery, designer collaboration, custom bedding and drapery, free fabric samples, hardware installation, and many more services.

Overall, All About Looks is the best in the area and an excellent resource for most of your design needs.

Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute Field Trip #2

Before cotton goes through the yarning process it must be tested. The cotton will go through many tedious tests to find out the quality, strength and color of the fiber.  Cotton is classified by two things, staple and grade. Staple is the determination of fiber length and grade is the classification of trash and color content. This machines discussed are what the cotton is tested on to find out it classification. Once the fiber has been classified it can be turned into a material, once there is a sample of this material it must go into more tests to find out the quality and usability.

 Fibers have to be tested in the High Volume Instrument machine, this takes samples of the cotton from the bale and can measure length, strength, color, and trash count. This machine is also called the Uster HVI. It can get the measurements of 700 - 800 samples in one 8 hour shift. The color of the fiber is determined by being smashed into a tray underneath a camera, after being smashed it flashes and takes a picture of the fiber. If the color is known this helps determine the price of the cotton and what it could be used for. Another machine the fibers are

tested on is the Statimat DS which will determine the strength of the fiber. To find the strength of one single fiber the Robot 2 machine can test that. Asmall machine called the Uster 3

Evenness Converter uses vibration to classify the thickness and hairiness of a fiber. To get an advanced trash reading and determine the short fiber content of cotton, the Advanced Fiber  Information System is used. All of these machines are used before fiber can be made into yarn, once that is complete they must go through the next set of tests.

            

The next process of tests is once there is a sample of the fabric made from the yarn. The Martindale Abrasion Tester determines the abrasion resistance of textile fabrics and wear ability of a fabric. Each fabric placed in the tester is rubbed and each one also has different weights on

the rubber to test abrasion options, once abrasion is complete and has been rubbed the required amount of times this machine will shut off. The next machine determines the growth or shrinkage of a fabric. It must first be measured by a computer program which scans the fabric and takes its measurements. Once this is complete it is taken to the Quickwash, this is a machine used to simulate home washing and drying. It is then taken back to the scanner to get the new measurements. Breaking force and elongation of textile fabrics is determined using a raveled or cut strip sample and placed in the clamps of the machine then force is applied until the material reaches its breaking point, this is called the grab test. This is what every cotton material must go

through, shirts, jeans, etc.

          

The thought of our everyday materials going through all of the tests described may be quite surprising. The tests are very important to the quality of our fabrics, and they help determine the use for which they are needed.

Sustainably "Green" Fibers

The world has grown become fascinated with the idea of being "green", and to make the earth a more sustainable place. A way to start being green is through fibers. Information about sustainable fibers needs to be spread. People need to be informed about what materials are good and bad for their environment, is there an alternative? There are two types of fibers, natural and man-made, which both have subcategories containing reusable and recyclable fibers.

A natural fiber is protein or cellulosic, animal or plant fibers. Protein fibers include silk, wool, and leather. One sustainable protein fiber would be wool. The thing that makes this good for the earth is if the animal being sheered and has not been injected with any type of hormones; but instead is fed organic substances not treated with any form of pesticides. These animals must be raised according to an accredited standard for organic livestock production. When sheering the animal is completed, the fiber must be made into a spun yarn and textile. Now in order to stay sustainable the fibers cannot be bleached or chemically processed, as it usually would be. Organic wool is very sustainable, but it must be certified. Cellulosic fibers would include any type of plant fiber, cotton, linen, silk, etc. Some green plant fibers would be organic cotton and recycled cotton. Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides, sewage, irradiation or genetic engineering. Recycled cotton derives from two sources. One when spinning waste is recycled in the same spinning plant. And when garment fall-out, scrap yarn, and fabric can be processed and recycled into a yarn. Other forms of sustainable cellulosic fibers can include linen, hemp, and silk. For natural fiber to be considered sustainable it must be accredited by a certification organization. Natural fibers are more difficult to make and consider eco friendly than man-made fibers are; with man-made the options seem almost endless.


A man-made fiber has two categories, natural man-made and synthetic man-made. With natural man- made are fibers made from that of cellulosic and protein fibers, these would include glass, rayon, acetate, etc; these fibers often use harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment. Rayon from bamboo is considered green because it grows fast and constant, it does use chemicals that could be considered polluted and must be carefully controlled. Synthetic fibers are made from a chemical process derived from oil and include nylon polyester, acrylic and spandex. Most synthetic fibers that can be considered green can be recycled only; because of the chemicals used in making of these fibers they will not decompose naturally. The recycled products first must be converted by chemical or mechanical recycling. Mechanical recycling is the least expensive and uses the least amount of energy, but produces the least amount of yarn filament options and can become unsustainable for textiles. Chemical recycling does just the opposite of mechanical. Once the product has been converted it then must be accredited just like the natural fibers. Recycled nylon and recycled polyester are the most common synthetic fibers that are considered sustainable.  In this decade people are beginning to come up with alternative fiber sources.

Alternative fiber sources can change our world and make it more sustainable. An example would be Abaca, which is a cellulosic fiber from the bast family that is blended with soft fibers to form textiles. It could decrease the dependency on agricultural crops and is biodegradable. Finding these alternative man-made and natural resources is what will enhance the "green" world and promote the sustainability options of fibers.