Layerd Fabric Experimentation Thread

I'm not going to mess with paint. I don't have the room. I'll get it on my floor. I'll get on my cats.

Tiddler and I were discussing in a topic of mine about layering fabrics, something I am very interested in. Mainly because I can buy 1/2 yard by 54" of some fabric for just a few bucks, instead of investing in various paints. It is also cleaner to work with.

I am going to do some experimentation with layering fabrics on ontop of the other, focusing on affordable fabrics. I wanted a topic for everyone to make suggestions, or post what experiences they have had. Be it with types of fabric, mounting fabrics, or layering fabrics.

The base I will start will (for now) will be the budget Blackout cloth for Jo-Ann fabrics. At $5.99 a yard (54" wide) it is a bargain. Here is a shot of my current screen, using the fabric side of the blackout cloth. (90" 4:3, 16:9 image, lights off)



I will be creating samples of blackout cloth with various fabrics layerd on top.

Let the fun begin!

Projector Info
Infocus IN24
DLP
800x600
1700 ANSI lumens
2000:1 contrast
~12.5' from screen

Room Lighting
6 45w canned lights


**UPDATES**

Which side of the Black Out cloth is best by itself?

Black Speaker Fabric over Black Out Cloth

That is an interesting question. I would think a fabric over a mirror would need to be a bit less sheer than one used over the blackout cloth.

I'm hitting up the fabric store after work (not something I've said before....), I have a list of fabrics I found online I want to try out. I'll also ask the sales people if there are any suggestions.

While I am trying to keep things inexpensive, I won't buy anything on clearance. I don't want to find a great combo, then find out I can't find anymore of the fabric.

I'm also going to try all the fabrics layerd across the matt, as well as the shinny side of the BOC.

The first thing I needed to answer was this:

Does it matter what side of the blackout cloth you use?

Apparently not. The rubbery side seems far more prone to marks and dirt than the fabric side, and not as durable in general.

Here are several images compairing the fabric side VS the rubbery side (which has a very slight sheen).

The background screen is the fabric side The board is the rubbery side (click for larger image)

I did some tests with speaker fabric, as well as some attempts with a mirror backing. None turned out too well. I'll post those pictures at some time tomorrow.

Hmmm, interesting stuff.

When I created that board covered in BOC, I first tried to use a board that was white with black text printed on it. When the cloth was flat against the board, you could faintly make out the lettering. This was in the room in which I have the projector, with full room lighting on (directly above the board laying flat on a coffee table).

So that makes lots of sense, that painting the wall black would help.

My wall behind the BOC is a sort of medium-dark gold (seen in my other topic). I am not sure if that increased my CR over having a white wall,BUT, I don't see any difference in CR in the areas that are backed with the black industrial velcro. At the same time, the board I used an example for was a bright white with a slight sheen. There was no noticable CR difference between the BOC on white backing, my medium-dark gold wall backing, or the black velcro backing. That is not to say the backing doesn't make a difference, but it might only be a noticable difference between a stark white wall, and a flat black wall. I tried to put other printed material behind the BOC, and it was not noticable the way the black text was. I also made an attempt to back the BOC with a mirror, which saw no noticable improvement. I would love to strip the rubber backing off the BOC, but that does not seem like an easy task. Perhaps I'll ask Joann fabrics what a similar material is, w/o the backing.

EDIT...

This has gotten me thinking. My logic was approaching this as the white light waves are more intense (?), so to have them travel through a dark layer, and reflect off of a white layer in the back. But the post about a black backing increasing contrast gave me the idea of using a black vinyl backing with a sheer white cloth on top. I was in a rush last night so I could only pick up a few items at Joann's. I'll hit them up after dinner tonight for some sheer fabrics, and the black vinyl. I have enough BOC to work with for now.

Is there any TOS issue on these boards if I were to post links to the item pages on Joann fabric's webpage?

I took the same board covered in BOC and stretched a layer of speaker fabric on top. Just to see what would happen.

Well, overall, the images were just too dark. Blacks looked better, but no matter what, I couldn't get the whites bright enough for a watchable level.

Speaker fabric, lights off:

Speaker fabric, lights on:

Speaker fabric, lights off, contrast/brightness turned all the way up. The image gets washed out by this point:

The board has BOC on it, then Speaker Fabric pulled tight across it.


The effect I am going for would be as if I lightly spray painted the surface with a thin coat of grey paint. As the topic title suggests, this is all experimentation. The test with the speaker fabric was very extreme, a very dark material that is not nearly as sheer as I would like it to be. It just happens to be material I had lying around, and I thought I'd give it a shot. Not a very succesful experiment.

I am going to continue to look for a fabric to layer on top of the BOC, but have been thinking about a more reflective substrate.

As I posted before, I'm thinking of using a black vinyl with a very sheer white...and also doing the reverse, of a white vinyl with a sheer black.

Right now, the weather is pretty crappy, so it is dealying my shopping. I took some shots of the speaker fabric stretched across a mirror back...I'll post those shortly, but those didn't turn out too well either.

I wanted to see how BOC would with an image projected from the rear, so I just held a piece between myself and my projector. The image was very clear, watchable, but not as bright as the image looked on the side recieving the image. What was interesting was that none of the image was coming through to my shirt (I held it a few inches away), but my shirt was generaly brighter than if I wasn't standing in line with the projector. So some white light is making it through, but relative to the amount being projected, not very much.

I tried a mirrored back (damn, I really gotta get around to posting pictures...they are home, I at work...) and it didn't really do anything. The only problem with my test I can think of is the little bit of framing of the mirrior kept the material from being flush against the mirror. If it was off of the mirror a bit, it would be about a cm or so. I wish I would have tried painting the back of the BOC, that sounds interesting.

I also put a very sheer black over the BOC, which did help deepen the blacks. Only problem, the sheer material had a slightly inconsistant grain, as well as could be prone to pulls and catches.

I'll dig up some black paint this weekend and paint the back of a section of BOC, see what happens.

I'll try the white (and black, just for kicks). The properties of this fabric are really bothering me. I would think a mirror backing would make a difference, but perhaps the light goes through to the back (as I posted about when non-imaged light traveled through to my shirt), but isn't let back through.

The best fabric I've found so far, in terms of gray material for added contrast, was the grey shirt I was wearing while working on this! Oh well.