Bric's: The Second Chapter

Today we had another nice day planned by comON! In the morning we went to Centro Tessile Serico in Como where we learned how fabrics are tested against friction, flame, water etc. Here we are on a tour of the lab......

I was in a mood somewhat contrary to my character today and managed to pay attention!! The tests being carried out above are for flame resistance and humidity research. The images below show a friction test and photos of microscopic fibres.

This was one of a series of tests for colour fastness. In this case it was to ensure that the fabrics didn't yellow in chlorine. As u can see this particular fabric was not very resistant!

Following this tour we went to the silk museum where we were told that photography was not allowed. With this in mind, i hope u appreciate the pictures below.........its not easy to take photos when there is a tour guide present!!

The image above right is silk worm cocoons!!  This museum was really cool, the machinery on display was all in working order and originated from the 1800's!!

 The image above right and below left are traditional printing blocks

Naturally we took a trip to the gift shop after this where i bought yet another book! Then we took a little explore in the rest of the museum (where there was no one around to make sure i wasn't taking photos)!!

We had all made the assumption that we were being collected in the afternoon and taken for a fabulous free lunch somewhere.........but after standing for more than a few minutes in the rain we realised that we had made a mistake!!

Once we had enjoyed a not so free lunch we were in fact collected by a bus and taken for round two of our Bric's tour. After failing miserably to impress the people at Bric's last time, none of us were optimistic about our chances this time.

Luckily, we were only half wrong!! Bric's took a shine to a select few of our projects (mine was not among these) and asked those involved to present their ideas to the group.........

After this demonstration we were taken on a tour of the Bric's factory......

Today has been (amongst other things) very informative. It was probably the first day that i've been able to hear enough above the sound of machines to gain any information about the process!! It has also been a fantastic opportunity to gain insight into the production of accessories, which up until today I knew nothing about :)

AND as if that wasn't enough i am now well informed about quality control and silk production from worm to garment, woop woop!!!