Color and Design. Tutorial

4. COLOR AND DESIGN FOR LEATHER AND FUR

MANUFACTURE

Fur color

A visual meaning of color is very important for creating leather and fur products.

According to the visual meaning of color, fur skins are divided into two groups:

•group which increases the figure volume illusorily: furs of light colors and warm shades;

•group which reduces the figure volume illusorily: furs of dark tones and cold shades.

Furs of light tones and warm shades such as ivory, ash, beige, light chocolate and terracotta suit ideally for tall and lean figures.

In addition to the above-mentioned tones, two-tone furs with a vertical pattern are suitable for thin and short people.

For full and large figures, furs of light and warm shades are not suitable. Dark furs are more suitable for such figures. However, the age of a person is of great importance, since dark tones emphasize withered skin. For older people, fur products in soft pastel or complex colors are recommended.

The headdress and fur coat can have the same color scheme or they can be chosen according to color contrast. Your choice depends on what effect you want to achieve (calm or dynamic effects).

The choice of fur color also depends on the characteristics of your composition or on the shade of your hair.

Fur hats in black, brown and dark gray colors seem less voluminous than light fur hats.

Dark hats are recommended for brown-eyed people. For people with blue eyes, headdresses in delicate pastel colors are suitable.

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For all types of women, regardless of the color of the eyes and hair, a black hat is the ideal choice.

Fur texture

The lush texture of the fur increases visually the volume of the headdress. Therefore, longhaired fur hats are produced simple in shape. The low shiny texture reduces visually the headdress. Such fur is used to sew a turban of a bizarre shape.

If a headdress is made only of fur without using other materials, it makes the hat too heavy. Multi-texture can be used to produce a hat with special elegance and beauty. Different materials such as leather, felt, satin, velvet, etc. are used in addition to the fur. The most difficult thing is to combine harmoniously two textures in one headdress. It is easier to create a graceful fur hat from several materials.

The use of decorative trim on fur hats is limited. It is used only for inexpensive furs. Finishing can be used when it is necessary to hide any defect.

Composition center

A composition has a compositional center. It is a detail around which the costume is created and which holds the whole composition. As a rule, this is the most characteristic, expressive and fashionable detail of the costume. The compositional center is not always located in the geometric center of the costume.

The compositional center of uncovered clothes can be fur inserts and finishing details, embroidery, appliqués, accessories. First, they are constructive and decorative articulation (direction of decorative lines and cut lines).

As a compositional center of furriery, you can use decorative lines in the pattern of fur raw materials, the difference in fur textures (the eye-

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catching fur of the collar, lapels, cuffs and decorative inserts), inserts from non-furry materials (leather, fabric, cord), and accessories.

Fur selection

In the composition of clothing, semi-finished fur products are of great importance. When choosing fur for clothing, the purpose and operating conditions are taken into account, as well as wear resistance, heatproof properties, volume, texture of the hairline, mass of skins, and their uniformity. The expediency of using fur for a particular product is also taken into account. For example, it is not recommended to sew women's clothing from heavy skins (wolf, jackal, etc.). The skins of foxes, arctic foxes, ermines and small rodents are not used for men's clothing. Inexpensive types of semi-finished products (strap, lambskin, sheared sheepskin, rabbit, and rodent) are used for children's clothing.

The location of the skins in the products is of great importance, since the natural color, airiness and lightness of the fur are emphasized by the optimal location. All these terms are taken into account during fur clothing production.

Leather selection

As you know, leather for shoes and saddlery must have high strength, resistance to abrasion, resistance to sweat and external atmospheric influences.

Leather technical for drive belts must have high tensile strength, high elasticity and density, uniformity in thickness.

Clothing leather is produced from the skins of small cattle: calf, outgrowth, from the skins of sheep - clothing chevrolet. It should be soft and viscous, thin.

Glove skins are produced from the skins of sheep, goats, foals, piglets. This skin should have high ductility, high plasticity and softness.

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Aesthetic requirements for fur and leather

Aesthetic requirements refer to the compositional expressiveness of the product, the tectonicity of the form, the use of decoration and the general artistic design of clothing, its compliance with the main directions of modern fashion (silhouette, design, plasticity, color, etc.).

To ensure the aesthetic requirements, the specific properties of materials are taken into account. In addition, the expressive means of composition plays a significant role. They are the type of symmetry of the form, the proportions and rhythmic movement of the elements and details of clothing, the use of contrast or nuance to design the shape, color, tone, texture of the fabric, etc.

Evaluation of natural color of fur semi-finished products

The characteristics of the natural color of fur are of great importance. Fur color may change significantly under the action of light resulting from photochemical reactions. Traditionally, the degree of color fading is evaluated organoleptically using a five-point scale. The disadvantage of this method is the subjectivity and low sensitivity of the gradation. In this regard, there is a need to develop methods to quantify the change in the optical properties of the fur hairline.

To assess the color fastness of natural fur, a method is proposed. Hair color fastness tests are carried out on samples whose length does not exceed the length of the hair of a particular fur.

The obtained photographic images of the sample are processed by the Adobe Photoshop graphic editor. The essence of processing is to quantify the color of the sample at certain points. The location of the points is determined by superimposing a scale grid on the image. The border of the down zone and the zone formed by outer-coat fibers are determined visually. A grid line is drawn in the middle of the selected zone of fluff. The measurements are taken along this line. The area of outer-coat fibers is

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divided into three equal parts with two lines, perpendicular to which auxiliary grid lines are drawn. A special tool fixes sequentially the color at the points of their intersections with the line. The code of color is displayed in a special window. According to the results of preliminary studies, the optimal number of measurements on the downy zone is 25, in the area of outer-coat fibers – 75. The color of each point is numerically specified in the RGB color system.

The relative luminance L is used to assess the change in the appearance of the hairline under the action of sunlight and weather:

L = R + G + B.

This total indicator quantifies the lightness of the sample, which is the most objective and sensitive to the duration of exposure characteristic when studying the change in the color of natural fur under the action of sunlight and weather.

The authors [29] assess the influence of sunlight and weather on the natural color of the hairline of mink, nutria, arctic fox and silver-black fox. Before scanning, the fur samples were kept under normal climatic conditions for 24 hours at an air temperature of 20±2 ºC and a relative air humidity of 65±5 % according to GOST 10681-75.

All samples are characterized by a change in brightness. The change intensity depends both on the type of fur semi-finished product and on the area of the sample (the zone formed only by down and the zone formed by outer-coat fibers).

The zone of downy hair is most susceptible to the influence of sunlight and weather. First, this is due to the fact that at the upper cut of the sample, thin downy hairs are irradiated along their entire length. As they are separated from the upper cut, the down fibers become more protected from light exposure due to the covering and more vertical arrangement relative to the skin tissue (only their upper sections are irradiated). In addition, the color of outer-coat fibers does not change significantly under the influence of sunlight and weather.

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It was proved that the fur of the arctic fox is more stable. The relative luminance of dark-haired types of fur (mink, silver-black fox,nutria) increases under the influence of sunlight and weather. While the relative luminance of non-pigmented arctic fox decreases. The latter can be explained by the fact that as the exposure time increases, white hair gradually acquires a yellow-brown hue, the lightness of which is less than that of the original white. An increase in relative luminance for furs that have a darker natural color actually corresponds to fading (lightening) of the natural fur hairline.

The change in the color of the hairline of the studied types of fur semi-finished products proceeds most intensively during the first four months. In real conditions of the experiment, this period (May–August) is characterized by the maximum activity of solar radiation.

Thus, the proposed method allows us to determine quantitative (RGB) and qualitative (brightness, saturation, hue) color characteristics of the natural fur of semi-finished products. This method can also be used to assess the zonal color of the hairline, since it takes into account the length and color of the hair zones of various types over the area of the skin.

A method for assessing the color, shape and nature of the distribution of color spots on the surface of the skin using color masks was proposed. The technique allows us to obtain an objective assessment of the appearance of the fur hairline surface. The index of contrast of neighboring areas is introduced, which shows the difference between their relative luminance.

The analysis of the color masks of the skin and the values of color characteristics makes it possible to characterize the skin according to the color range and the color contrast group of adjacent topographic areas according to the color spot shape. The method allows us to highlight the existing defects due to the color or structure of the hairline, i.e. carry out virtual sorting. The obtained photographic images can also be used as a database for developing templates for modeling the color of the hairline

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in the finished product with the introduction of stitching stripes. We can more clearly define the criterion for sorting skins by the hairline color.

LECTURE QUESTIONS

1.What two groups of fur skins depending on the visual meaning of the color do you know?

2.What shades of fur increase the figure volume?

3.What shades of fur reduce the figure volume?

4.What shades of fur are recommended for older people?

5.What kind of headdress is suitable for women of different types of appearance?

6.How does the fur texture affect the choice of headdress style?

7.What is a composition center?

8.What can be a compositional center in furriery?

9.What are the most important fur properties when choosing a fur semi-finished product?

10.What properties of leather should be considered when choosing

a semi-finished product?

11. What method do you know to evaluate the color fastness of the natural fur color?

LECTURE VOCABULARY LIST

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5. LEATHER AND FUR DYEING

Dyeing is one of the most widespread technologies used to improve the quality of skin and leather furs, update and expand fur product assortment. Generally, dyeing aims to obtain an even color with specified color characteristics (color, its saturation, intensity, brightness, shade) of fur products. These characteristic are to be resistant to various physical and chemical influences and friction during the operation of dyed fur products.

Various dyes and appropriate dyeing methods allow us to change the natural color of the hairline of skins in a wide range, to ennoble the colors of inexpensive furs by imitating more valuable ones, to obtain the required color of the leather fabric.

The role and importance of dyeing is increasing due to the constantly changing requirements for the color design of various types of fur skins under the influence of fashion.

The range of fur and leather products is increasing since their applications are distributed for almost all seasons. Today, not only traditional outerwear and hats are made from fur and leather. For example, fur looks like textile and knitted materials. Skirts, trousers, suits, dresses are sewn and knitted from it. Not only leather, but also fur skins are widely used in the production of haberdashery, bags, gloves, belts, etc.

Therefore, there is a need to develop and improve technologies of processing of raw materials. Today, the coloristic design and quality of the hairline and leather become the factors determining the aesthetic properties of the product and its compliance with fashion requirements.

Nowadays, the dyeing technologist has to solve difficult tasks, such as dyeing the hairline without dyeing the leather tissue (leather reservation dyeing), or dyeing the leather tissue without dyeing the hairline, dyeing the hairline and leather tissue in the same color (tone-in-tone) or in different colors (two-color dyeing, or bicolor). The choice of one or another dyeing method depends on the type of raw material and its future application, the availability of the necessary range of dyes and auxiliary

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substances. In order to properly build and manage the process, deep knowledge of the structure and properties of the semi-finished product to be dyed and the dyes used, as well as the theory of dyeing, is required.

Dyeing fur operations using triads

In recent years, the dyeing of fur in a variety of fantasy tones has become one of the most popular directions. In this case, obtaining a color according to the reference color is often required. In this regard, the use of acid dyes opens up the widest possibilities for the implementation of any color tone on the hairline. Taking into account the complex set of requirements for dyes, it is of interest to use not individual dyes, but their mixtures. Various combinations of three primary colors (yellow, red and blue) allow us to obtain a wide range of colors.

Triad dyeing is based on the assumption that the visible region of the spectrum can be conditionally divided into three zones corresponding to the absorption of red, yellow, and blue dyes.

One of the main problems that arise when using dye mixtures is the selection of the mixture composition to obtain the desired color tone (fitting to the standard color). For this reason, various methods of computer calculation have been developed. The most common method is based on the use of the reflection spectrum of a reference sample. This approach is based on the reflection spectrum of the reference sample. The required amounts of dyes are found according to the total absorption of light at each of the selected wavelengths which is to correspond to the absorption of light by the reference sample.

Calculation methods for formulating dye compositions require sophisticated equipment for measuring reflectance spectra and performing calculations, which are too complicated. Therefore, in practice, along with computational methods, experimental methods are widely used based on the comparison of the color of the reference sample with the color of dyed

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