Dry Process on Denim (Part-2)

Whiskering:

·         It is also known as Cat's Whiskers;

·         Crease lines around the crotch;

·         Industrially done with laser, sandblasting, machine sanding, hand sanding and abrasive rods.

·         Also used for 'knee whiskers' (whiskers on the sides of knees) and 'honeycombs' (crease marks on the back of the knee).

·         Whiskers are one of the most important design of a used look garment. The idea of whiskers is taken from the worn out lines and impression patterns generated by natural wearing on hips and front thigh area. On old jeans, a number of patterns can be find consequential to fabric, body shape of user or sitting posture.

Picture: Producing Wiskering Effect on Denim

Procedure:

·         Various methods are designed to create this impression on jeans. Mostly rubber balloons are available with different pattern designs. Garments are mounted on balloons and filled with air to get impressions of whiskers. Garment is scrubbed over pattern carefully with sand paper on engraved pattern lines. This operation requires high skilled labor and who can handle uniformity and sequence in whisker line. Fabric may damage during rubbing if care is not taken. But this method is more successful in industries where the production is consistent to articles i.e. similar articles are produced in large quantities. This method is famous for high quality and cost effectiveness.

·         Sometimes separate patterns are made and fixed on balloons to make mustaches. These patterns are made of thin rubber sheets and electric wires or rubber cords and pasted on balloons for pattern lines. Thin line patterns are very easy to work in that way but it is not much successful for broad lines.

·         Engraved patterns on thick board like hard rubber sheets are widely used for whiskers impression making. This idea is very simple to draw lines on rubber sheets and engrave them with blade. Garment is places on sheet and scrapped on specific area to draw this impression on garment. For its low cost patterns, it is most frequently used in small industries especially where the production is not consistent to style.

·         In some workshops it is done manually with the help of sharp edge rolled on fine wood sticks of pasted on plastic material. Before starting execution, placement and pattern must be marked on garment, this will help operator to execute the pattern right to match the aesthetics of garment.