ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre launches digital fabrication summer workshop

The School of Film, Dance and Theatre in Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts is launching a new summer workshop for costume makers, and registration is now open.

Digital fabrication is revolutionizing the approach to making costumes for theater, musical theater, opera, film, dance and even cosplay. But what is digital fabrication? When should it be used and how can it be integrated into producing costumes?

Sarah Lankenau Moench, clinical assistant professor of costume technology, will lead the Introduction to Digital Fabrication for Costumes series of workshops, which will focus on the basics of the software required, how to access and operate the hardware and what types of projects are good candidates for digital fabrication. Workshops will cover how to make simple digital files for fabric printing, laser cutting and 3D printing. Instructors will lead participants through tutorials in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and Autodesk TinkerCad and Fusion 360.

Lankenau Moench’s interest in digital fabrication began during her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, which led her to create a manual identifying the essential tools in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for use in pattern drafting and scaling and costume crafts. These same tools are now being used to develop coursework and implement the use of digital fabrication in the costume shop at ASU. Drawing on both her academic and professional work experiences, she seeks to find harmony between the analog and digital technologies available today to create exceptional costumes. She has served as staff draper at the University of Michigan, draper for Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin and costume shop manager for the Sarofim School of Fine Arts at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Additional professional credits include a 12-year working relationship with the Santa Fe Opera, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas, as well as contract work in commercials, television and film.

Register online. 

Dates and times:

• 1–5 p.m. June 6: Introduction to digital fabrication and fabric printing.

• 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 7: Laser Cutting.

• 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 8: 3D Printing.

Full workshop cost:

• $375 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $425 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $450 — Late registration (April 13–May 12).

• $25 – Materials fee 

Single day — Thursday:

• $85 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $95 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $115 — Late registration (April 13– May 12).

• $10 — Materials fee.

Single day — Friday and Saturday:

• $175  — Early registration (by March 15).

• $195 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $215 — Late registration (April 13–May 12).

• $15 — Materials fee.