joelewis Weaver & Writer : August 2008

Six Colour Warp Workshop at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles.

computer simulation of 6 colour warp, two colour weft double cloth colour test

In the beginning at the computer you work, you work at understanding not only how the software works, but how your own software (brain) works. There still seems to be a mistaken incomprehension as to the makers hand involvement in digital driven design and production technologies such such as those used to produce jacquard weaving. Believe me as a maker your "hand" or rather bother hands are never removed from this processes, except when you have a coffee in one and a cigarettes in the other, at which point your brain is juggling the endless the possibilities

Once you understand how and that the software does work. Using this sequence of six colours repeated across the width of the warp as your base it becomes a process of designing weave structures that draw the weft threads (two or more shuttles) across, underneath or hidden in the middle the warp to bring colour. texture and pattern to the surface, front and back of the cloth being woven.

using this design

here are weave structures for 6 of the 9 colours created using two weft threads black then white

In the simplest way, think of threads crossing as pixels, in the images above there are two wefts drawn across in the same direction, a black square is a warp thread on top of a weft thread, and this spread of six are stacked/ shuffled together up for black or below for white and compressed to be seen / taken as one pixel of colour.

These black and white squares are instructions for the loom

Simulation of design above ( it is a mirrored vertically)

You create simulations, get colour test woven, tweak line, shape, shade, design. As in all creative work you are involved in on going decision making until you achieve the piece of cloth you envisioned.