Mar 11 2008
The Amazing Jacquard in MELBOURNE
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I’ve just returned from the adventure of a weaving lifetime. I’ve been to Melbourne (the style and textile capital of Australia) to explore Jacquard weaving. Louise Lemieux Berube from the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles gave a workshop at the RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles to a group of exhilarated weavers. Aside from breathing in the creative and vibrant atmosphere of Melbourne itself and especially the college, I was so pleased to meet other weavers and young textile designers whose passion and fresh approach to textiles has encouraged me greatly. Just imagine, I was talking to other people about tie-ups and treadlings…and they undertstood what I meant! I love the way weavers are problem solvers and the ways they co-operate with each other, sharing their knowledge and ideas. Weaving and textile construction is fraught with creative problems AND possiblities. I think the best way to explain my adventure is with a few photos… |
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| A magical room full of looms at RMIT in Melbourne |
Digital dobby looms
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Melbourne Street Art
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The Purse – made of granite! Melbourne’s Street Sculpture
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The almighty Jacquard
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The prime movers for the RMIT Jacquard Workshop, Rachel Halton, Louise Berube (Tutor) and Pat Jones |
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| The lovely group of keen Jacquarders | |
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| Examining the cloth. This was the rewarding fruition of our very intensive week of designing on the Pointcarre software. |
The back of the Jacquard showing the threading |
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| Previous week’s jacquard samples | My purple and yellow Jacquard brocade sample on the loom – woven face down. It was very exciting seeing the jacquard weave on the samples. |
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| Photographic imagery. One of our first lessons involved the preparation of a photographic image with good greyscale graduations. This was done in Photoshop. In the Jacquard software – PointCarre – each shade of grey was associated with a different weave that approximated the shade. Essentially ‘painting’ with weave structure. Here one shuttle of weft can be used to create the various weave structures across the web of the warp. No pick up is required as the Jacquard loom allows manipulation of every thread individually and can prepare the shed in any way. To achieve something similar on a dobby loom many, many pick ups in every row would be required. However, there are possiblities in combining some of these ideas with warp/weft painting and well planned design and pick up. |
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| Image with twill structures applied. | |
I am so jealous!
What type of jacquard looms were you working on?
Hi Patrick. The loom was an ARM?? I was so impressed with the loom I didn’t really bother to find out its maker! But that’s something I should follow up on.
Wow – Melbourne sounds like a must-visit destination for weavers. I am always amazed at the visual power of jacquard images and your examples really show it off well.
Wild, thanks for sharing.
I wonder if the Arm you refer to is the Swiss company – Arm AG? [See http://www.arm-loom.ch/englisch/home.htm. BB Yarns in Brisbane [http://www.bbyarn.com/index.html] imports their 35cm-long boat shuttles which are a dream to use.
Very interesting. I’ve never actually seen a Jacquard loom before. I have to admit it would intimidate me a little! But I am fascinated with what it can do.
I arrived in Melbourne on the day you posted. We stayed just around the corner from RMIT. It was an experience to be able to watch the sculpture students from street level. I haven’t had a chance to post about my trip yet but its coming. Thanks for sharing your trip
Hi Karen,
Amazing where and when worlds intersect. Its so nice to see pictures of RMIT and the Melbourne weavers. I wish I could have been there to see you again also.