Moiré Studies
Handwoven samples from a residency at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 2023.
The residency was devoted to attempting to create woven moiré patterns. Moiré is usually achieved on silk fabric by subjecting it to heat and pressure rollers. It is also an optical illusion that happens when two gridded structures are overlayed on each other - perhaps two window screens overlap; a photo of a gridded structure, seen through another digital lens. These visual pleasures fascinate me, and I wondered if it was possible to weave a moiré pattern with the pattern embedded in the structure of the cloth - rather than imposed upon it through physical manipulation or optical illusion.
These moiré studies were woven on a 16-shaft compu-dobby loom. All harnesses on this 16-shaft loom are controlled by a computer-dobby system. Every pick is predetermined by my drafts made on Fiberworks weaving software.The process of working with this tool felt at times disembodied & disconnected. I thought a lot about digital systems' ability to control bodily movement and creation.
"Shadow Weave Study: Black and White" 2023. Cotton. 15"x13.5".
"Shadow Weave Study: Black and White", 2023. Detail.
"Shadow Weave Study: Blue and Red" 2023. Cotton. 15"x1 This piece was woven with a "tromp as writ" treadling. This makes for a symmetrical radiating pattern that was a joy to work with. Weft threads alternate between red and blue, which makes the pattern even more complex.
"Shadow Weave Study: Black and White", 2023. Detail.
"Shadow Weave Study: Wandering Eyes" 2023. Cotton. 15"x11". This study was woven using a parallel point draw treadling, with improvised inconsistencies in the white/black alternating weft picks, and repeating various sections of the draft. This almost turned into an elaborate double-weave in the centre, which was fascinating and lead to a much denser cloth overall.
"Shadow Weave Study: Wandering Eyes" 2023. Detail.
"Shadow Weave Study: Black Moiré" 2023. Cotton. 15"x6". The first test done with an improvised network drafted treadling, with the truest moiré effect of all my experiments. The cloth is not very functional due to some very long warp floats, but exciting nonetheless. This is an all-black weft, with alternating white and black warp threads.
"Shadow Weave Study: Black Moiré" 2023. Detail.
"Shadow Weave Study: Red Moiré" 2023. Cotton. 15" x 23" Joyous things always happen at the end of a warp. Here I used a red weft on the black and white warp. The red weft let the pattern breathe more and have more variation of tone.