Weaving on a jacquard loom

I love my 32 shaft dobby loom. It allows me to play with many variations of weave structures and patterns but it does have its limitations. Large curved shapes are nigh on impossible to achieve unless picked by hand. So I have always been fascinated with jacquard looms. They are impressive beasts, in some cases with the ability to control every individual end of warp separately. I also find them beautiful, as the heddles dance to the sound of the loom when its running. I admit I am green with envy of those weavers that can design and weave on a jacquard.
 
But now, thanks to artist and weaver Hannah Robson, I have had a chance to learn how to design for a jacquard loom. Hannah is Lecturer in Woven Textile Design at Bradford School of Art. In 2021 she was awarded funding from Arts Council England to bring back to life a jacquard loom that had originally been used by textile students but had been left unused because there was no longer anyone who could manage and operate it. The Jacquard project involved major commissioning and servicing with technical assistance from local weavers and textile engineers. Through the process of bringing it back to life, Hannah became confident to run the loom and experiment with different weave structures and yarns. 
 
In 2023 she organised an exhibition at the 1912 Mill at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, Yorkshire to showcase the work to bring the loom back to life, and to admire the wonderful collection of fabrics that had been woven. Hannah invited four artists to explore colour, material and pattern, which were then woven on the now fully functional jacquard loom. 
 
It was such an inspirational and joyful show for me and now comes the cherry on the cake… I attended  a one day workshop that Hannah was hosting at Bradford college, to create my own fabric design which would then be woven on the jacquard loom. We  were shown how to use  specialist software to choose different weave effects for distinct areas of our designs, which creates a visual contrast in the cloth. We each brought an image on which to base our designs which Hannah formatted for the software. 
 
Mine was a photo that I really loved, taken in May 2018 in Marseille of the pavement outside the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM). It had a wonderful wiggly line formed by the shadow of a wall and offset blocks of diagonal lines with irregular edges. I remember gazing at it for ages at the time trying to work out if I could weave it on 32 shafts (not possible!).  
 
Three weeks after the workshop a parcel was delivered, containing a length of cloth in my pattern, woven by Hannah. I was delighted to unpack this glorious slither of golden silk, and the patterns worked even better than I imagined they would. I am hugely grateful to Hannah for this opportunity. Do take a look at her website.

Design source: pavement at Mucem, Marseille

Jacquard woven silk fabric

Hannah with the jacquard loom at Bradford College of Art

#jacquard, #weaving