Working title of the animated movie is Weave!
A short animated video will be produced for presentation. My goal is to introduce Weave! at Complex Weavers Seminars 2010; it will be about 5 minutes or less in length. The unifying element of the video will be the materials and colors used; there will be no underlying narration, unless one emerges by itself as the work progresses. Series of related weavings will be photographed or scanned by the Project Leader and assembled into a video using software such as Photo to Movie.
A series is defined as a group of woven squares or frames which are modified by small increments or changes in the draft such that each frame exhibits a small change from the previous one.
Weaver volunteers will each weave a panel of 240 ends @ 24 epi of white or natural 10/2 cotton. Each panel will contain at least 10 separate sections (frames) of 240 picks, approximately 24 ppi, so that each frame is roughly 10” square. Each frame will be separated from the next by a few picks of plain weave in contrasting color. Panels will remain the property of the weaver volunteers and will be loaned to the Project Leader for photographing or scanning. Wet finishing is optional at the discretion of the individual weavers, but all panels should be pressed and ready for photography or scanning. Selvedges and separators will not be included in the photography, so do not obsess over these.
Volunteers may weave as many related frames as they wish, but a minimum of 10 is requested for each design. Any number of shafts is suitable. You may design your own project, or the Project Leader will assign a draft to you if you wish, according to the number of shafts on your loom.
Here is an example of 4 related 16-shaft drafts:
Here are three drawdowns of an 8-shaft draft; the colors of the weft yarns have been changed by increments. This series could go on for 10 or more frames.
Following is an example of 10 frames of an incremental draft for 40 shafts, woven in one long panel:
As you can see, each frame is designed by itself, then added to or otherwise changed before weaving the next frame, and so on.
I’ve even thought of some possibilities for incremental panes woven on a 4-shaft loom. You will probably think of a number of these yourselves.
Once each woven panel is received by the Project Leader, it will be photographed or scanned, one frame at a time, and the individual frames will be assembled into a video in Photo to Movie, a program she has worked with before.
Other animation modes, such as panning and zooming within a single woven cloth, à la Ken Burns, will also be explored as suggested by the material contributed.
Contributions from jacquard weavers will also be gratefully accepted. They should be woven in 10/2 black and white cotton if possible, so that an overall graphic unity is preserved.
The various segments will be arranged at the discretion of the Project Leader as the material at hand takes on a life of its own. At this point she may enlist the counsel of other weavers in making artistic judgments, but ultimately the final decisions will be her own.
