Enabling Personal Computational Handweaving with a Low-Cost Jacquard Loom
Abstract
We present an inexpensive tabletop loom that ofers fully computational patterning while maintaining the flexibility of handweaving. Our loom can be assembled for under US$200 with 3D printed parts, and it can be controlled straightforwardly over USB. Our loom is explicitly a hand loom: that is, a weaver is required to operate the weaving process and may mediate row-by-row patterning and material specifics like yarn tension. Our approach combines the flexibility of fully analog handweaving with the computational affordances of digital fabrication: it enables the incorporation of special techniques and materials, as well as allowing for the possibility of computational and creative interventions in the weaving process itself. In taking this approach, we aim to serve a range of end users including artisans and researchers, whether for skill-building, for rapid prototyping, or for creative reflection.
We describe the mechanical and electronic implementation of our loom and show examples of its use for personal fabrication.
Files
Links
Lea.zone Page, ACM Digital Library Page
Citation
Lea Albaugh, James McCann, Lining Yao, and Scott E. Hudson. 2021. Enabling Personal Computational Handweaving with a Low-Cost Jacquard Loom. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 497, 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445750
@inbook{2021-personal-jacquard,
author = {Albaugh, Lea and McCann, James and Yao, Lining and Hudson, Scott E.},
title = {Enabling Personal Computational Handweaving with a Low-Cost Jacquard Loom},
year = {2021},
isbn = {9781450380966},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445750},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
articleno = {497},
numpages = {10}
}