“A bees dream”

Experiment

Sustainable

Traditional

This sample was handwoven on an ARM Touch60 Loom. The honeycomb weave was created using 24 shafts and a pointed draft, each block of the honeycomb weave has 48 ends each being the largest honeycomb possible on this loom. The warp of this weave is an ice blue, extra fine monofilament polyester (donated dead stock from Botony Weave). The weft of this sample is an extra fine iridescent purple yarn (sourced from Bart & Francis). These two yarns woven together creates a semi- translucent material that reflects the light to show different hues of a shimmering purple.

Material

Fiber

Craft

Textiles

General Technique

Constructing
Surface modifying

Specific Technique

Honeycomb weave across 24 shafts on an ARM Touch 60 loom. Hand-woven using a super fine iridescent purple yarn (82% polyester iridescent & 18% polyamide). The width of the warp is 12” and the length is also 12”. A pointed draft was used to create the large honeycombs and the wrap yarn used is an ice-blue monofilament yarn from headstock yarn curtesy of Botony Weaving Mill.

Properties & Qualities

Application

Sample Making

Qualities

Colourful Textured / Tactile

Colour

Blue White Violet

Sample Information

Date of creation

Designed April 2021, Framed Piece created July 2022.

Dimensions

8 x 10 x 1 inches

Weight

712 grams

Culture & Context

This piece is inspired by bees incredible ability to see the world through ultra violet
(UV) light. This reveals hidden UV patterns on flowers and in other areas of nature to
help attract the bees. Using the iridescent ever-changing purple yarn I have tried to
recreate a similar idea through the reflection of sunlight revealing different hues of
purple depending on where it is shining on the material. The honeycomb weave
structure is also inspired by the bees honeycomb structure from their hives. This
strong and thick structure is hollow and has many different functions and qualities. The
woven structures very similar to the bees structure which is why it was used.
Mimicking the structure yet still being different.

Process & Production

The process of this material was hand weaving the honeycomb structure on a 24 shaft
ARM Touch60 Loom using all 24 shafts. A pointed draft was used to create the
honeycomb with a warp width of 12” and sample length of 12” also. The warp has 60
ends per inch. There is a lot of time spent on setting up and calculating the woven
structure as well as the actual weaving of the sample. Once the weaving is complete
the sale edges are stitched and secured before mounting them onto the canvas for
framing.

Recipe Details

24 shafts using an ARM Touch 60 loom.
Pointed draft was used with a warp width of 12” and sample length of 12”.
There are 60 ends per inch (epi) for the warp and a weight of 150g.
Warp yarn : ice-blue monofilament polyester yarn from dead-stock yarn from Botony
weaving mill.
A honeycomb structure across 24 shafts was the structure used, the largest
honeycomb structure possible with this set up.
Weft yarn : a super fine iridescent purple yarn (82% polyester iridescent & 18%
polyamide).
Once weaving was complete, sample was removed form loom and edges were
stitched to secure before mounting to canvas to frame.

Credits

Craft Maker

Amy Kerr (AK Textiles)

Library Contributor

National College of Art & Design Ireland

Photographer

Colm Kerr Arc Studios Ltd. & Amy Kerr

Practitioner