“(S/b)UV”

Culture & Context

Bees have incredible vision, they have ability to see the world through ultra violet (UV)  light. They are able to see hidden UV patterns on flowers and in other areas of nature. This inspired the material “(s/b)UV”. This material appears one way in day light and after being exposed and charged by UV it then emits a glowing green in the dark. Just like the flowers have hidden patterns, this material also has hidden patterns which can be exposed through UV light.

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. There is a lot of time spent on setting up and calculating the woven structure as well as the actual weaving of the sample. Using a fine UV reactive yarn in the weft this piece can glow and change in the dark. When the sample was taken off the loom it was finished by sewing the edges.

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. 48 ends per honeycomb block.
Weft yarn : a UV reactive yarn (86% polyester transept & 14% polyamide).
Once weaving was complete, sample was removed form loom and edges were
stitched to secure before mounting to canvas to frame.