Cinderblock, brick, canvas tote bag, dyes, cardboard tube, cotton yarn
12 x 48 x 20 in each
The ikat printers are machines for printing on the threads in a time frame that overlaps with hand weaving. In traditional ikat, threads are tied and dyed; with this method, threads are painted with thickened dye. I looped four cardboard tubes, with a circumference equal to the width of the final weaving, through the handles of tote bags weighed down with cinderblocks and bricks. I wound threads closely together by rotating the tubes, then applied dye to print a pattern. Then threads from the printers are woven on the loom hanging on the wall, two picks at a time to allow a continuous connection to the printer; the thread can be pulled and the pattern can be built indefinitely.