Dear Members,
We are excited to announce our Autumn 2024 workshop schedule. Members who are interested in participating in the workshops on the Tajima Embroidery Machine, run by our expert Research Support Technician Genevieve Moisan, can register by emailing Morris Fox, our cluster coordinator, at textiles.materiality@concordia.ca.
Please note that space is limited to three, or in some cases four, participants. We are offering two sessions of each fundamental Tajima workshops to account for that. Workshop registration is on a first come first serve basis, so please do register as soon as possible, given that the spaces fill fast. We ask that if you are unable to attend a workshop you have registered for please let both Genevieve and Morris know ASAP.
Technician Consultations
New to this semester, Genevieve will be offering consultations with members about projects related to their cluster research-creation work on Friday the 25th of October and Monday the 11th of November. These are an excellent time to talk through projects and have expert feedback on how to proceed with using our techno-textile facilities. Please email Genevieve directly tm.support@concordia.ca, make sure to cc Morris.
Details of our upcoming workshops below:
DRAWING WITH THREADS Materializing Data
When: Monday September 30th 1-4 PM
When: Friday October 4th, 11 AM – 2 PM
Where: Tajima Room, EV 10.725
Who: Textiles and Materiality Members
1 Session—3 Hrs. long + Embroidery time.
What does Big Data look like? How do we visually materialize information? In this workshop, we invite you to consider how data may be materialized through the transformation of vectors into simple embroidered forms.
Participants will learn design techniques and software basics required to stitch continuous line drawings onto textiles using colourful threads or yarns using the digital thread placement machine in the Textiles and Materiality Cluster.
The workshop will be 2 hours long, with additional time reserved for participants to produce their designs.
There are no prerequisites for this workshop.
MERIT OF MAKING Embroidering Shape, Texture, Image
When: Friday October 11th, 1-4 PM
When: Monday, October 21st, 1-4 PM
Where: Tajima Room, EV 10.725
Who: Textiles and Materiality Members
1 Session—3 Hrs. long + Embroidery time.
Embroidered patches have a long and rich history cross-culturally, functioning as symbols of status, achievement, and identity within communities. In this workshop, we invite you to consider what skills and statuses are undervalued within contemporary society. How can a merit badge bring attention to invisible, unseen, or otherwise unappreciated forms of knowledge?
Participants will learn design techniques and software basics, required to embroider different shapes, textures, and images, in order to make their own merit badges using the digital thread placement machine at the Textiles and Materiality Cluster. The workshop will be 2 hours long, with additional time reserved for participants to produce their designs.
Participants are encouraged to bring design ideas to the workshop.
There are no prerequisites for this workshop.
LAY OF THE LOOP Introduction to Soft Circuits
Friday November 8th, 1-4 PM
Where: Tajima Room, EV 10.725
Who: Textiles and Materiality Members
1 Session—3 Hrs. long + Embroidery time.
In this workshop, we will introduce participants to soft circuits using sewable LEDs, photoresistors, and power supplies. Participants will learn basic analog circuit principles (i.e. parallel vs. series). We will lay a basic circuit using an LED and a soft switch using the Tajima embroidery machine.
PREREQUISITES: Drawing with Threads and/or The Merit of Making
TEXTING ON TAJIMA From Quotes to Embroidery
When: Friday November 15th, 1-4 PM
Where: Tajima Room, EV 10.725
Who: Textiles and Materiality Members
1 Session—3 Hrs. long + Embroidery time.
In this workshop, you will learn design techniques and software basics required to embroider different text formats, fonts, and textures. You will have the opportunity to embroider your own block of text using the digital thread placement machine at the Textiles and Materiality Cluster.
The workshop will be 3 hours long, with additional time (approximately 20 minutes per person) reserved for participants to embroider their text.
PREREQUISITES: [Drawing with Threads is an asset]
textiles + materiality research cluster 