Category Archives: Textiles

Career Change!

Posted on September 5, 2011 by

A personal update today: I just finished week number two at my new position as a Textile Design Engineer at Secant Medical. While I’d love to pontificate lengthily about what I’ll be making in this new opportunity, I’ll be pretty … Continue reading →

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Posted in Textiles | 1 Comment

Joseph Kittinger

Posted on August 16, 2011 by

51 years ago today, Captain Joseph Kittinger stepped out of a baloon at 102,800 feet above sea level. Wearing only a space suit and a parachute, he fell for 84,800 feet before his parachute deployed. He unceremoniously set multiple records … Continue reading →

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Posted in engineering, protection, Space Suits, Textiles | Leave a comment

Textile Book Club: Spacesuit:Fashioning Apollo

Posted on July 27, 2011 by

Over at TXCHNOLOGIST is a great interview with Nicholas de Monchaux, author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo. This book has been my summer reading material and it is a fascinating look into the science, engineering and politics behind not just the Spacesuit … Continue reading →

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Posted in Architecture, armor, book, clothing, craft, Customization, engineering, NASA, protection, Space Suits, Textiles | 2 Comments

Wind Powered Vessels

Posted on July 16, 2011 by

Its been a satisfyingly productive and active summer. Last night was an enjoyable lakeside wedding at a yacht club. Yacht clubs always seem to have pictures from the days before big petroleum consuming private watercraft. So today for your pleasure, … Continue reading →

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Posted in engineering, Sailing, Textiles | Leave a comment

Roy Denim

Posted on June 4, 2011 by

THIS is Textilesmithing. Roy makes jeans. He doesn’t slap his label on a sweatshop manufactured piece of shoddy workmanship and charge a mint for them. Roy smiths jeans. He takes denim, thread, rivets, and buttons, and with the great skill … Continue reading →

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Posted in clothing, craft, machines, Textiles | Leave a comment

Beili Liu

Posted on May 19, 2011 by

Yesterday’s post on Akiko Ikeuchi‘s thread volumes reminded me of Beili Liu, who almost stole the show at ArtPrize last year. (ArtPrize is a curious new Annual Grand Rapids phenomenon that I’ll write about when it comes to town again)

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Posted in Architecture, Art, site specific, Textiles | Leave a comment

Akiko Ikeuchi

Posted on May 18, 2011 by

Akiko Ikeuchi creates vast delicate geometric volumes out of knotted thread.

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Posted in 3d textile, Art, Landscape, site specific, structure | 1 Comment

Milestones and Benchmarks

Posted on April 13, 2011 by

Sometime last night or in the wee early hours of this morning, Textilesmithing reached 5000 clicks during this, its 6th month of existence. Its a Milestone, big for now, hopefully a speed bump in the future looking back. Its been … Continue reading →

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Posted in Textiles | 1 Comment

The Beauty of the Weaving Mill

Posted on April 12, 2011 by

I’ve spent many hours standing in front of vibrating shaking rumbling industrial weaving machines during trial runs watching, with fascination, how the fabric comes together. Paramount Textiles must have been watching the same thing, because they put together this excellent … Continue reading →

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Posted in machines, Textiles, woven | Leave a comment

Oslo Opera House Curtains

Posted on April 9, 2011 by

To be honest, my appreciation of Opera is limited to Looney Tunes parodies and Fitzcarraldo‘s obsession with bringing Enrico Caruso to Peru. I make my annual Valentines day trip to the Opera, but never really have been a super huge … Continue reading →

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Posted in Architecture, Art, Curtains, Customization, design, site specific, Textiles, woven | 3 Comments