Project Summary

Undulation is an HTML script (p5js, JavaScript) and a matching cashmere tapestry knitted on a hacked vintage knitting machine. Uniting my affinity for hand-powered, meticulous & repetitive mark-making, Undulation explores the relationship between different grid inputs used to create images on screens and in fabric.

The aesthetic of the work is derived from my visual language, translated in pixel form. The 24 repeating jacquard tiles expand the Elysian Garden, visualizing a dense maze of flowers, foliage & living things that seem to move with the pulse of the natural world.

This artwork is paired with the zero-player game Tigerbob Mystery Garden.

The digital version of this artwork is presented as a digital collectible (NFT). Learn more.

About the Art

Undulation is informed by my knitting machine practice. This “sampler” of jacquard tiles was created as a proof of concept for the larger set of tiles in Mystery Garden. Building on pixel assets from Tigerbob Playing Cards, I kept my goals simple and designed variations of florals with the fully body of Tigerbob and a dragon with small animals and objects to get a feel for the larger world I wanted to create. 

Once I decided on the dimensions of the artwork, I input the design into a new, hacked interface for my knitting machine called AYAB. This hardware and software hack is an open-source project led by a community of knitting machine entusiastis who want to bring further functionality to these old knitting machines. The hardware becomes a new “brain” for the machine, using a bitmap two-color image as the input.

The tapestry was knit in six panels, stitched together, and framed over two interchangeable pieces. The red, green, and blue stripes were created manually. I made the decision to animate the stripes for the digital component, attributing the animation to a gentle, natural movement. The term “Undulation” became the title of the piece.

Undulation opened my eyes to the relationship between the grid inputs for machines and the digital and physical outputs they produce. I was finding my way around p5js when I realized I had to create my own input for my pixel art. I designed an input in Google Sheets for a matrix representing pixel colors on a grid. Just like punched cards and drawings on mylar sheets, this input is gridded by hand by viewing the pixel art color chart in Photoshop and entering a numerical value equivalent to that color.

The relationship between the input and output became forefront after Undulation and is a prominent feature of future work.

Undulation

HTML Script & Cashmere Tapestry
Cashmere, wool, wood, hardware; 2 panels; 54" x 42" x 2" Each 

Gossamer Rozen, 2025

Further Reading

TIGERBOB PLAYING CARDS - The second pixel Tigerbob digital collectible release upon this artwork is based.

MACHINE KNITTING - My background and purpose for using this process in my work.