Tufting
snow
The snowed roof top with the undulating differences in height formed the inspiration for the production of these robot-tufted rows.
The natural softness of the Alpaca yarn gives the impression of snow.
The raw material for Alpaca yarn, comes from the mountain llama that lives on the high planes in the western part of South America. The animal has a woolly, longhaired fur, in a colouring ranging from ecru to a deep, dark brown. Special characteristic of this wool is the hollow fibre that retains heat well and is super soft to boot.
The computer operated robot technique functions so well in tufting that the height of the yarn, cut, or in a loop, can be determined to the millimetre. A concentric cutting wheel determines the height.
Tufting is a technique whereby a tufting needle and a tufting gun are used to prick or shoot yarn through a cloth by means of compressed air. At the back of the cloth a loop pile is formed that can be cut as well.
The pile always has to be fixed to the fabric, because you would otherwise be able to just pull the thread out again. Fixing is usually done with latex.
In robot-tufting the tufting process with the gun and the compressed air, is computer operated. The advantage is the regularity, and the possibility to vary the height of the pile during the tufting.
