The creation of my woven images begins with different digital photographs to make a new composition. The scanned images are then modified, combined with drawings, resized, etc. The number of gray values or colors is reduced, then each value is replaced by a weave structure. Information is then transferred to the computer that operates the loom.
I use the following softwares:
The Pointcarré software was originally developed by Olivier Masson and Francois Roussel of France. It is intended to textile design and more specifically to the creation of woven textiles. The Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles, that I run since its beginning, has built its international reputation by using this powerful software. Workshops have been offered for several years during which artists and designers from all over the world have been trained. De la photographie au tissage Jacquard. (in French).
The preparation of my embroideries is similar to the one I use for my woven works. However, the colors are applied in layers of threads. I control every step of the preparation of the file, the number of colors and stitches that will render my research. The Embird embroidery software is the best software for artistic embroidery. It was developed by the Slovak Republic Dusan Balara’s family. Independent from any commercial embroidery machines, it will nevertheless save all files to be used on all commercial machines. His great strength is the Sfumato module (in memory of Da Vinci) for interpreting photographic images in embroidery while maintaining the subtleties of color and fine pixels.
Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher are for me extraordinary tools and essential to my creative work. They allow me, not only to improve the quality of my images, but to compose new images, new scenes, to invent stories, moments.
For the past few years, I have been exploring the use and development of halftone images to engrave them on wooden plates for printing on woven paper.