A new book by SDA SC member Alice Schlein
This 168-page book, soft-cover and spiral bound, black and white text with many diagrams, further explores some of the design techniques first introduced in The Woven Pixel, which I co-authored in 2006 with Bhakti Ziek. The Liftplan Connection (or TLC for short) is not a replacement for The Woven Pixel, but is a standalone book. TLC includes more specific material on Photoshop Elements, as many dobby weavers choose Elements, not Photoshop, as their primary graphics program. TLC also includes material related to the use of network drafting with Photoshop. It includes chapters on creating threadings for graphics-based liftplans, building a weave library, designing liftplans with two or more weave structures, divided weaves, indexing colors and applying weaves, producing a loom-ready file in a format your weaving software and loom driver can understand, masking, overlays, using text in dobby designs, and other techniques usable on multi-shaft looms.
TLC will be most useful for weavers with looms of 16 or more shafts, but those with eight shafts will also find useful information here. It has relevance for weavers with mechanical or computer-assisted dobby devices, and for table looms with manual shaft lifting mechanisms (levers). TLC explains how to design in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, with layers, filters, and layer styles, in conjunction with your favorite weaving program, and has specific instructions for graphic import into the six most popular weaving programs.
