Thursday 5 May 2011

After over 20 years I returned to being a student today. Albeit on a little course, not a fully fledged full time degree kind of course.
I started a screen printing course today and I LOVE it!
I've dabbled with screen-printing a tiny bit in the past (accompanying Manda to the workshop on one highly satisfactory occasion) and have more recently been enjoying the delights of Freezer Paper Printing. But I finally got myself booked onto an actual screen-printing course.

The course I am on is at Factory 4 Workshop in Leeds and is run by a wonderful lady called Gina, who is not only but a fantastic teacher but is so passionate about screen printing that it's contagious. Not that I was worried about whether I would like it or not. From my limited experience I pretty much knew this was for me.

The course is 6 weeks long (2 idyllic hours every Thursday) and I'm just back from the first session. We have learnt SO much already!
We went through the entire process of producing a screen and then printing with it.
We used an image that Gina had brought today and printed onto paper to learn a couple of techniques.
There are 6 of us on the course, all of whom are really lovely and from very different backgrounds, so we are learning a lot from each other too.

I now need to sit down and focus my brain, because at the moment it is buzzing and going in a zillion different directions. As well as making time for the course, I am going to time-table in 'design time' in order to stay focussed and productive. I am very rapidly discovering that the options are endless with screen printing and I am very keen to work out quite how it is all going to fit in with what I do.

Very exciting times...

9 comments:

kirsty said...

I am most envious! I specialised in printmaking when I did my degree (nearly 20 years ago) and due to lack of resources haven't done any since! Enjoy your course - look forward to seeing what you produce!

louise35flower said...

Great results already, can't wait to see what next week will bring :)

linda said...

how wonderful for you i am as green as the zebras :))
looking good.
looking forward to seeing how you get on .

joanne said...

Ooh, how envious am I! Fabric printing really excites me and I have enquired about a screen printing course - I just have to make it happen. I actually think the zebras are really funky too.

Nicky said...

Love the supercool zebras - and how lucky are you to be doing such a great new craft - would love to learn it myself and batik also!

Gilly Tee said...

That looks such fun, I'm sooooo jealous.
Gillx

Kylie said...

So happy for you, Karen!! It is fun, isn't it? and I really love the way that Gina has gone about teaching it too - great idea to print something right at the beginning so you know where you're heading with the process and just what you can do. Thursdays are going to be a special day from now on, aren't they ? :)) Have fun! Kx

mycuriousteaparty said...

I am so jealous.. We have nothing like this down my way, not one printing course, let alone screen printing....So jealous..

You must be so thrilled with your first prints, the zebra's are wonderful.. Have fun, I shall look forward to your updates... Green with envy of course.

Stephanie said...

Those pictures show promising work! I can't wait to see more! (FunkySteph)