When I started this blog in May, I mentioned briefly that I was applying for college. A few days after my last post (over a month ago! Yikes!), I got the call: I was accepted into my program of choice.

I am now a Textiles student at Sheridan Institute in Oakville, Ontario!

I just finished my third week of the semester. It’s been pretty easy sailing … until now. Along with a presentation for my History of Western Art class (due on Monday), I have to spend the next week of my life hiding away in the Textiles studio, working on my first big project.

I finally brought my camera to school the other day, so I thought I would share with you the studio & some of my practice work so far!

Welcome to my new home! This is where we Textiles students spend the majority of our time. These two huge tables have a layer of felt beneath huge drop cloths. The felt makes ironing easier, & it also allows us to pin our drop cloths & fabric into place.

A big part of our program involves screenprinting. I CANNOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT OVER THIS. The first few weeks involved block printing with various materials (wooden blocks, linoleum, foam stamps), & spraying water-soluble pigment over different shapes & stencils. Next week, after we hand in our Big Projects, we’re going to start learning about screens. Seeing as how this is such a huge part of the program, I thought for sure we wouldn’t get the opportunity until November or December — the end of the semester!

Our homework, so far, has been to produce these fabric samples. This was the first I ever made, in our first week. I used a brayer (roller) to roll pigment onto a wooden block, then created this pattern. I won’t show you all of my samples, because some of them are pretty terrible, but here are a few others …

This one is a bit faint, but it’s from last week’s assignment using spray bottles. Simple design made with painter’s masking tape, a little bit of yellow for the background, & a funky, bleached-looking blue.

This sample is, by far, my favourite. I used lace as a stencil; a masking tape border; & dried leaves to create the negative space in the middle. I like how the blue sprays bled & look almost like a solid colour. It felt good to make something aesthetically “nice” with messy materials — though I think my instructor favours the messy ones!

Finally, this sample was made using an acetate stencil & a bit of plastic mesh. I sprayed yellow over the mesh for a background, then laid out my stencil (four girls at a time) & sprayed purple & turquoise pigment. The pigment bled into the yellow mesh squares, so the girls almost look like they were under the mesh too!

That’s all I really have of interest for now, but with 15 more samples & a huge sheet of cotton muslin to print on before Friday … I’m sure I’ll be back soon with more photos.

xx