Designer Maker Surface Decoration Workshops

A range of surface decoration workshops including, Screen Printing, Dying, Sublimation printing, Heat transfer, Rug making & Sewing machines

The Surface decoration workshops consist of 6 different disciplines and are open 5 days a week with full technical support whilst open.

The aim is to create a friendly comfortable atmosphere within the workshops so the students can fulfill their full potential therefore the only boundaries to them is their imagination.

Once the students have completed training on equipment and processes the workshops are open for them to produce their work to the highest professional standards whether it be commercial or experimental.

The areas within the workshop are: -

Screen Printing
Dying area
Sublimation printing
Heat transfer
Rug room
Sewing machines

Screen Printing – on to Fabric and Hard surfaces

This includes placement, experimental, wall paper, blinds, wall hangings and Multi – coloured repeated lengths etc... the list could go on.

Students can do straight pigments prints or use various techniques to embellish and enhance their work, such as foils, flock, discharge, devore, metallics, pearl and puff effects.

A variety of other print technique are also practiced within the workshops such as Break down printing, procion blank screen transfer, printing with acrylics for hard surfaces such as papers, wood, Perspex and plastics.

There are a vast variety of screen sizes from A4 to 5ft square so whatever the scale of student work it can be accommodated.

Dyeing Area

Dyes can be used by the students to dye natural and man-made fibers, there are a large selection of Hot and cold dyes at their disposal such as Procion, Direct, dysperse, Acid and indigo. Whether they are dying fabric to print on or use as a yarn for their rug.

The dyes are versatile and can be used to screen print, break down printing, blank screen transfer or use with drawing techniques.

Sublimation Printing

Within the main workshop the is a large press used for freehand sublimation printing.

This is an experimental technique and is very versatile for synthetic, natural or mixed fabrics or specialized sublimation metals. We work with heat transfer inks or pre-dyed papers to produce exciting and vibrant work. This process is particularly great with collage work, photograms or photocopy loading.

Heat Transfer

Within the workshops we have 2 small T-Shirt presses which are mainly used to transfer images directly on to various surfaces whether it is fabric or hard surfaces via paper that has had their image put on to it by the photocopier.

These presses are also used in a more experimental way when doing embossing, vinyl cut, pleating and folding or drying techniques. They are also used to finish many of the specialist print techniques.

Rug Room

The Rug gun is used by the students to produce traditional rugs and wall hangings but also more experimental pieces which push the boundaries of what we think as typically a rug.

At the disposal of the students are various techniques such as pile height, looping, carving, insertion of mixed media and embellishment.

Sewing machines

The sewing machine workshop is used with embellishment techniques to enrich 3D and structural design work. The felting and pleater machines are used to produce experimental finishes and completion of design work.

Within the workshop the is an assortment of other equipment and technical help for the student use to help them produce work and realize exciting design concepts for a professional standard.

Miscellaneous techniques

To enrich the variety of techniques on offer other processes are available on request. These include Button covering, Badge making, ceramic papers, Kandi Kane, Mono print and there is an extensive list of instructional videos that students can refer to on a day to day bases.