10 Days across 12 months
We have offered a schedule of “day-a-month” classes since the inception of Committed to Cloth. In brief, these classes enable students to work progressively on a specific day of the month, every month, for 10 months.
Class fees vary between wet work and dry work. Fees are paid monthly for everyone’s benefit in terms of cash flow. Students who sign up need to acknowledge that they are committing to the full 10 days of study… and need to commit to paying the monthly class fee even if they cannot attend.
Three types of classes are offered
- Wet ‘n Wild
- Independent Study
- Stitching with Intent
Details for each type of class can be found by clicking on the appropriate tabs above.
Wet 'n Wild 2012
Wet ‘n Wild is a structured programme that enables students to undertake “progressive” learning across the key wet media and surface design processes:
- Procion Mx dyes: vat dyeing, tray dyeing and using dyes as paints.
- Colour removal: surface applied discharge techniques using Formosal paste or liquid, and Thiox discharge in the vat.
- Resists: use of various resists and resist mediums such as reversible PVA, Soy Wax, Flour Paste, folding, pleating etc, and direct resists such as book cover plastic, freezer paper and masking tape on cloth and/or on tools.
- Polymer products: using products from the acrylic family such as fabric paints and polymer mediums.
- Surface design: exploring and using various tools and techniques including the silkscreen, thermofax screen, brushes, rollers, scrapers, stamps etc.
- Design, Composition & Layering: getting to grips with the key principles of layering, undertaking design work, responding to the cloth and moving it forward.
In 2012 two separate classes are being held on Thursdays and Fridays – there is one space left on the Thursday class so please email cb@committedtocloth.com if you wish to register or go on a waiting list.
Thursday Class
February 9
March 8
April 12
May 3
June 7
July 5
August – No Class
September 13
October 4
November 13
December 6
Friday Class
February 10
March 9
April 13
May 4
June 8
July 6
August – No Class
September 14
October 5
November 14
December 7
Class size: limited to 9 students.
Venue: Potter’s Farm Studio, Station Road, Betchworth, Surrey RH3 7DF.
Class fees: £500 for the year (10 classes), payable at £50 per class for everyone’s benefit in terms of cash flow. Please acknowledge that you are committing to the full 10 days of study… and to paying the monthly class fee even if you cannot attend.
Facilities: all media and tools will be supplied, but not fabric. Tea/coffee, water and biscuits will always be available at the Studio. There is a food fridge and a microwave for heating soup/light lunches otherwise, bring sandwiches.
Requirements: you will be sent a requirements list for the February class in November and thereafter, you’ll be advised what to bring on a month-by-month basis.
What next?
Independent Study 2012
This programme is geared to provide a focused studio environment for intermediate to advanced level students. Participants turn up prepared to work with intention towards specific, individual goals. This might include working with wet processes, stitch, design or potentially all three. Our job is to guide, mentor, give feedback and teach technique where appropriate.
The Independent Study programme is not suitable for absolute beginners – as without some experience of process, it’s hard to be independent! As such, whilst help and guidance is always available, Leslie and Claire need to prioritise one-to-one sessions on any given day and you’ll therefore need to be reasonably familiar with wet processes and able to make a start independently.
The fee for an Independent Study programme will be between £450 and £500 for the year, as ‘wet’ days cost £50 and ‘dry’ days cost £45. Fees are paid monthly for everyone’s benefit in terms of cash flow. Students who sign up need to acknowledge that they are committing to the full 10 days of study… and need to commit to paying the monthly class fee even if they cannot attend.
Six independent study groups will be offered in 2012 with a class size of 11 per group. 2012 days and dates are shown below, and there are two spaces left on the Wednesday & Monday classes. If you wish to join, please email cb@committedtocloth.com
Monday Group
February 13
March 12
April 16
May 7
June 11
July 9
August – no class
September 17
October 8
November 19
December 10
Tuesday Group
February 14
March 13
April 17
May 8
June 19
July 10
August – no class
September 18
October 16
November 20
December 11
Wednesday Group
February 15
March 14
April 18
May 9
June 20
July 11
August – no class
September 19
October 17
November 21
December 12
Thursday Group
February 16
March 15
April 19
May 10
June 21
July 12
August – no class
September 20
October 18
November 22
December 13
Friday Group
February 17
March 16
April 20
May 11
June 22
July 13
August – no class
September 21
October 19
November 23
December 14
Saturday Group
February 18
March 17
April 21
May 12
June 23
July 14
August – no class
September 22
October 20
November 17
December 8
Class size: limited to 11 students.
Venue: Potter’s Farm Studio, Station Road, Betchworth, Surrey RH3 7DF.
What next?
Stitching with Intent 2012
Most of us get to a stage in our textile endeavours when we ask “where am I trying to get to with all of this?” This independent study class therefore seeks to help you work with construction (piecing and/or collage) and stitch techniques to generate textile pieces that achieve your intent.
The emphasis will be on independent study and focus on helping you to:
- Take what you know and push your work forward with construction and stitch
- Use paper or cloth based design and composition tools to flesh out ideas and generate studies or rough guides as to potential ways forward.
You will need to give thought and consideration in advance of each class in terms of:
- Intention: what are the specific goals in terms of producing a body of work.
- Source material: collages, photographs, journals and other reference material
- Fabrics: assembling the ‘palette’ (if pieces are to be constructed) in terms of colour and value range, solids, graphics etc., or producing the whole cloth.
- Tools and materials: threads, scissors, needles, cutting mat, rotary cutter, rulers, fusible web, backing fabrics, design tools etc. and your iron and in the winter months maybe a angle poise lamp.
Leslie’s main focus will be to guide and mentor rather than instruct and she will focus on:
- Understanding individual goals in terms of the body of work each student wishes to produce. To help with this, a ‘pre-class’ session will be held on December 14th 2011. You’ll be asked share your personal vision with the group, present source material and generally discuss your intention and goals.
- Providing advice and guidance on techniques appropriate to the work to be made.
- Running one-to-one and group discussions to help you respond to work-in-progress, brainstorm, trouble-shoot and plan ways forward.
As such, this is not a technique-based class. It will encourage the evaluation of work-in-progress and the discussion of ideas, concepts, design and composition. Students are expected to take responsibility for thinking through what they wish to focus on and work towards and work independently, receiving help and advice on technique as needed. If there are students wanting to use a specific technique unfamiliar to them, demonstrations will be provided.
The Potter’s Farm Studio has wet and dry facilities. As such, you’ll be able to undertake wet work in order to generate specific pieces of cloth. However, it must be stressed that this is NOT a wet class!
Experience level
This study class is not suitable for beginners. Students must be of an intermediate to advanced level, have experience with a reasonable number of construction and stitch techniques and have a reasonably clear idea of what they wish to achieve.
Class size: limited to 11 students.
Venue: Potter’s Farm Studio, Station Road, Betchworth, Surrey RH3 7DF
Class fees: The fee for an Independent Study programme will be between £450 and £500 for the year, as ‘wet’ days cost £50 and ‘dry’ days cost £45. Fees are paid monthly for everyone’s benefit in terms of cash flow. Students who sign up need to acknowledge that they are committing to the full 10 days of study… and to paying the monthly class fee even if they cannot attend.
Registration: please email Leslie at lm@committedtocloth.com
Deposit: £90
Supplies list: this will be sent on receipt of registration.
Dates
Two classes will be held in 2012 and once you’ve chosen your preferred day, you will need to commit to attending on the following dates (all Tuesdays):
December 14 2011; pre-session & Christmas lunch
February 7 or 8
March 6 or 7
April 10 or 11
May 115 or 16
June 26 or 27
July 17 or 18
August – no class
September 11 or 12
October 9 or 10
November 6 or 7
December 4 or 5
Please arrive between 9-9.30am for each session. The class will begin no later than 10am and finish at 4pm.
