This is a post about my 1st painting on textiles workshop (or rather paint jeans and drink wine;), which funny enough started with me running around the neighbourhood’s bars, asking them to open my bottle of wine… A note to myself: for the next course bring the corkscrew 😉
I never thought of myself as a workshop teacher material. For years people often asked me if I offered a workshop on customs. Well… recently I finally broke and decided to give it a go!
The idea was to start with a 3hr workshop that allows people to experience painting on textiles. To be honest with you, I was very nervous about it. I painted tens of converse shoes and jackets, but to assist people to paint theirs is a very different thing. Also, as I am self taught, ‘nothing can’t be learned from YouTube’ kind of person, I wasn’t sure if I can be something more than Youtube. We all have imposters, don’t we? Let’s call mine Fred 😉
So while Fred was all for canceling the workshop and running away, I decided to go behind his back and face the challenge. Believe me, I am so happy I did!
Choose your canvas or rather piece of clothing
While some of the participants brought their own clothes in order to re-love them with a splash of paint, I gave the others a piece of material from my big bag of used clothes.Â
Last year I collected quite a bunch of old textiles for my exhibition about sustainable living. Some of them I managed to re-love and exhibit during my show ‘Don’t Let Them Fool You’, but the rest was waiting just for this moment.
First brainstorm a design
So here is a bit about what happened in the middle. Once I managed to open the bottle of wine 😉 and explained a bit about behind the scenes of painting on textiles, the fun started.
First task was to create a design. This is where internet was very helpful and everyone decided to borrow a design from there. Unfortunately I don’t have the names of the artists behind the designs. All I can do is make sure that you as a reader realise these designs were created by someone else.
Transfer the design to the material
Once they sketched the design on paper, it was ready for transfer. This is where the fun part starts. No more dilemma about what to paint. Just relax and let yourself dive into the process.
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Paint it until it's ready to be worn
Everyone started shy but ended up pretty confident. Painting on textiles is a pleasure. Especially if you can wear it later. And most of all, if you can wear it to a silent disco party just after the workshop, which one the participants did. Woohoo, that’s what I call Paint Jeans and Wear!
Wear it!
With the help of the heat gun, clothes were quickly dry and ready to try on. How awesome!
Everyone left very happy and that’s the greatest reward for me. I realised that this workshop is about an interesting experience in a friendly atmosphere. And this is where Youtube loses, as there is nothing better than a live experience.
Thank you for this opportunity Christine from crafterscollective.dk and thank you Adriana, Julie and Marta for being such awesome participants. You gave me a smooth start and I am looking forward to teaching others to paint jeans at future workshops!Â
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