November is upon us already! Last month I wrote about starting college and dealing with the switch into a brand new environment. But now, after spending many more hours here at Cadbury, I want to tell you all about a subject that I am really enjoying at the moment; Textiles.
I want to talk about textiles in particular because, for those who are interested in the subject, knowing a little bit about the opportunities and facilities on the course may be helpful. There’s so much that I love about the course, so I hope you consider choosing it as an option if you study at Cadbury and you have a passion for creative subjects.
I didn’t take textiles at GCSE because I felt as though the course was too structured and limiting and wouldn’t enable me to develop my own creativity. The most important thing about a creative course is being able to experiment, make mistakes, follow your instincts and have freedom of expression with your work. With A-Level, that’s what you get. Yes, you’re given guidance and the teaching is excellent, but it is important to have your own individuality and personal chance to explore textiles and design.
You start the course with an empty sketchbook, every page plain and bland. But even over first few weeks and months, these pages soon become plastered in photographs, annotations, sketches, textiles samples and so much more. We were given the theme Savaged Beauty: Beauty and Decay for our work. It is now our role to interpret this how we wish, create samples inspired by our ideas and we will eventually create a final piece. The final piece can be almost anything you wish, whether it be a fashion garment, a home furnishing, an installation, a display board, and that’s just to name a few.
At the moment we are practicing a range of techniques such as batik, embroidery, screen printing and pleating. We are taught the basics of each technique then it is our role to expand on these with our own creativity, making our knowledge even greater through the use of experimenting by ourselves. My favourite technique so far has definitely been screen printing. The facilities at college are fantastic. We have access to professional silk screens, proper screen printing tables, a screen-washing room and a huge array of coloured dyes to print with. I'm incredibly happy with the results of my screen prints. Here’s a photo of my favourite sample:
I’m enjoying my textiles course so much that I have been researching undergraduate degrees at university for textiles and interior design courses. I visited a textiles talk at Birmingham City University a few weekends ago, and it was so exciting to see all of the equipment and facilities they have on offer there. The work produced by their students is outstanding and very inspiring for my own work. I learned that the creative field is incredibly competitive, with loads of people working to be the best. That’s why it’s so important to put all of your efforts into your work now so you can reach those top grades in your subjects, then you will be well on your way to being the best in whatever you want to do, whether it be creative or not.
Here's a photograph of some of the work on display at Birmingham City University:
If you need any guidance with choosing the right courses for you at Cadbury, then visit us at one of our open days, or contact a member of staff who will be happy to help.
Thank you for reading my second blog post, I’ll see you next month!
Who can believe the year is nearly over?!
Bye for now,
Isobel
