Work experience - Day one

Work Experience 

Today was my first day of work experience at a secondary schools textile department and I started by preparing the screen printing station for the year seven students. I located the screen printing inks and squeegees and put these aside so that they can be used for the teacher demonstration. I decided to put out a range of sizes of these so that the teacher can choose which size of frame she wants to use in her demonstration. Once she decided this I then put away the larger size so that the area wasn’t cluttered.

As this was my first time screen printing I was a bit apprehensive as I wand t sure how to do it but once I had watched the demonstration I was confident I would be able to help.  I helped the students put ink on there frames and hold them down when they print to ensure there’s less wastage of dyes. To further make less waste I scrape excess ink into the pot between prints. After everyone has screen printed I made sure to wash all the supplies up we used thoroughly so that they would be clean for the next use. I also made sure to wipe the table that we used to make sure there was no remaining ink on this which would make over work dirty. I think this screen printing lesson went well as I managed to help the students allowing the teacher to not be the only one being asked questions, I made sure the students where sure if what they where doing and where to put there work when they where done with it. 

During this first lesson half the students didn’t have time to finish transfer dyeing which they started with the teacher as I cleaned up. To make sure all there work would be done for there next lesson I made sure to heat press these once the lessons were done for the day. This went well as it means the teacher has more time to prepare other work for the next lesson and the students can start creating textiles pieces with these immediately instead of having to wait to print them. 

After break time I assisted an art teacher who had a year eight textile class. Before the class came in I made sure that the sewing machines they would be using where in the right stitch setting and where threaded up. I thought to do this after hearing they would be using a straight stitch and that they were not confident in using the machines and setting them up. I made sure that the students where comfortable using the machines and I think this went well as no one had any trouble asking for help if they got stuck or if they machine had a issue which I then would help fix. 

In this lesson I also helped the students with the instructions the teacher had given them to prepare the fabrics before seeing them. I think this went well as I managed to assist the students and I spoke up and helped them correct their work if they had done it slightly wrong. 

After lunch, there was no lesson so I made sure to complete jobs that the textiles teacher wanted me to do to prepare the room for the next few days and to tidy it up. After finishing printing the transfer dyes I wound up more bobbins for the classes tomorrow, tidied draws up, threw away excess threads around the room, made sure the sewing machines and irons/ heat presses where turned off and mounted a textiles piece into a frame. I think this went well as I managed to complete the work the teacher had wanted me to do which prepared us for the next day. This also helped me to re- familiarise myself with the textiles room further. 

Overall, I had a good first day and I'm looking forward to my next days as everyone is very friendly and I am enjoying learning new techniques- screen printing.