By Lilah Fajardo
Students looking for a vibrant, hands-on course to include in their spring schedules should consider the costume dye and paint class.
This course will be worth 3 units and will be held in the theatre building P2-119.
ELAC’s costume shop designer and manager, Jessica Hansen, will be instructing this class.
“We are so lucky to have such a beautiful new costume shop and now we have state of the art equipment to share with students,” Hansen said.
ELAC was fortunate enough to receive a new sublimation machine, a device that applies an image on polyester cloth using ink, heat and pressure
These machines were state funded, and ELAC is one of the very few schools in the country to have one.
This machine includes a digital design program that will guide students through the large printer. It will give you the advantage of printing your own design and a heat press to stick the image to the fabric.
This course will focus on learning about the process of dyeing fabric through many different techniques. Many of these techniques are specified to a certain culture throughout history.
“The great thing about costuming is that it can appeal to so many different talents. Whether they be dyeing, drawing, painting, sewing or researching etc.,” Hansen said.
“This course makes you think a lot about color, design, textiles and creativity,” she said.
Considering the other subjects involved in this class, this course can apply to a handful of majors like history, art, theater and fashion design and involves science too.
Students will also get to learn different ways to create dyed textiles – resist dye, stamping, painting, and more.
Learning digital process of textile design is the other major element that makes up this class
Considering the class’s title, students might be wondering if students will be largely working on costume related pieces.
“Sometimes we have to name the classes in such a way that students can understand the course content in only a few words. We won’t actually paint costumes, but it is the dye/paint skills that are traditionally applied to both costume and fashion design,” Hansen said.
The costume dye and paint class will be available this upcoming spring.
Students can look up the Spring 2014 College Catalogue for more information regarding the class.