Tuition:

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Evening Classes:

In September 2018 I began teaching my first series of evening classes. The title of my classes is Designing Printed Textiles. The venue for the classes is METAL Art School, Chalkwell Park, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK. People from all over Essex are enquiring about the classes. I have also received an enquiry from someone overseas. The guy, called Sam wrote: "this class sounds awesome, shame I’m in Beijing". I have teamed up with digital printing company Spoonflower to enable my students to have the designs that they create in my classes, printed on fabric. Spoonflower have agreed to let each student have 1 free sample. The samples are large; 18" x 22" (also called a 'Fat Quarter'). The free sample is worth up to £18 depending which fabric the student chooses to have their design printed on. They can choose from more than 20 fabrics including cotton, satin, lycra, faux suede, eco-canvas and celosia velvet. I enjoy teaching the students lots of the skills I have learned in the last 20 years while I have been a professional textile print designer for fashion and home decor. I hope to be able to add additional classes each week to make sure everyone who is interested has the opportunity to create their own unique printed fabrics with my guidance and tuition. METAL Art School is well-equipped with an art room and an IT suite with Adobe Photoshop available to the students. My classes only have 4 students to ensure students have plenty of 1-2-1 tuition with me. I also present  group tutorials in which I teach useful techniques to the whole class. Please use the Contact Page if you have any questions about the classes and if you want to book a place.

The feedback about the workshops has been very positive. Ren from Southend-on-Sea wrote: "Thanks for a cool workshop last night! I’m really chuffed with how my design came out considering I know absolutely nothing about Photoshop". Joanne from Tilbury wrote: "It was a great evening, thank you for organizing everything". Nicola Garratt of Southend posted online "Thanks so much Patrick Moriarty of Paisley Power for your excellent tutoring on your course and all of your support".

There is more information about these unique evening classes on the METAL Culture website.

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Individual Private Tuition:

Many students who study printed textile design at colleges and universities may not be totally equipped to enter the fashion/furnishing industry when they finish their course. They do not always receive the specialist in-depth training needed to match industry standards.

I currently teach 2 students who are enjoying the opportunity to learn skills to broaden and improve their print designs. They are both designer makers. In addition to improving their Photoshop skills, i teach them fast effective, often simple, related techniques to speed up the design process. Many specific Photoshop shortcuts are taught. I can also assist applicants to textile design courses with enhancing their portfolios prior to interviews.

I have taught many students and designers to create repeat patterns and placement prints which have been bought by buyers working for major retailers. Adobe Photoshop software is used. Detailed notes with illustrations are provided.

Many of these students are now working for major international fashion and furnishing companies or selling their designs to these companies.

I have numerous references available and a 2017 CRB certificate.

In March 2017 I gave a tutorial presentation to members of the Surface Pattern Design Guild in Berkeley, California, US. I prepared a step-by-step visual guide to creating unique paisley patterns. I taught them lots of techniques that I had developed myself. It was a very rewarding experience and important for me to share my skills with other designers in a different country. They were very grateful for my visit and I was very grateful to them for inviting me. As appreciation of my tutorial, they enrolled me as a guest member of the guild.

In December 2017 I gave a Photoshop tutorial for 3 hours to a Brighton university graduate who requested tuition to create repeat patterns, which I was happy to provide. I also taught additional useful design techniques relating to CAD for printed fashion fabrics. In May 2018 I taught Photoshop skills to a shoe designer from Rayleigh, Essex. She successfully learnt how to create repeat patterns and I also taught her how to reduce the number of colours in a design by using the Indexed Colour function. She was very pleased with all the new technical computer skills I had taught her.

 

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Technical Info and Copyright:

 

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Uniqueness and copyright:

Virtually all my paisley designs are hand drawn before being scanned. This ensures that clients have no problems regarding copyright. I occasionally incorporate other media in the designs e.g. my own photos or paintings. Copyright-free source books are occasionally used. I also design prints for digital printing. When I deliver the design file to you, you have sole ownership of the unique design which you can use exclusively for any purpose worldwide.

 

Technical Information of the design file:

All designs are created as seamless repeats either as standard repeats or half-drops. Placement designs are also an option. They are 300-400dpi resolution PSD (Adobe Photoshop) files in color layers to allow you to change the colors easily to suit your own color palettes. If you do not have a color palette, I can offer some suggested color palette options according to current trends. The size of the design is also easily adjustable. In addition to the layered PSD file, I also provide a flat JPEG file.

 

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Specialist Services:

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Reviving antique fabrics:

If you have a piece of vintage paisley printed fabric which you adore I can create a repeat pattern which can be used to print on paper, fabric or use as a screen-save. I have revived many beautiful antique fabrics and given them a new lease of life in contemporary colorways. Maybe you want to design a unique garment or accessory using a beautiful revived vintage paisley pattern. It is the customer's sole responsibility to ensure copyright is respected.

 

Creating a repeat pattern from your handmade artwork:

If you create your own paintings, illustrations or collages and would love to see them as repeat patterns, I can create seamless repeat patterns from photos of your artwork. You can use the digital repeats to print fabric, wallpaper, stationery and pottery collections. Maybe you would like to produce some personalized furnishing coverings, exclusive patterned ceramic kitchenware or a unique printed stationery set. Possibly a beautiful chair needs recovering in a new fabric designed specifically to your own taste. With the availability of digital printers in many cities worldwide, it is possible to produce only the required amount of printed fabric for a specific job or product. No start-up costs are required unlike the set-up costs of silk screens used for screen-printed fabrics.

In March 2018 I began helping two successful artists to convert their artwork into digital files. Este MacLeod is an artist from Berkshire, UK. She produces beautiful paintings every day and teaches creative art courses online. She sends me high-resolution photos of her paintings and I convert them into seamless repeats using Adobe Photoshop software. I use a traditional format for the repeats, which is called "half drop". I have converted more than 10 of her paintings into digital repeats because she wants to launch her own fabric collection. On this page you can see Este's painting "Hummingbird", which Patrick adapted to create a seamless repeat. Another artist/illustrator who asked me to digitize her artwork is Jennifer Orkin Lewis (also known as August Wren) from New York, US. She asked me rearrange the characters in her painting so that the finished design could be used for a pottery collection. She was very pleased with the final digital version, which I made in a "half drop" format. The client, a pottery manufacturer, was also very satisfied with the digital design file I had produced for Jennifer, using her wonderful painting.

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Preparing Seamless (Repeated) Images for screen-printing:

A client sent me a low-resolution image that they urgently wanted to use to produce rolls of fabric. Their fabric is screen-printed in a factory, so the artwork must be converted into a seamless repeat in separate color layers, which are used to make each silk-screen for each color of ink. I redrew the design by hand and enlarged the design considerably. I sent the image to the client within 24 hours. Then they asked me to add some shading in certain areas. I added the shading using the dissolve brush tool but I enlarged the size of the pixels so that the shading would be printable using a silk-screen. I put the shading (in 2 colors) on separate layers of the finished Photoshop file. The client received my file and sent an email saying "Excellent!". It is very enjoyable and rewarding to work with clients who appreciate high quality designing. 

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I am regularly contacted by students who have questions relating to paisley history, creating textile designs or launching a brand.

 

Please contact me via the contact page. I'll be happy to try and answer any questions you have.