Upholstery Courses, what will I get from them?
What better way to get away from the daily stresses and strains and receive a new trade or develop a new one. Around the upholstery world, there are a varied range of courses. Every course is run by an expert, with lots of years teaching experience, and receive people from every skill level, from DIY to professional. The course that you attend should always be accredited by the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers, or give a qualification equivalent to this.
The course should be undertaken at an acknowledged training centre for the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers, and your certified course usually takes place over a period of seven weeks for every level, and follows a syllabus of work which is structured and assessed by the AMUSF.
The Level 2 Craft Certificate shall supply any student with adequate skills to upholster nearly all different kinds of furniture and leads on to the Level 3 Craft Certificate which covers the most awkward pieces of furniture and is focussed on those wanting to gather the skills essential to begin an upholstery company.
Whilst on the course, you should produce a portfolio containing notes and samples on the following:
.Basic Design Skills: sketching, colour co-ordination and scale drawings.
.Health & safety appropriate to the workplace.
.Safe use of tools and materials.
.Basic sewing machine skills.
.Fabric pattern matching & trimmings.
.An understanding of the fire regulations.
As well as a piece of furniture which has been upholstered and stitched yourself. These courses could take place over a number of months, to make sure you have time to practise outside of the course building.
There are a variety of other kinds of course which will ready you for upholstery as a hobby or business, and these involve seagrass, caning and rush courses, as well as furniture painting and gilding.
The Seagrass and Seat caning courses commonly take place over 2 days, where a novice or more experienced upholsterer can improve their skills, or get knowledge from a specialist. The course regularly teaches the fundamentals of the skill, with a small practise, prior to moving onto a piece of furniture for each participant to produce. After making the chair with the experience they have gained over the first day, the seat is then entirely upholstered and the participator will brush up on a mass of experience and skills.
Furniture painting and gilding is such a niche industry, with so many skills involved. On the course, you should learn about the artistic side of gilding, and an introduction will be held teaching the differences between water and oil gilding, how to ready furniture, the practice behind cutting gold, and how best to revive old gold. On this course, it is common for the school holding the course to supply a practise frame, and all the materials needed, and the student can normally take away their project, which is commonly a photo frame.
Furniture painting also contains the opportunity to prepare pattern boards for marbleising, as well as graining and picking out lines and dragging. Working on board you will gain the skills transferable onto furniture, walls, floors or any paintable surface!
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