Hello

Think it would be best to introduce myself and what I plan on sharing with you via my blog. 


My name is Tanya Laporte, I reside in Townsville, which is a small town on the North East Coast of Queensland. I was born and raised in South Africa but decided to take the plunge and move to Australia with my husband in 2013. Packing up and selling everything you know and love to move to a new country which you have never been to in your entire life is a huge leap of faith and is definitely not for the faint hearted but I am so happy we did it, we love the lifestyle and have settled in very well!


After finishing school I went on to study Textile Design at the Technikon Natal, although a lot has changed since then; Textile Design is better known as Surface Design and the Technikon Natal is now known as the University of Technology. We learnt things the old way ie: creating drawings/art, arranging them into a repeat pattern, hand painting the colour separations onto acetate to create positives and then burning those onto a silk screen in the dark room. From there we would hand screen metres of fabric using crop marks to align the repeats, even though it may have taken a bit longer and was some what harder it was a great way to learn how to create patterned fabric!! I guess you could say modern technology has made things a little easier. Whilst at "tech" we were introduced to computer design but this was on a very basic level, I have gained all my computer design experience through working for different companies in different industries, from screenprinting to sign manufacturing and digital printing.
Yes I still use Corel Draw and of course Photoshop, I just love Corel Draw and think I always will!

As a freelance surface designer and artist, this blog will be a platform for me to share with you different crafting projects and designs with links to where items can be purchased and the occassional free download. You can also follow my facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Tanya-Laporte-Art-Design
At present you can purchase:
My fabrics at www.spoonflower.com/profiles/tldesigns
My seamless patterns at www.patterndesigns.com/en/designer/278/Tanya-Laporte
My crafted and printed items will be sold soon once I have opened an online shop.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my first blog, I look forward to sharing new projects with you soon. :-)