Contemporary handprinted textiles

About Yda Walt Studio

Yda Walt is a South African printmaker who started Yda Walt Studio in 2004 in Johannesburg to print her own designs onto fabric. The business has grown since then and is now a production studio that creates beautiful contemporary textiles for a variety of uses such as gifts, travel memento’s and home decor. Designs are bold and engaging and we use fabrics made from natural fibres as much as possible. We pride ourselves on the high quality of our craftsmanship.

Our Products

Our products section is under construction. We are working on it and it will be up soon.

Workshops

Screenprint and Blockprint workshops in Cape Town and Johannesburg

Some of the beautiful aprons recently printed by students in my recent Intro to Screenprint on Fabric workshop. Next one at Montebello Design Centre in Cape Town on May 10-11. For more info , check out my website www.ydawaltstudio.com #screenprintworkshop #fabricscreenprinting #learntoscreenprint

Sello Mdlane and I are printing our Joburg tablecloths today for those of you who hold a special place in your heart for this city. #screenprinting #joburg #handprinted #johannesburg

I bought these beautiful Nepalese handprinted papers when I was last in the USA and have kept them as inspiration for a course I’m going to teach. If the idea of block printing on paper inspired by these patterns appeals to you , keep watching this space and/ or message me. I’m dreaming up some lovely print courses for 2025. #blockprinting #screenprinting #pattern #colour

Here is our exhibition info … if you are in Cape Town ,we’d love to see you ! @clementinaceramics_studio @artsoko21

Printing napkins for Clementina van der Walt and my exhibition Earth and Thread which opens this Saturday 30 th Nov at ArtSoko , 501 Tollgate Centre, Woodstock

Working in the studio today - taking stock of what I’ve done and then will get back to the print table …

RIP dear Rudy- you taught me so much. For those of you who did any of my screenprint courses in Joburg, you would have met Rudy as I always took my students to Chemosol - the best screenprinting shop in the universe! he was one of the owners. So generous with his vast knowledge of screenprinting. Whom will I ask now if I have a technical problem? He was 90 years old when he died and had worked 5 and a half days a week till 2 days before he died! I saw him last in July when I was in Joburg . He was up in the dark room prepping screens to be exposed. We had a lovely chat as always. I wish he had written a book or something- he has left the world and taken all his knowledge with him. I have felt really sad thinking that I won’t see him when I go shopping at Chemosol anymore. As one of his staff said - Mr Rudy was Chemosol.

‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow ‘ Audrey Hepburn . I’m playing in the studio with the intention of making some new tea towels . I love the hope in this quote.

Washing the screen is great fun for Arlo - what he is actually trying to do is grab the nozzle of the hose and pull it off which he has succeeded in doing a few times. The nozzle then gets munched if I don’t manage to get it away from him in time. All in a days work and I wouldn’t have it any other way - he is such a delightful studio companion

I love the freedom that working with paper stencils gives me. I’m designing new work for a special project that can’t yet reveal details of .. but it’s very exciting and it’s gotten me into the studio to work quietly on my own - uncertain of where I’m going with this but encouraging myself to enjoy the uncertainty.

For those who prefer a blue green colourway …

New colourway for our flower cushion cover. It will get a red piping. We’ve been printing up the flower cushions this week in the studio. They are time consuming to print. They have 5 colours - that means every cushion cover gets printed with 5 different screens. And we need to wait between each colour for the previous print to dry completely otherwise we will make a splodge or mark on the cloth. I designed the flower cloth over Covid when I was alone in my studio and with lots of rolls of fabric that I had no clue what to do with. I started printing on that fabric for myself - slowly , letting the colours and design evolve without thinking of any commercial restraints. I call them ‘slow cloths’ .

Simple paper stencils - that�’s my practice at the moment. Loving these colours - now to cut a stencil for the stem and leaves. Think I’ll print it in a khaki . Working step by step - no pre- planning.

Printing a whole bunch of little sardines for a new tea towel I’m designing. I’ve block printed them onto transparent paper so that they can be exposed onto a silkscreen and then we silkscreen print the tea towel. This is my process for the last 30 years! I love the mark of a lino cut but I like the control that screenprinting gives.

Printing our flower cloths for tomorrow’s Joburg studio pop up.

I’m in our Joburg studio this week. Here is Sello Mdlane our master printer, printing OY VEY tea towels . Not surprisingly we’ve sold out of these . #handprinting #screenprinting #oyvey

Sewing French knots on the owl cushion while listening to Material Matters - a fab podcast - altho I turned off the sound while filming as there is only so much technology I can manage at one time !

One of our flower tablecloths drying on the washing line - it’s holding its colours beautifully after many many dinners and washes . I don’t usually allow myself to take such a big piece that could be sold ( shoemaker and his barefoot children scenario). But this one I gave myself and it brings me so much joy.

I’m so pleased - I tried printing with my left hand as my right hand has arthritis in thumb joint and it aches after I print - and it works !!!! Yay - here’s to another 30 years of printing !!!

Arlo loves it when I’m washing big screens and he can participate #screenprinting

Muizenberg textile art panel finally finished! Off to gallery. DM me if you would like to order something similar.

A fantastic find at the Milnerton Market today. Perfect for beginning my research about the journey my grandparents would have taken from Eastern Europe to South Africa in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Trying to work out who’s who … I have a working title for this new project of mine - ‘Rosa and Rosa’ . Both my grandmothers were called Rosa, but 2 more different people you could not hope to meet!!

My new studio door - aprons with their wisdom …

A new project is beginning…. #ancestors #grandparents #greatgrandparents

Working today on the other side of the ‘thank you ‘ bag. Look at the buttons - Just before I left Joburg , I took some of my art class friends to Hammonds- in central Joburg , an extraordinary haberdashery shop hidden on the 5 th floor of a dark and neglected building. Anyway I couldn’t resist these buttons. Their colours are just exquisite. And they are decades old so such a treasure !

My ‘thank you ‘ bag is finished. I’ve enjoyed the quiet stitching as I slowly settle in to a new place.

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Contemporary handprinted textiles

About Yda Walt Studio

Workshops

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