Artslab is a space for people to work on art/craft. It is also a collection of equipment and resources to help that happen. It’s a community space and it is in the RPS storefront.

Artslab programs are not confined to one section of the RPS store. The screenprinting lab at Patchwerk Press has been running since Summer 2008 and we formerly held it at Lobot Gallery in West Oakland since March 2006.

Classes are $25 each and the current class schedule is:

Every first Tuesday of the month, 6 to 9 pm, Beginning Silkscreening

Every second Tuesday, 6 to 9pm, Continuing Silkscreening

Every third Saturday, 1 to 4pm, Beginning Silkscreening

Every fourth Saturday, 1 to 4pm, Continuing Silkscreening

In order to use the open screenprinting lab you must take at a Beginner class and 3 Continuing classes. If you have prior screenprinting experience, you’re invited to sign up for the Beginner class and test out! Please write us a note indicating that this is what you’d like to do. Check for the next screenprinting class on the RPS web calendar.

Labs MUST be scheduled in advance with Patchwerk Press and are a minimum of 2 hours at a cost of $20 for the first hour and $10 for each additional hour.

If you need directions, here’s a google map to Patchwerk Press.

View Larger Map

The RPS sewing lab is a major portion of the Artslab as it exists inside the RPS storefront. Those sewing machines and their tables take up a lot of room, but they also get a lot of use. We’d like to see them get more!

Equipment Training. Twice a month, the rps sewing lab has an equipment training – usually on a Sunday. In order to use the sewing lab, you must attend an quipment training and get a sewing lab membership card. Please keep in mind that the equipment training is not a sewing class.

If you have a project you’d like to work on: Keep in mind that though we can teach you how to use the machines without breaking them, we aren’t necesarily expert sewers. We will try our best to help you, but there is a chance that we won’t know any more than you do about, for example, how to sew an oscar the grouch costume. One more thing to remember is that you will be sharing the sewing machines with other folks, so if you’ve got a deadline, start your project early.

When can I use the Sewing lab?

If you have gotten a membership card and signed the contract, you can use the sewing lab whenever rps is open. If not, you are limited to sewing night and the beginning sewing classes that note that the sewing lab is included.

How do I use the Sewing lab?

• You’ll need to sign up in advance to reserve a machine. You can drop in as well – if there’s someone on the machine you want to use, just wiat until their reserved time is up.
• You can reserve two hours at a time. If nobody shows up to use the machine after your two hours, just put yourself down for two more and get back to work!
• Sign up in the sewing lab notebook, which is housed at RPS. If you don’t want to come in to sign up for another day, give us a call at the store and we can help you sign up over the phone.

How much does it cost?

The sewing lab has a fee of $5 for one hour and $7 for two. You can also get a year long membership for $35. The membership lasts through the end of the year so take that into account when you’re guestimating how much you would want to sew between now and then.

So, what exactly do we have, sewing-wise?

1. an industrial straight stich machine – a brother db2 – with reverse!
2. an industrial serger – look here if you don’t know the power of the serger
3. a modest home machine
4. a killer home serger
5. some donated threads
6. a big collection of donated clothes and material for folks to use

Please email sewingatrpscollectivedotcom to learn more.