Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Step One: Prepare Substrate

Sadly computer gremlins have stolen the images from this post and I have been unable to restore them.  

Well, as I said in yesterday's post, you'd probably be seeing this image again.  I was so inspired by the colours in this altered photo image that I couldn't wait to get in onto some fabric so that I could begin some hand stitching and beading on it.

I found some pale yellow woven fabric at a thrift store a couple of months ago.  It's fairly stiff and it has a good salvage edge, so I cut it to 8 1/2" x 11", crossed my fingers, and fed it into my printer.
 I must say there were a few tense moments (and some funny sounds/noises) but out came the printed image!  Yah!!!
It's not as bright and intense as it was on the screen, even though I bumped up the intensity of colour before printing it, but I'm still pleased with the result.

I've used Misty Fuse to adhere it to a piece of wool felt and did a bit of machine zig zag on the edges to keep it from unravelling while I do the hand work.

I'll post the finished piece once I have it stitched, beaded, embellished...

13 comments:

  1. How exciting! I did like your photo from yesterday. I am finishing my Quilt Guild Scrapbook today and taking to meeting tomorrow. Yippee, maybe I can play with new knowledge from Kim now.

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    1. Thanks Ruthanne. It will be fun to see where this piece takes me next. Glad to hear the scrapbook is almost done. I'm sure everyone will love it.

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  2. Did you use some sort of fixative so the ink doesn't smudge? I printed a few things on fabric through my HP inkjet and didn't fix the colour and after handling fingers were ink stained. I'm wondering what's best to try.
    Stay inspired!

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    1. I heat set the ink and also used a fixative. Alternatively, you can treat the fabric with something like Bubble Jet Set before you print on it.

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    2. Did you iron the cloth to heat set it? I find the whole process quite intriguing.

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    3. Yes I did iron it to heat set it. I used the hottest (cotton) setting on the iron. I haven't had a problem doing this, but of course being a little art piece I will never be washing it.

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    4. Thank you Linda, something to experiment with.

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  3. I've also found that images are less intense on the printed fabric. I take magic markers to beef up the color. I think using a yellow magic marker on this piece would brighten up, at least the yellow areas, if not the whole piece. Of course, once you do the beading, the background won't matter so much. I'll also enjoy watching the progress!

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    1. Thanks Jean, that's a great idea. I might try using some of my Copics on it to make some areas pop a bit more. Of course, like you say, once I do all the stitching it may not matter.

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  4. Wow! Nothing used to stiffen the fabric more?? Looks great on that coarse weave! I have Epsons with pigmented inks that don't need any treatment and love to print photos to fabric, but I don't have any fabric stiff enough to run through without backing with freezer paper or whatever.... It will be interesting to see how this progresses....

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    1. Thanks Sue. I do usually use freezer paper to stiffen paper going into the printer, but this stuff was so stiff I risked it and luckily it was fine. I didn't know there were printers that used pigment inks. That would be great. I'll look into that if I have to buy another printer. Thanks for the tip.

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  5. What bravery...I have trouble with my printer with paper going through it. Great job, I love the effect. I have to read up on this when I have a little more time.

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    1. I always say there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. In this case I got away with it. Of course if I had ruined my printer I probably wouldn't have blogged about it. :D

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Linda

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