Printing

Notebook twenty-six, yes we are half way through the year. Is a very simple pamphlet notebook. The outside has been printed using the screen. This time I used Stewart Gill ® fabric paint to print the image. Then using another fabric paint with gold in it I hand painted the ends of the seed head. This is the front cover.

This is the back cover, there is some shadowing on the paper. I quite like this, but realize that I need to improve my technique. The inside pages are plain paper in a soft grey colour.

During Art Week several people asked me about printing images onto fabric and I promised that I would write about it here. I know that many of you will be streets ahead of me on this subject. I have tried using various techniques over the years and have found inkAID to be the best at the moment. The product comes in clear and white. The clear is easier to apply as it is more fluid. The white gives a slightly brighter stronger result. The numbers on the bottles are my records of how many sheets I have printed from a bottle.

Besides the inkAID you will need pre-washed and ironed fabric, freezer paper, a wide soft brush and a plastic sheet to protect your work surface. Inkjet printer.

Fabric:

I have used linen, cotton, silk and bamboo in different weights. I often us old bed linen which has a lovely smooth surface after years of being washed. All the fabric needs to be A4 size. I rip my fabric so that the grain is true. The photograph below shows linen, cotton and bamboo fabric.

Freezer Paper:

It is made by "Reynolds" and can be purchased from Art Van Go by the roll or Rainbow Silks either by the roll, meter or pre cut A4 sheets. Type "Freezer Paper" in the search box on their web site and it will give you these options. There will be other places to get this from, these are the two I use.

Paint the sheets of fabric with the inkAID and allow to dry. Dry iron the dry fabric, then iron it to the shiny side of the freezer paper. Trim off any stray threads. If you have a scanner/printer place the image on the scanner bed as you would for copying it. Print off the image. I find it pays to hold the freezer paper with the fabric attached to it as it goes into the printer, it can easily get caught up in the works. If you do not have a scanner then you can print from the computer as you would any other image. If you wish to print several small images place them all onto a plain "Word" document and print that.

Do hope that makes sense, do ask any questions and good luck.

Wishing you all a very Happy weekend. Will it be a Murray weekend, we will have to wait and see.