Digital Imagery on Fabric

Once again I've been to Patchings Festival and it was there I came across "Digital Imagery on Fabric" by Ruth Brown.  This book is scarily IT based and written by an specialist.  Incredibly I couldn't put it down and it was so user friendly I felt I knew how to explore this technique without having to call in my resident expert.

The idea of printing directly onto fabric is really appealing both for background imagery and stitching guidance.  There are a couple of things to straighten out first.

Can I use an inkjet printer?

The book is very explicit about printers and both can be used effectively so the inkjet I have is fine.

What sort of ink do I have?

I had no idea that there are different types of ink; there's dye based and pigment inks.  For the purposes of printing on fabric pigment inks are best because they can be washed and they are more light fast. At this stage I have no idea what sort of ink I have.

How do I carry the floppy fabric through the printer?

This is the clever bit - the fabric is mounted onto an A4 sticky label and this gives it enough stiffness to go through the printer.

Armed with all this information it's time to have a go.  To give the process a good test I selected an image with plenty of colour; it's part of a floral tribute I made earlier in  the year.

My original image

I followed the instructions to the letter (not hard) and this is the result:

Printed onto white linen - the colours were clear and vibrant

The test for what sort of ink I have was easy; just gently wash the fabric.  So I did. First though I cut my piece in half so that I had a good comparison. I certainly have dye based inks because the colour went straight down the sink

Great loss of colour

Whilst it was disappointing to see this happen it gave me the information I need.

I tried the same process again using pigment inks this time.  The result of the initial printing was not as good as the first sample.  It lacked the vibrancy and had too much blue in it.  However, when I washed half of it the colour was fast.  I think the colour settings need playing with to get it as good as the dye based inks.

Using pigment inks I lost the intensity of colour

Brown, Ruth, 2010.  Digital Imagery on Fabric. SC Publications, East Yorkshire