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

Colour on Cloth - Ruth Issett

I bought Ruth Issett's inspirational book "A Passion for Colour"  when I was at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show and I was lucky enough to receive her "Colour on Cloth" for Christmas.  The book gives a very comprehensive, easy to follow, series of practical exercises and techniques to enable both the beginner and the more experienced to extend their knowledge of cold water dyes.

It's a shame that I'm coming to the end of Part 2 because the book would have been invaluable as it covers direct dying, using thickener, resists, bleaching and discharge.  If I'd read the advice on getting started earlier I wouldn't have chosen the Selectacine route; I'd have gone straight to Procion dyes.  As it is I've got the colour range Ruth suggests but in a mixture of Selectacine and Procion.

Ruth suggests a basic colour selection of acid yellow, golden yellow, scarlet, magenta, ultramarine and turquoise.  From this she says that hundreds of colours can be mixed.  On page 12 she helpfully lists mixes to try and this is a task I've set myself to try.  Until my three new colours come from George Weil I'll see if I can work with the Selectacine - the two dyes seemed to work together when I mixed them before.

I sorted out the suggested colours; I have three Procion and three Selectacine.  I put samples of each colour into my sketchbook:

Procion at the top and Selectacine at the bottom

Painting these samples has highlighted how different these dyes are.  Although I still plan to give mixing a try just looking at the result it looks like putting chalk with cheese. The Procion colours are translucent whilst the others are dense.  This is evident even on the photo.

Colour on Cloth has been an eye opener from the technique point of view.  Ruth uses immersion dyeing rarely preferring to spray or paint her cloth using brushes, sponges and rollers. This is something else she has inspired me to try.  Just as with her embroidered textile work Ruth uses layer upon layer of colour to create beautiful and unusual colour effects.  I could well spend the next few weeks experimenting.  This approach would have Ruth's approval she says

the only real way to learn about colour is to use it.

Ruth's sketchbooks (I saw them at Harrogate) show how she uses them to record her own experiments and this is something I really need to try to build up - to make my sketchbooks a real resource for all the topics I'm covering.





Issett, Ruth, 2004, Colour on Cloth.  Batsford, London
Issett, Ruth, 2013, A Passion for Colour.  Search Press, Tunbridge Wells.