Sunday, October 18, 2009

Inkjet Printing onto Fabric - Comparison

Share --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vienna V.2 digital (left), cotton twill scan (right) 4x8 work in progress!
Since I've received 4-5 emails asking what process I use to transfer my digital images onto fabric, I thought I'd share them here. Blumenthal CRAFT Photo Fabric (available at Walmart, and no where else, much to my dismay) is available in 100% Popeline cotton as well as 100% Cotton Twill. The popeline is a finer weave and the ink saturates the cloth more thoroughly. I currently use an HP Photosmart C5180 which has an option of adjusting the ink volume which I always do prior to printing. The advantage of using these premade 8.5 x 11 cloth sheets is just that - they are ready to pop into your printer. The disadvantage is the cost. A package of 6 sheets is approx. $14.00 CAN. The instructions on the back of the packaging directs you to rinse the cloth under tap water, until the water runs clear. I've never done this for fear that it will only result in desaturating the colors. Over the next few weeks I am going to experiment with other products including the newer line of Golden digital grounds. Above, an example of a page in progress. On the left is the digital version, next to the cotton twill printed version on the right. From my point of view, comparing versions the contrast is decreased by about 10% and an additional 10% from the scanning process.

2 comments:

Terri Kahrs said...

V-e-r-y interesting! Love the way you compared these. The difference is amazing. Just got the new Golden digital grounds, but haven't had time to try them. I'm dying of curiosity to see if they work "as advertised"! LOL! Hugs, Terri xoxo

Heidi Rand said...

Interesting! I've printed on Blumenthal cottons and silks a lot. I got good results with my dye ink Epson printer, but not as good results with my newer pigment ink printer. I also love digital grounds, though I haven't used it much on fabric.