The other day I posted a test piece using cheesecloth on an acrylic “skin”. Today I’m posting the same technique but instead of cheesecloth, I’m using a poly type lace. Even though both fabrics are classified as “sheer”, printing on them has produced *totally* different results.
The lace I used was sheer tulle in places and the flower design had a thread “ridge” around the flower designs; not something you would normally think to print on.
The other day I did some testing with Digital Grounds using cheesecloth. I like using cheesecloth in my artwork because of the wonderful texture it produces.
For this test I used cheesecloth with an “acrylic skin” backing. For most textile artists “acrylic skins” will be a foreign technique. The video below explains the process using paint to make the skin however for the cheesecloth technique the skins can also be made using Matte Medium or similar type mediums which dry clear. A clear skin will give you a transparent background for your cheesecloth.
This is a video from the Golden Products website explaining the technique.
In the Digital Grounds Sample Kit is included a small tub each of Gel Topcoat (semi-gloss) and Gel Topcoat (gloss) so I thought I’d give them a try out to see how waterproof they really were.
What I know
I already know that the prints using my Epson with Durabrite inks are water resistant simply due to the nature of the inks and after applying a small amount of water with a foam paintbrush, this is confirmed. There was no indication that the colors even slightly smudged on any of the treated or untreated areas.
I also know that the dye-based colors from my Lexmark do run on untreated fabric.
I often work with cheesecloth and incorporate it in different ways into my art quilts but I’ve never tried to print directly onto it feeling that with all the holes that the reproduction wouldn’t be that great. However I just came across some closely woven cheesecloth that I thought might work and thinking that the digital ground might form a surface that would result in a good clear print.
If you’ve been following this series so far then you know I’ve already done some testing with Digital Groundson cotton and on organza so today here’s the results using Digital Groundson dryer sheets.
I like using dryer sheets in my art quilts and I particularly like printing on dryer sheets because the resulting prints are luminous and have beautiful web-like texture that you can’t achieve using other fabrics.
Printing on organza is always a little challenging because of the sheerness of the fabric, but working with sheers is such a delight and can produce such beeeeuuuutiful results.
I originally painted one half of a sample piece of organza with Digital Ground Clear Gloss (for porous surfaces) but the results were just awful – it looked like a piece of plastic and you can see the results below. This is the upper side; the under side was worse!
Testing! 123! Testing! Yes, I’ve been playing around with diligently doing some testing using the new Golden Products Digital Grounds products.
I’ve seen a few mentions on various blogs about how using Digital Ground produces a superior inkjet print however there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of comparison testing, so saying that it produces a good image without actually comparing it to anything doesn’t really say much at all.
So let’s put this stuff to the test and see how it *really* performs. Today begins a series of posts detailing some tests on various fabrics (and other stuff), using Golden Products Digital Grounds. This was a fun experiment with some surprising results so if you’re into printing images on fabric and other fabric-like stuff, or if you’re maybe thinking about going there, stick around for the next few weeks to see the results.
I love to work with my needle felting machine and incorporate machine needle felting into my projects in various ways; more often than not, in ways that often don’t even resemble needle felting.
Last year I did a number of online classes on machine needle felting – Felt-Punch-Embellish and “More” Felt-Punch-Embellish which were a lot of fun and I thought today I’d like to share one of the lessons: Texturizing Fabric. Because I work not only with textile and quilt art, but wearable art also, texturizing fabric is probably my favorite needle felting technique for creating coordinating texturized fabrics.
I’ve just spent the last few days playing around with dryer sheets. If you haven’t ever used dryer sheets in your art quilts before, you’ll be surprised how easy and versatile they are to use.
I often think they have similar qualities to lutrador in that dryer sheets also have a web-like texture but with a little more transparency in places and this makes for interesting surface texture. They can be painted very easily and they also go through your printer with great results.
I'm Linda Matthews and welcome to the "Creative Textile & Quilting Arts" website where you'll find my online and downloadable classes, as well as my instructions dvds. Also make sure you visit my website and current blog at www.Linda-Matthews.com. More ...
The other day I did some testing with 
So far in this series I’ve tested 
In the last post I tested 
Testing! 123! Testing! Yes, I’ve been 
