The Faceoff: Bubble Jetset 2000 v Digital Grounds

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Linda Matthews

Bubble Jetset 2000 versus Digital Grounds If you love to print on fabric as much as I do, it’s easy to get confused by the various products that are available for this purpose, and the two products I get asked about most frequently are Bubble Jetset 2000 and Digital Grounds.

The most common question .. Is one product better than the other?

The short answer .. No, because Bubble Jetset 2000 and Digital Grounds are two totally different products used for two totally different reasons.

Bubble Jetset 2000 is used to make your inkjet prints permanent and washable. The images are water resistant and waterproof.
Digital Grounds is used to prepare the surface of your fabric (or any other flat surface) so that you can print on it using an inkjet printer. It enhances the color and detail of the printed image. The image needs to be sealed in some way in order to become water resistant and/or waterproof.

The only things they have in common are that both products can be used with fabric for the purpose of printing images onto fabric using your inkjet printer; this is where the similarity ends.

To expand a little …

Bubble Jetset 2000

Bubble Jetset: Embellished Dragon What it is
Bubble Jetset is a liquid solution that looks like water.

What it does
Bubble Jetset 2000 allows you to prepare fabric (100% cotton or 100% silk only) so that you can print images on fabric using your inkjet printer.

Are the images waterproof?
Yes, the printed images are permanent and washable.

How to use it
You use Bubble Jetset by soaking your fabric in the solution for 5 minutes, allow the fabric to dry, then iron it. Your fabric is now ready to print on although you will need to first secure it to a carrier sheet. Allow the print to dry for 30 minutes and then rinse the fabric in a mild detergent such as Bubble Jetset Rinse.

Where to get it
Bubble Jetset can sometimes be found in your local quilt or sewing store. You can also purchase online from various sources including the manufacturer C Jenkins Co.

More information
Additional information can be found on the manufacturer’s website – C Jenkins Co.

Digital Grounds

Digital Grounds: Crackle Paste What it is
Digital grounds is a liquid solution that you paint onto the surface of fabric (or other types of flat surfaces) using a paint brush. It comes in three liquid types categorized for use on porous surfaces, non-porous surfaces, and a quick-dry solution for a multitude of surfaces. It is similar to Inkaid.

What it does
Digital Grounds prepares just about any relatively flat surface (including fabric) into an ink-jet printable surface. It enhances the color and detail of your inkjet print.

How to use it
You paint digital grounds on to the surface of your fabric (or other type of substrate) using a paint brush, allow it to dry, then attach the substrate to a printer carrier before printing your image.

Are the images waterproof?
No. The printed image then needs to be sealed in some way to prevent dirt and water damage.

Where to get it
Digital grounds is not available in stores (to the best of my knowledge) but you can get it online and I recommend DickBlick.com.

More information
A lot of information about using digital grounds to print on fabric can be found on my website here. Additional information can be found on the manufacturer’s website – Golden Products.

Still got questions? Use the comment box below.

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Digital Grounds: Printing on Hessian

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Linda Matthews

Please enjoy a rerun of my experiments with digital grounds; this is where it all began …

Digital Grounds and Hessian Are you enjoying playing with your Digital Grounds? My obsession continues …

Continuing my tests with Digital Grounds, I thought I’d try it out on some hessian. I love the texture of the hessian and though that it might produce a nice print – which indeed it did!

The image below was created in photoshop and then printed onto a piece of off-white hessian that was treated with Digital Grounds. The Digital Grounds made the hessian quite stiff which produced a great surface on which to print.

Digital Grounds and Hessian

You can see from the closeups below that the details on the image on the left (which was treated with Digital Grounds) are crisp and well defined while the details on the image on the right (which was not treated with Digital Grounds) are kind of fuzzy and my less defined.

Digital Grounds and Hessian

And not only that, I thought I’d give my poor old printer a real workout and I backed the hessian with a piece of cream muslin to catch the leftover ink that would be printed out in the spaces on the hessian, and I ended up with a really nice piece of fabric with a lovely “negative” print on it which I can cut up and use as a coordinate with my main image. My printer didn’t quite have a seizure but that was sure a lot of fabric to go through in one pass!

Digital Grounds and Hessian

So are you ready to give Digital Grounds a go yet?

Digital Grounds Sample Set

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Digital Grounds: More Printing on Cheesecloth

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Linda Matthews

Please enjoy a rerun of my experiments with digital grounds; this is where it all began …

Digital Grounds and Cheesecloth 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.

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Testing the Waters with Digital Grounds

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Linda Matthews

Please enjoy a rerun of my experiments with digital grounds; this is where it all began.

Today I decided to take a little time out and do some water testing on some of the samples I’ve so far printed using Digital Grounds.

Digital Grounds Sample Set

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 used the sample printed on the pfd cotton fabric and tested the dye-based sample with both water and the Gel Topcoats. The results are interesting.

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Digital Grounds: All Cracked Up

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Linda Matthews

Please enjoy a rerun of my experiments with digital grounds; this is where it all began …

I’ve been putting some strange stuff through the printer these last few weeks. This one is crackle paste on fabric. I really like both the crackle effect and the results of the printed image. Crackle paste of course is usually used in mixed media applications, but I found it worked just as well on fabric. My little Geisha Girl thinks so too.

Digital Grounds

You can see the comparison …
On the left, printed on untreated crackle paste. On the right, printed on crackle paste with an application of digital grounds. What a difference!

Digital Grounds