Digital Grounds: Testing on Lutradur

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Linda Matthews

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

Digital Grounds and Lutradur
Some of you have asked how Digital Grounds works with non-woven materials like tyvek and lutradur. Today let’s look at Lutradur.

I like using lutradur for certain applications; much for the same reasons that I like to use dryer sheets. They both have a beautiful web-like texture. Lutradur of course is stiffer than a dryer sheet, and a dryer sheet is softer but with a luminous quality. So both have different qualities but share the web-like texture which I really like.

So how does lutradur perform in the printer with digital grounds?

Judge for yourself …

This image was printed with a piece of lutradur that was painted on the left hand side with a “wash” of white matte digital ground, and the right hand side was left untreated. The difference is quite noticeable.

Digital Grounds and Lutradur

White Matte Digital Grounds tends to give the best image reproduction on most fabrics I’ve tested but because it’s opaque, it’s not always suitable for every fabric. The advantage of using white matte as a “wash” is that if the “wash” is diluted enough it doesn’t mask the beautiful surface texture on certain fabrics and materials such as dryer sheets and lutradur, yet still produces an exceptional quality print.

You can see in this closeup of the treated side. that the image is crisp and clear, the colors deep and rich, and the web-like texture is still quite visible under the wash.

Digital Grounds and Lutradur

On the untreated side, the image is faint and the colors are washed out.

Digital Grounds and Lutradur

And this is a photo of the backing paper – worthy of a digital print all by itself!

Digital Grounds and Lutradur

If you haven’t yet tried Digital Grounds you don’t need to run around town to find it coz I don’t think you’ll see it in the stores – simply click and grab a sample pack from DickBlick.com. It’ll be on your doorstep before you know it.

Digital Grounds Sample Set

… Continue reading →

Getting Really Creative with Images and Stitch

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Linda Matthews

Are you looking for slightly unusual and creative ways to use your printed images?

From Image to Stitch by Maggie Grey might just be what you’re looking for.

Image to Stitch is a compendium of techniques for transferring your images and then embellishing them with stitch. Techniques include images transferred using an inkjet printer, as well as paint transfers. The book is sectioned into chapters for working with images printed on both paper and fabric and I can guarantee you’ll never run short of techniques to try out, and of course there’s *lots* of fabulous images for inspiration.

As with all of her books, you won’t find detailed step-by-step instructions; instead the techniques are geared toward those who are a little more experimental in their textile art which is a great thing. Being experimental in your work allows you to grow and stretch and develop your own unique art voice, something I always try to encourage in my students.

This is one of those books that you’ll turn too often for inspiration and includes techniques for printing on tissue paper (one of my faves) and of course a little about about using digital imagery (my very favorite fave), as well as working with blueprint or cyanotype fabrics, something I’ve yet to try buy the results are particularly beautiful.

If you’re a fan of Maggie Grey you’ll love this book, and if you aren’t a fan yet, drop by her blog and see what she’s all about.

… Continue reading →

New Work: Reminisce

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Linda Matthews

I’ve just finished a new art bag using one of my latest digital art designs called “Reminisce”. Isn’t she pretty? I can’t wait to take her out on my next shopping trip. And yes! I do actually use my art bags because they’re not only beautiful, but they’re designed to be functional as well. I particularly love the design and colors of “Reminisce” and named the design because it reminded me of my grandmother – all lacy and lavender, and of course she loved her garden and her flowers.

I usually add some beaded embellishment to the front of my art bags but I’m not sure if I’ll do that to this one; I think I’ll live with it for a few days to see how I feel. And as usual, the design was printed on fabric using my very favorite digital grounds, so it has beautiful depth of color, texture and detail.

Art Bag: Reminisce

… Continue reading →

Making Fabric Postcards from Injured Prints

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Linda Matthews

This week I’ve been super busy making some fabric postcards for the upcoming Arts on Stage event I’m participating in next month, and along the way discovered that injured prints make fabulous postcards.

This is a print that really went screwy. It was printed using digital grounds on textured fabric (it’s a real pain in the *** when these prints go wrong because it takes so long to prep the fabric) and the image printed out in a portrait orientation instead of landscape and subsequently the right hand side of the image got chopped off severely.

Fabric Postcards

However even with the chopped of main image, I thought there might be enough of the image left to make an interesting postcard.

Here’s a tip for you …

Using a “viewer” to fussy cut your fabric or images makes things a whole lot easier. A viewer is easy to make – simply determine the size of your project and for a postcard I use 4″ x 6″, then cut a hole out of a piece of cardstock. Position the cutout area over your fabric to determine what looks best for your project and when you’re happy with what you see, mark the area using a fabric marking pen or pencil then cut it out.

Fabric Postcards

This is what was I ended up with for my postcard which looks kind of interesting don’t you think?

Fabric Postcards

And if you’ve never made a fabric postcard before, they can’t get much easier than this. For my image transfer fabric postcards I print out my image (or in this case I salvaged one from an injured print), cut to size some fusible peltex and a piece of cardstock for the back (I like to use a pre-printed backing on my postcards and if you want a copy you can download a copy here then print it out onto cardstock or fabric). And I also sometimes use machine wrapped cording to finish the edges.

PS I’ve been asked a number of time how I join my machine wrapped cording when I use it for edging or couching. You can find instructions here.

Fabric Postcards

And once everything is fused together and the edging added, here’s my postcard.

Front …

Fabric Postcards

and back …

Fabric Postcards

Fabulous!

… Continue reading →

Art Bag: Geisha

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Linda Matthews

It’s been a while since I posted any photos of my art bags but I’ve been quietly working away on a few new designs – this is one is called “Geisha” and I just love the way it turned out. As with all my art bags, this design is prepared using Photoshop Elements, than printed on fabric using digital grounds and then assembled by hand. It takes quite a few days to put each of these bags together.

Digital Grounds - Geisha Art Bag

I’ve used this particular design on other items such as my journals which you’ll find those items in the store, but I really like the way this design turned out on my art bag and I particularly like the touch of blue; it’s quite unexpected and adds subtle visual interest. I also finished the edges with machine wrapped cording using a blue metallic thread to bring focus the the blue color.

Digital Grounds - Geisha Art Bag

As with my other art bags I put the closure on the back so it doesn’t interfere with the beaded embellishments I add to the front. These bags are functional as well as art and I often take them out shopping with me so having the closure on the bag makes it easy to open and close without anything getting caught up in any dangly beads on the front.

Digital Grounds - Geisha Art Bag

And of course I use those wonderful invisible magnetic snaps so the closure doesn’t damage the surface of the bag.

Digital Grounds - Geisha Art Bag

As I mentioned, I print all my digital art on fabric using digital grounds – I haven’t found anything else that produces such intense and vibrant color when printing on fabric. If you haven’t yet tried digital grounds, give it a try! It’s loads of fun. You can pick up an economical sample pack from DickBlick.com. (This is an affiliate link.)

Digital Grounds Sample Set

… Continue reading →

Creatively Recycled: Buddha Bag

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Linda Matthews

It’s amazing what you can do with a few scraps of fabric and a little imagination! As you know I’ve recently been on a mission to recycle and repurpose some of my fabrics and ufos. Last week I showed you the results of turning an old forgotten applique ufo into a beautiful tote bag. Today say hello to the Buddha Bag.

I love to use overdyed silk kimono fabrics; the fabric is beautiful to look at and to touch and I don’t like to waste even the smallest piece. (PS – You can find scrap bags online at Laura Murray Designs.) And they are particularly perfect for Asian inspired projects such as this Buddha Bag.

This is a small tote bag, the body is about 8.1/2″ wide by 9″ high, and it was made from some leftover scraps of silk kimono fabrics and an old inkjet print on organza of the Buddha. I do a lot of test inkjet prints on fabric which often are unsuitable for the project in mind because of size or other reasons, so I throw them into a drawer to use for other projects later on. This image was quite large so it was perfect for this project. If you’re interested in learning how to print on sheer fabrics, I explain how I print on organza in this post.

The fabric on the front of this bag has lovely metallic thread designs woven through it, as has the fabric underneath the image, so the image sparkles depending on which way you look at it. I really like the way it turned out and I think the Buddha looks very serene surrounded by all that beautiful fabric.

Buddha Tote Bag

The back of the bag is also a piece of overdyed silk kimono fabric. This piece was originally a block in an art quilt that never quite got finished so I pulled the quilt top apart and this piece was just the perfect size for the back of the bag. Don’t you love it when things work out so perfectly? The fabric has a piece of bamboo stenciled onto it using paintstiks, and I also added some gold foil for additional surface design.

Buddha Tote Bag

I’ve just added the Buddha Bag and some other items to my Etsy Store, where you’ll also find additional photos and information.

I love all this recycling and repurposing and I have various other projects in progress, but this week I also hope I can get back to working with my digital grounds; I kind of got sidetracked with this recycling thing, but I’ve got a few project in progress that I hope to show you soon.

… Continue reading →

“Daisy” Revisited

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Linda Matthews

If you remember my recent post about The Making of “Daisy” The Art Bag, then you’ll recognize the design on this new art bag.

This is “Daisy” Version 2. I just loved the “Daisy” design and wanted to try it out on a different bag shape so I chose the original (and my personal favorite) art bag shape for version 2. This time though, I used my new printer to print on a large piece of “fabric paper” – approx 12″ x 10″ . The printer did a fabulous job printing on the rough texture, and this is the result …

Handmade Handbag

This is the back. I put the bag closure on the back of the bag using a magnetic snap so that when opening the bag you don’t have to disturb the beautiful bead embellishment on the front.

Handmade Handbag

You can see the beautiful texture that the “fabric paper” creates …

Handmade Handbag

and here …

Handmade Handbag

And this time I also fine tuned the inside pockets so now everything is organized and easy to find.

Handmade Handbag

I’m enjoying making my art bags so much that I’ll soon be offering them for sale on my new Etsy website at ArtyZenTextiles so stop by from time to time and check it out.

PS – I print my designs on fabric using digital grounds. You can find out more about digital grounds here.

… Continue reading →

Linda Hearts Poppy

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Linda Matthews

I shared the other day about my new art bag “Poppy”. I *love* the design so much I just had to do another art bag, but this time I decided to do a different shape.

Art Bag

This one is a quite large, about 14″ wide x 10″ high and 3″ wide with an open top so this has now become my new shopping bag. And yes, I do get quite a few stares (I’m sure of envy) when I’m out shopping with it.

Art Bag

This time I edged the bag with a machine blanket stitch instead of a satin stitch, and of course some machine wrapped cording to finish it off. I *really* like the way it turned out.

Art Bag

… Continue reading →

Printing on Fabric – Large Scale

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Linda Matthews

Update Dec 7 2010: This model printer printed fine for about three or four months and then problems began occurring, particularly with paper jam errors. I have had it replaced twice already and now I am holding bits of it in my hand as it literally falls apart.

Update September 2011 After the last replacement I finally seem to have found one that works without any problems and have now been using this machine without any problems since Dec 2010. It works fine, no problems, no jams. I’m happy

Printer for printing on fabric I just had my new printer delivered this week – a wide format Epson Workforce 1100. This printer is going to replace two of my printers; an old HP wide format which just doesn’t want to do the job anymore without a lot of trouble, and a more recent Workforce 30 which I’ve been very happy with but only prints up to standard letter size.

Art Journal Cover This printer uses durabrite inks which are the best type of inks for printing on fabric since they are water and fade resistant. I’ve used durabrite inks for years and have been very happy with the results. This is a wide format printer and can print up to 13″ x 19″ standard size; and 13″ x 44″ maximum … hmmm, can’t wait to try that size out.

I like Epson printers a lot because they never seem to give me any problems when I print on the textural “fabric paper” with digital grounds, that I use for my journal covers and which can get quite thick. I also want to print on “fabric paper” in much larger sizes than the standard letter size for some interesting projects I’ve got coming up. The Epson has little to no problem with this type of surface.

So if you’re thinking about printing large, then I can highly recommend this printer – it’s inexpensive and a great printer for printer for printing on fabric.

… Continue reading →

Images on Fabric

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Linda Matthews

These last few months I’ve been totally absorbed with printing on fabric, particularly using digital grounds. You can see some of my art bags here and journal covers here. So I was interested when I came across this book as I was browsing through the bookstore the other week – Image Transfer Workshop: Mixed-Media Techniques for Successful Transfers by Darlene Olivia McElry & Sandra Duran Wilson.

The book details step-by-step, 35 different methods of transferring images; most of them using an inkjet printer, and some of them using a laser printer and if you enjoy working with mixed media applications, then you’ll really enjoy this book. The instructions are very clear and large pictures help you to see how the process is done. Mixed media seems to be all the rage right now but I only found a couple of techniques in the book that were suitable for transferring images to fabric and they were quite basic, so for those of us who work strictly with fabric most of the techniques in the book, although interesting, simply don’t apply.

… Continue reading →