Working with texture has always been one of my favorite things and I’ve always found it challenging and rewarding to find ways to merge both visual and tactile texture into my artwork. One of the biggest challenges though has been to find ways to successfully print images onto textured fabric.
I particularly like working with fabric paper to create interesting surface texture. Fabric paper is very versatile and can be made in several creative ways. It can be made soft and flexible, or it can be made quite rigid which makes it perfectly suited for three dimensional textile art. And it doesn’t matter which way you make it, it can easily be sewn through.
Eventually I was able to figure out a fabric paper formula that was flat enough but still textural, that could be fed through an inkjet printer without causing paper jams. And it turned out that Inkaid is the perfect surface treatment to both seal the textured surface as well as provide a printable surface.
One of my first art bags – Daisy – was made by printing an original digital photo art design onto fabric paper and then constructing it into a bag.
Closeup you can see that the texture adds an interesting visual to the printed design.
This is a digital texture printed onto fabric paper and then constructed into an art bag.
Closeup you can see the wonderful texture which also works as a perfect canvas for applying additional surface design such as foil paper.
I don’t recommend you try feeding fabric paper or textured fabric through your printer at home unless you have nerves of steel, because when things go wrong they go very wrong. Find more information about printing on fabric.
Happy printing!
Printing on Textured Fabric using Inkaid
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