Sunday, July 29, 2007

Transferring photos onto fabric

To those of you who transfer a photograph onto fabric to bead your journal page, how do you do it? Is there special fabric or paper that you use? I love how Angela makes a photo collage and then beads it. I'm thinking that this bead journal project is really helping me learn new skills and push myself to explore new techniques.

Also, I just want to say how much I am enjoying reading everyone's comments and blogs. I feel like I am part of a village of beaders, a community of creativity, and am very happy to be living here.

8 comments:

KV said...

There are several brands of fabric "paper" available to print on. Most fabric or hobby stores carry these in packaged 8x10" sheets.

If you want to try using existing fabric from your stash, freezer paper wrap can be ironed onto fabric to stabilize it for printing on -- it will not be waterproof but it works.

There is also another waterproof method for using your own fabric that involves soaking the fabric in a solution of fabric softener. I will find the recipe for you if you are interested in attempting this process.

Kathy V in NM

Angela said...

Thanks for the comment about liking my pages with the photos and beads. What Kathy said was all true and if you want it to be fairly simple for your first attempt I would go with the prepackaged fabric "paper" That is what I used for my June page and it worked really well and the photos came out great.

Each month I have been discussing what I am printing my photos on since that is part of what I want to learn during this process, some will be printed onto a surface and others will be photo transfer techniques.

I just got a book "More Photo Fun" by the HP Company with Cyndy Lyle Rymer and Lynn Koolish which looks like it might have some good ideas. "Quilting Arts" and "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" magazines also have alot of great articles on how different people have used photos in their art.

I would say that you could print onto any surface that you are willing to bead through and that will fit through your printer although different surfaces take ink differently and you will have to experiment on how to get the results that you want. Also not all surfaces will be waterproof so you may want to spray on a poly-acrylic or varnish to protect your surface.

Hope somewhere in this you find something helpful if you want any more info or have questions feel free to e-mail me at akpbear@hotmail.com

Good luck, I know I am really glad that I decided to try incorporating my photos onto my pages.
-Angie

Timaree said...

Hey, a2susan, I like living here too. Don't know how happy my husband is about it though! lol

Quilter Kathy said...

I use the prepared photo transfer paper most of the time. This month I have used a photo transfer using
"Printed Treasures" paper by Milliken and it just goes right through the printer with no problem.

a2susan said...

Thank you for your suggestions. I had never heard of Printed Treasures paper before but I will try and find some and experiment with it - although not too much because it seems very expensive. Susan

Angela said...

You can get a couple of different brands of fabric "paper" at Michaels or JoAnn's Fabric and both have coupons which helps with the price. - Angie

KrispiS said...

I have been using Jacquard brand Inkjet Printing Fabric for several years. I like it because it does not need to be treated after it is printed, and the colors are great! Sometimes I bump up the color a bit if I am printing onto fabric because the fabric does tend to absorb the ink more than paper. I am also using my own photos printed through my printer for my BJP. This fabric can be purchased either through Dharma Trading or Dick Blick on line. I have found that they are about half the price per sheet of ANY other fabric sheets. So far I have yet to see this brand in a store. If you have any questions about this product, don't hesitate to email me at krispi_quilter@yahoo.com

a2susan said...

Angela - I love those 40 and 50% coupons off. Krispis - thank you for your recommendation. I never knew there was so much to chose from.