Experimentation Part II

After my first attempt at printing images on fabric clearly wasn't permanent, I decided to experiment a little more with my homemade Bubble Jet Set.

If you search online, you'll find that the recipe is pretty much the same everywhere, but there seem to be different ways to use it.

A warning: I did not exactly follow the rules for conducting experiments as I was taught in school. Waaaaay too many variables were changed. My teachers would be horrified. If you're OK with that, read on.

Oh, and this is a pretty long post. If you want to see my conclusion, skip to the end and scroll up.

This is the image I started with.

After some Photoshop manipulation, it looked like this:

I'm using a Canon TS6120 inkjet printer.

Test 1:
1. Soak fabric in solution, dry in dryer
2. Rinse
3. Air dry, iron
4. Print image onto fabric
5. Air dry overnight
6. Rinse in water
7. Iron
Printer settings: highest quality possible, scale 20%, glossy photo paper, printer manages color

Here's the image right after printing. Kind of dull and yellowish. Not a good start.

And after going through all the above steps. Clearly not the way to go.

Test 2:
1. Soak fabric in solution, dry in dryer
2. Soak in solution a 2nd time
3. Air dry, iron
4. Print image onto fabric
5. Air dry overnight
6. Rinse in vinegar
7. Iron
Printer settings: highest quality possible, scale 18%, matte photo paper, Photoshop manages color

After printing. Better.

After rinsing and ironing. It does smell like vinegar so I may have to rinse it again, which may change the outcome.

Test 3:
1. Soak fabric in solution, dry in dryer
2. Soak in solution a 2nd time
3. Rinse
4. Air dry, iron
5. Print image onto fabric
6. Air dry overnight
7. Rinse in vinegar
8. Rinse in water
9. Iron
Printer settings: highest quality possible, scale 16%, matte photo paper, Photoshop manages color

After printing:

After rinsing and ironing.

Conclusion: It's a toss up between Test 2 and Test 3. I think Test 2 lost more detail but it ended up brighter.
Of course, because of my lack of "scientificness", I'm not sure whether this has to do with my treatment of the fabric, the fact that I printed a higher definition image, or a combination of the two.

Stay tuned.