New Year & the start of a textiles range..

Long time..no blog! I do apologise! It's been a crazy end to 2009 with all manner of projects. My final project was creating silk curtain designs for a client. This is a new area for me. I had been experimenting with fabric printing on my trusty Epson R1900 and found it difficult to find useful directions on the web. So I will endeavour to do a break-down of my experience.

I bought some paper backed, printable Habotai silk samples from my brilliant supplier
(www.gicleemediasupplies.com.au)
and printed some test images on the silk. I preferred the feel of the finest silk sample (10mm) though I'd hoped for richer colours. It makes sense that the finer the silk, the less density...
So, I ploughed on and spent hours fiddling with my 'Falling Poppies' scarf design.

Silk Scarves:
To begin my experiment of creating a line of silk scarves I chose a very simple pattern using repetitions of my 'Pink Poppy' image on a blank background.

I use a free (and excellent) graphics program called GIMP to do my layout in which I flipped and rotated each poppy until I was happy with the size. Because the Epson R1900 goes through so much ink, the cartridges are small, and silk is expensive my advice is to test, test, test!
*Photo: this is the first test scarf I printed on the silk. After this I decided to have a longer scarf with larger poppies.

Settings: I was unsure of which settings I should use for the silk/material so I tested a few (Best photo, matte paper, Best photo, plain paper) and there was very little difference in colour density. I didn't use the roll feed option as the roll I had bought was twice the width of my printer. I did use the fax format option in Epson Printing Wizard after I set the print size.

I cut all my test scarves out by hand after measuring the size I wanted, placed it in the paper feed and carefully supported the material as it printed. After printing, you peel off the paper backing. Which is fun, but in my case I got my boyfriend to help me because the scarf length is quite substantial and I didn't want the silk to get dirty on my studio floor!
*Photo: Drying scarves after steam-set and wash

I decided not to steam set the printed scarves until they were sewn. The silk was slightly starchy after peeling the paper off and I thought it would be less slippery for the seamstress to handle.
My seamstress took them away to hem...

Once I got the sewn scarves back, I set about steam setting the fabric. This was done over a pot of boiling water (I used a steamer!) and I'd gently turn the scarves with tongs. They were left to dry. Once they were dry I washed and ironed them on a silk setting and when they were quite damp so as not to burn the fabric.
*Photo: Ironed and hung!