I am trying out printing some digital art on fabric. I don’t want to resize down to 81/2″x11″, so that means preparing my own fabric. There is not much available in oversize sheets, only larger rolls, with high prices & shipping costs. I am trying freezer paperwith a few existing white fabrics bought long ago when I was still doing a little batik work.

The freezer paper is a success as a carrier sheet, so “thank you!” to all those who wrote up tutorials online! Cutting everthing to be square is tedious, but not too bad.

My first print, on unprepared fabrice, is quite dull however. For one thing, the minimal copper tinting & highlights did not print in color: somehow greyscale was turned on in the printer and I did not notice. I think Corel PSPX5 must send this info to the Epson print software with a greyscale image, even after I have colorized layers, merged them, and saved the file! Agravating!

I have allowed the printed fabric to dry, sprayed it with fixative, and added pan pastel & colored pencil. It still seems dull, and I don’t want to have to recreate the work, I want to print it!

So I have intensified my image, making the blacks blacker, etc. Also I have done a test print to paper, to get a better sense of the blacks and general intensity, because everything looks much more vibrant on a lit computer screen. My image (above) is pretty intense on inkjet paper now.

My next print will be to the same fabric, but prepared with a full out coat of Golden white matte digital ground, now dried overnight. I won’t print the image greyscale this time: that would be too unsatisfactory! I will print the more intense version above, and in color this time! I don’t have the patience or willingness to invest the money (in expensive inks…) for rigorous testing.