A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Sun Printing Paint Results

Yesterday I showed you how I sun painted fabric with both Jacquard Textile Paint and Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink. Today we'll have the results.

 First is the piece using the textile paint.


Sun printed using textile paint



Closeup

Now the fabric using screen printing ink.

Sun printed with screen printing ink



Closeup



What I discovered from this experiment is that regular textile paint just doesn't do a very good sun printing job.  In addition to the colors not being as bright as the screen printing inks, the fern images were not as crisp. On the orange, the fern image can barely be seen.

There was a little problem with the ferns on both pieces due to how rigid the ferns were. That may be due to the plant I used or the time of the year, but they still looked much better on the screen printing ink piece.

The screen printing ink fabric was bright, images were pretty good, but as with the textile paint, the hand of the fabric really changed. Both of them were stiff and kind of rubbery feeling. 

I was surprised because I had no idea how the screen printing ink would work. In a pinch it would be okay, and much better than the textile paint. It would make good journal covers or even wall hangings although it might be hard to stitch through. 

However, in my opinion, if I want sun printed fabric to use in a garment or anything I'd need to hand sew, I'd use Pebeo SetaColor Transparent Paint or Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow. 

This is a piece of sun printed fabric I did last summer using SetaColor.



That's all from me for now.  LuAnn will be up next week showing you about the product she likes to use and how she uses her sun printing fabrics.

Have you tried regular textile paint or screen printing ink for sun printing? I'd love to hear your results.

19 comments:

  1. This was a great experiment - thanks Lynda!

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  2. If the rain holds off I am going to try this! thanks

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  3. Lynda, good test! I will be sure I have enough SetaColor Transparent and Dye-Na-Flow in my stash before I start playing. I just got 10 yards of muslin, so now I just need to cull through my items to see what I want to use to block the sun... can't wait to get started!

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  4. I always use Dye-na-flow but I was glad to see your experience with other paints. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Wow, those prints using Speedball Ink are fabulous! I just posted yesterdays results with Solar Fast on my blog. I did try one piece with fabric paint and it didn't come out at all. Waiting for more sun to try it with Dyna Flow.

    turtlemoonimpressions.wordpress.com

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  6. How did the setacolor change the hand of the fabric? I've not used this product yet. Thanks.

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  7. Craft A Life, Setacolor doesn't change the hand of the fabric. The textile paint and the screen printing ink changes the feel. We'll be talking about Setacolor next week.

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  8. Vicki, it was a fun experiment. And as I said, the screen printing ink fabric is fine if you don't mind the change of the hand.

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  9. Janis, Robbie will be blogging about Solar Fast starting on the 16th. We look forward to hearing you weigh in on your experiences with it. Yes, the fabric paint just doesn't do that well. You will love Dye-Na-Flow.

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  10. Carol, Thanks. I thought it would be good to show other products to use and was happy the screen printing ink did work even if it wasn't my favorite.

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  11. Judy, Sounds like you are ready!!

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  12. Elle, Hopefully you'll have some sun soon.

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  13. I am a setacolor gal. I have tried others and always come back to it. Since I live in a very arid climate, I can often get vein details and crisp images if I paint in the early mornings and let it set all day. I love the results with the screen printing inks. I have some and hadn't thought to use them this way. They would be great on canvas for totes.

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  14. I"ve done a fair bit of sun printing using Peebeo paints - they leave the fabric hand as near to unpainted as I can fell.

    I recently bought some inkadyes that are designed for solar printing (and will work on a lot of fabrics) but have not had time to play with them, yet.

    :) Linda

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  15. I"ve done a fair bit of sun printing using Peebeo paints - they leave the fabric hand as near to unpainted as I can fell.

    I recently bought some inkadyes that are designed for solar printing (and will work on a lot of fabrics) but have not had time to play with them, yet.

    :) Linda

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  16. Jeannie, I, too, love Seta color. Your idea for a tote bags with the screen printing ink is a great idea.

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  17. Linda, I had trouble finding a blogger who used Inkadyes and was willing to post. If you are interested in sharing your experience with a blog post before the end of the month, email me and we'll share your success with everyone. Email me at lheines at wowway dot com.

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  18. I do like the speed printing ink piece!! Looks great.

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  19. wow- definitely will try the speedball inks when the sun re-appears! I have mainly used Pebeo transparent paints which work quite well. They make the fabric quite stiff but I usually do a lot of quilting on them which tends to re-soften them...

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