Printing on Cotton/Silk Radiance?

[Betty J.]

Thanks Rita, I'll watch those episodes before I start this experiment when the fabric gets here. I THINK that using Prepared for Dye, heat setting, and then rinsing with some retayne in the water, vinegar, or even soda ash to set it might work. We'll see what works. I got two yards and plan on trying multiple ways to get it to work. I never have any problem with fading or running on the Electric Quilt cotton printables using my Epson printer, but this is different. Will report back when I know what or if anything works.

[Susan B.]

Thanks, Rita. I will re-watch that show as soon as possible!

BJ, I don't know about fading or washing, I just want intense color to print.

[Jeanie S.]

Susan, exactly which Epson model are you using? Epson has a few different ink formulations.

[Susan B.]

Thanks to BJ I have an Epson Workforce WF 7610. I just watched show 702 and played with some of the suggestions the guy made. This made a huge difference, overdid it a bit with the black level I think. I'm such a tightwad, it's hard to experiment because I keep thinking about how much it costs per sheet. Now I'm trying to make a smaller image & move it around on the same fabric sheet to see the differences. So much to learn.

If we change settings in Photoshop on one jpg, do those settings revert to default when the image is closed?

Who brought us down this slippery slope??? I'm supposed to be working on the BOM. :lol:

Jeanie, I'm still open to all suggestions. I've printed some black and white kaleidoscopes & colored them with Inktense pencils. That's fun, but still want the color printing to work.

[Jeanie S.]

That printer should give you really bright and intense colors on EQ Printables. I assume you've run a nozzle check to make sure there aren't any clogged nozzles? (It's always good to check the obvious first.)

I haven't yet had a chance to watch Kirby's suggestions, so these may be a repeat. The first thing I would try is upping the saturation. What I usually do is set the "Color Management" to "Color Controls" in the printer driver. (You get to the printer driver by clicking on "Properties" from the print preview window in KK.)

Once you have chosen Color Controls, you should see an option for Color Mode. I think the default is Epson Vivid, but I always set it at "Adobe RGB" and Gamma at 2.2. (I'm on a PC, so that Gamma setting may need to change if you're on a Mac.)

Hopefully you'll have a "Settings" button - or a tab or something - to get you into the Color Controls. This is where you can increase the Saturation. I often put Saturation as +15, but sometimes I put it at +25 depending on the image. I also usually put the Contrast at +5 or +10. I don't usually play with the Density, but that may help put more ink down. I'm guessing that it may make the print look muddy though.

Also, I choose "Premium Presentation Paper Matte" for the paper type and "Photo" Quality.

You WILL need to experiment unfortunately. (I do for every series of images I print.) I know it's hard not to think about the cost, but really you just need to "let it go". I learned that lesson early on - if I didn't, I would never be where I am today. ;-) That said I do print smaller images and move them around the sheet just as you said - and I make notes under each print out so that I know what changes I made!

When you ask about changing settings in Photoshop - are you referring to adding adjustment layers to the image itself or making changes in the printer driver?

[Betty J.]

Ooh! Such a lot of great tips here. Thank you! I play around with saturation and the like to significant success with the cotton EQ printable fabrics. I will have to to make several printouts on the Radiance. I can hardly wait until it comes now and I get to try all this out.

[Betty J.]

Susan, I get great results from the EQ printables, and I set the saturation up plus 25 almost always. I usually use RGB color. The EQ cottons are colorfast if you heat set them, rinse them, and heat set them again. At least that's true for the first two washes, which is all I have tested. I cold wash many of my quilts in Woolite just after I finish them to get rid of all the glue, washable stabilizers, and markings, and haven't had any problem with the cottons fading or running. I won't be washing the silk quilts though, but I will block them, so I guess it only matters that it doesn't run when I block them.

[Jeanie S.]

A quick note about heat setting inkjet inks... be careful about using too hot of an iron with the Epson DURABrite inks. (Those are the inks in the Workforce printers.) If the iron is too hot, it can cause the inks to yellow a bit. This might not be a problem if you are working with photos that tend towards the warm colors as it will just make them warmer. But if you are working with cooler colors in the blue spectrum, it will be noticeable.

[Betty J.]

Thanks Jeanie! Great tip.

[Rita C.]

Wish we had the favourites heart with this new website because I know I am going to need this information sometime in the future and won't be able to find it. (Missing the rolling eyes emoticon too!) :blink:

[Betty J.]

:blink: :silly: :side: :S Yeah, I agree we need better emoticons. You can add this to your favorite topics though by clicking the favorites bar down below. Not sure if that will make it any easier to find the information though. :unsure:

[Susan B.]

That's a good tip, BJ. I just tried the Forum search for the word 'Epson'. It worked like a charm.

[Betty J.]

I conducted one test that seems pretty successful to me. There was a tiny bit of lightening when I rinsed it the first time in cold water and ironed it dry, :dry: but I could not detect any additional lightening when I did it the second time. I provided my results on my personal blog: Blog with all the pictures, but here is the post rinsed, ironed dry, rinsed, and ironed dry again printed on prepared for dye Radiance piece:

[Janet K.]

Betty Jo, that is so beautiful! How do I get to your blog? Janet

[Betty J.]

Janet, Thanks. the word "Blog" in blue is linked so you can click on it. If it doesn't do that let me know.