Printing on Cotton/Silk Radiance?

[Betty J.]

I should have noted in my blog that I ironed it dry from the wrong side with the right side down on a piece of fine cotton. It helped to eliminate any sheen loss. Thanks to Jenny Lyon for asking that question on Facebook.

[Janet K.]

Betty Jo, I use an iPad and touching blog did not work. Sorry it took so long to respond. Janet

[Susan B.]

Blog linked worked great for me, BJ. I can't wait to have a minute to read the blog. This piece looks wonderful, hoping to see settings your used on your printer.

[Betty J.]

Sorry it did not work. I am puzzled by that and have no way to fix it. So if you search for: http://www.blog.bjfabricartist.com/2014/12/printing-on-silkcotton-test-results/
it might work. Or just look up "bjfabricartist" and see what comes up. Hope that works.

[Betty J.]

Sue, I followed pretty closely the editing of the design in Photoshop Elements as presented in show 702 by Kerby Smith. I did set it on the matte paper setting, raised the saturation by about 20, darkened it a bit, raised the contrast, and generally pretty much like he suggested. No additional settings in my printer. Does that help?

[Janet K.]

Thanks that link worked! Janet

[Betty J.]

OK all my TQS buddies who want to print on silk, I have had success in getting my horse printed on Cotton, Silk Radiance and it rinsed and iron dried without incident. It did not lose its sheen or even go lighter. It did jam the printer the first try and got silk wrapped in it and my son had to come and help me get it all out. It's ok. But I learned a lot and here is what I learned:

1) On prepared for dye silk or cotton/silk Radiance PFD, you need either 3 layers of grocery store freezer paper backing or 2 stiffer freezer paper designed for printing (I used one grocery store layer and one C. Jenkins Freezer Paper Sheets I got some time ago. Not sure it's still available..
2. You need to iron it all together and then pull and reiron the silk to get rid of any bubbles and wrinkles, then take it to your cutting board and use your rotary cutter to cut the edges perfectly.
3. Then tape the feeder edge, folding over the entire edge with the thinnest painter's tape you can find, or it might jam in your printer.(that's what I did to stop the jamming), and you need to press it on really fully and press the edge sharp and crisp.
4. Set your ink jet printer for premium matte paper and your print quality to its highest level. ALWAYS ALWAYS run a test print on paper first. In the image file, set it like in show 702, increasing the saturation, and adjusting the colors stronger than you would for paper.
5. Say a prayer (really I did).
6. Print
7. Remove all the backing from your silk, lay it on a piece of fine cotton, shiny/print side down, and steam press.
8. Rinse in cold water thoroughly, wring out, lay it back on the ironing surface with the fine cotton with the print side down and press dry.
Voila! You have a piece of nicely printed silk. I only would use this for a wall hanging where you don't have to wash it frequently, but it is beautiful.
Also, size your silk print so it has about an inch around the printed piece, because the printer likes to leave a little black ink along the leading edge, and even slightly along the sides. I used an 11 x 17 inch paper size on my Epson Workforce printer.

[Judith A.]

Thank you, Betty Jo, for sharing what you have learned. Much appreciated.

[Betty J.]

You're welcome. I hope it's useful.