margecam52

I make fabric sheets using 100% cotton (sometimes a poly cotton blend, but mostly cotton only)..usually a bleached muslin (best quality)..unbleached for antique photos looks nice.

I treat the cotton with BubbleJetSet2000 per the directions (well darn close anyhows)...I don't precut the fabric ...and do up to 2 yards at one time.

http://www.dharmatrading.com
has the instructions on their site...the the best prices I've seen for BJSet2000.

Once I have soaked the fabric about 10 minutes or so (for single sheets, aprox 12" square...5 minutes is all it takes)...usually 15-20...I get sidetracked..lol.

The instructions say to gently squeeze out excess (I wring the heck out of the fabric, lol)...you then put the excess back in the bottle...you can reuse until you are out.

You let the fabric hang or lay out until dry (I make this quicker by laying the folded fabric between two towels, roll and then stand on the rolled towel..stepping across the towell to squeeze out the excess...this even after wringing the heck out of it)...2 yards hung over a towel bar will dry in a couple hours this way.

I now cut off 12" widths across the fabric (selvage to selvage)...this will result in 4 printer size sheets. If that's all I need, I fold the rest of the two yard length, put into a plastic bag...seal and mark "Photo Fabric".

Next you roll out enough freezer paper to draw out four 8-1/2" x 11" sheets of paper...I draw these out onto the freezer paper (don't cut out yet)...then take that to my ironing surface and place shiny side down...and iron the dull side with a steam iron...this shrinks the freezer paper (this is a hint I was given...and yes, freezer paper is cotton and will draw up a tiny bit)...unstick from the ironing surface...

Iron the treated 12" x 42/44" piece of fabric (Don't use water or starch...just iron with dry iron to get as smooth as you can for now). Once you have ironed the fabric...lay the freezer paper shiny side down onto the fabric and iron to adhere the paper to the fabric...I do this as if it were contact paper...as if you have to work the bubbles out.

The addition of the freezer paper will smooth 99.9% of the wrinkles (if there were any left) from the fabric.

I have a rotary cutter I use only for this purpose...I cut out along the lines I drew...just as if it were plain fabric.

Sheets are ready to print on.

I use PaintShopPro9 (I have Corel PaintShopPro x4, but not thrilled with it) to adjust any pics I want to use...I fix flaws, missing areas, add highlights, etc... whatever the customer or I want....today I took a baby out of a picture...cloned in the lady's shirt...which wasn't perfect...so put a soft focus around the faces of the two sisters in the pic...you now don't even realize the shirt clone was off, nor can you tell they are on a sofa...I'm happy with it).

Once I've printed a test pic on paper...and it's looking like I want...I print onto the fabric...I choose heavy matt paper as my medium (my laser printer has no fabric setting, shame on them, lol). Once the item prints...I take it to the ironing surface...lay it fabric side down onto a pressing sheet (teflon or silicone, whatever it's made of...this reflects heat)...and I press (don't iron, press) the back of the freezer paper...lift move, press...wait about 5 seconds each place on cotton setting (steam is ok, but not needed)..I then pull a corner of the freezer paper up...you want to see a very light imprint on the shiny side of the paper...if not there, press again.

I did the first one because a customer didn't want a super vivid look to her quilt...This was the perfect outcome. The next customer did want vivid pics...and I used the same method, but added a bit of saturation to the pics before printing...worked perfectly.

**** Forgot to mention that once the item is printed and you have pressed and removed the freezer paper...you need to rinse in cool water using BJSet rinse or a drop of dish soap in about a quart of water...rinse up and down (don't squeeze)...now I run under clear cool water and lay onto a bath towel...cover with the towel and press out excess water. If you are going to have any fading...this will be it. I recently did 12 photos & the water with the rinse was still clear....you won't get a lot of fading, unless you didn't press long enough.

I have not tried on silk or polyester type satin. I know inkjet printers work for those...but you don't have to press to melt the ink like you have to melt the toner.

One of these days I'll get brave and try satin, lol....maybe even silk...maybe.