Making your own colorfast printing sheets???
 

I have done a lot of printing photos on fabric and used raycafix as the pretreatment. I have not used bubble jet as of yet. I would to find a great recipe to make cotton colorfast like the sheets they sell.

I have a cannon pixma pro 100.It is not a pigment ink but a dye based ink that penetrates the fabric and is supposed to be washable and fade less.

Has anybody used bubble jet and rinse, or a homemade fixative and compared it to colorfast pre made sheets?

The only recipe I can find is alum/washing soda & fabric softener.

I have searched the internet for days trying to find a recipe for the colorfast shaats they sell! They are expensive and maybe bubble jet or raycafix treatments do the job just as well!

Guess this is a really big secret being kept under wraps!
Thanks for any help or suggestions,
LInda

I used the bubble jet and rinse 15 years ago when I made a 50th anniversary king size quilt for my parents. It worked really well. The quilt has only been washed twice, (it hung on a wall). I made a sample block first and washed it a lot and the picture didn't fade.

I'm not sure I would bother trying to duplicate the colorfast sheets. I have found that they are not colorfast at all.

I'm not up on the differences between bubble jets and such any more. I have a black and white laser printer and so that's what I have.

20 years ago when we had less choices, I was doing a lot of things with fabric including printing on it. All you need to do is get white fabric (you can use prints even if that's what you want), iron it on to freezer paper and cut to a dimension your printer can handle. The fabric should not have a finish or shine, it should look the same from both sides.

Prewash the fabric to remove products used during manufacturing. I find this is all I've needed. You can also look at dying prewashes/pretreating there are all sorts of things from caustic soda to soy milk (I'm more in the natural dye side of thing philosophically but love the bright colors of artificial dyes).

From what I looked at, the solution you have found is what should work for your printer and is rather easy to do -- so I'd do it!

And then use whatever products they recommend. As I recall, I think Bubble Jet prints need to dry for a bit first.

I have a friend who has taught classes for photo quilts, she has one brand of the premade sheets she specifically likes for her printer, so far as I know though she's never done any real comparisons or tests, just that she doesn't want to do any pretreatments.

yes I think making your own would be a lot cheaper and last longer

I am doing baby quilts with pictures and as they are washed frequently I would like to prevent photos fading as best as possible!

I have used Bubble Jet on labels. I have some that were done about 10 years ago and have been frequently washed. They have faded a little but nothing that I am concerned about. I'm not sure you will find anything that does not fade over time and with frequent washing. (Unfortunately, I think I have faded over time and with frequent washing.)

I used Bubble Jet Set for years on my labels. (you have to do the rinse thing as well) I thought they worked really well until one Mom asked me about 3 years later if I could re-do them as the twins couldn't tell which quilt was theirs anymore, the printing had faded so bad with so many washings. For photos (I've only done a few) I have taken it to a t-shirt shop and had them printed out so they stay nice and crisp and clear after washing.

Spoonflower.com will make 8 x 8 inch squares for about $5 each from anything you upload. they also have a limited photo edit.
This is a photo quilt using the "sample swatches" from Spoonflower.
I also plan to make quilts for my daughters by uploading the art prints from their childhood art classes.
I included one print!
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Nice pics! yes I know I am fading at a pretty fast rate!
I think it will be imp to include washing instructions with photos also.