You are going to need to use Bubble Jet or a similar product to pre-treat your colored squares before printing them.

Materials:
Cut 5" squares of the following:

5 Yellow-Orange
6 Light Blue
38 Dark Blue
28 Medium Blue
5 Yellow
6 Orange
11 Green
10 Purple
70 Background Color

What I did to print on the colored squares was to use a plain piece of printer paper, mark a 2" margin on the left and a 2" margin on the top and taped my square to it. Then I opened up Word and set the following margins: Top: 2", Left: 2", Right: 1.5", Bottom: 4".

At this point play around with fonts and sizes until you make your block look the way you want. Tip: Print on plain paper first, hold it to the light and see if it lines up with your square the way you want it to.

Print all of your element squares. Using the drawing below or any periodic table diagram, arrange your colored squares and background squares. Sew together. Add a border (I'm going to use the same color as my background), back and quilt.

Notes on the pictures: The first one is my drawing of how it is going to look. Each square is 4.5" (this measurement does not include the seams that the actual measurements I gave you for the squares do).

The second picture is how I laid out the page for printing.

((I have not finished this quilt yet. I still need enough bubble jet to treat and print everything. I'll keep you guys posted as it comes together. But as I have gotten several PM's for my pattern I figured I would share it now. Please let me know if you see any problems.))

What a fascinating idea! I never would have thought of doing this. Now I can't wait to see your finished project! :)

I would think this idea would work great for use with embroidery machines. I would bypass the printing on fabric route and embroider it;>

You could try it that way. It would be pretty cool to see. I'll be posting a new diagram as a member pointed out that my working model was outdated :)

AH! BRILLIANT! My sister in law is a chemistry teacher at a college! This would be more than perfect! May I copy your idea?? I may try Candace's idea to embroider it...
Ah, you have made my night!!

Corrections:

Materials:
Cut 5" squares of the following:

5 Yellow-Orange
6 Light Blue
(46) Dark Blue
28 Medium Blue
(6) Yellow
(7) Orange
(6) Green
(7) Dark Green
(12) Purple
(63) Background Color

Of course you can use it! I got the general idea for goggling pictures but that was applique... If I can ever find the person who came up with original idea then I'll give them full credit.

Updated Periodic table can be found here: http://ptable.com/ Thank you lab fairy

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!! What a GREAT idea :D:D:D

thanks

What a great idea! We have a friend who's a chemistry teacher and this would be a great retirement gift. I printed out your instructions. Please post your finished quilt - I'd love to see it! Thanks!

What a nifty idea.. my Sweet SIL is a chemical engineer.. Men are always hard to find pattern for especially if they are not hunters/fishermen or sports fans.. This would work great for him.. thank you for sharing!

That is too great!

While you guys make it please let me know if you find any problems. I should be getting my bubble jet stuff soon so I can really get started :)

I saw one of these at the Charleston SC quilt show back in March. the students had made the blocks using crayons. it was cool.

what a great idea!

Love it. I live near a NAVSEA base and we have all sorts of scientists roaming around.