Sunday Stutters

OK – I may be running out of ‘S’ words for my Sunday posts.  Perhaps a dictionary is called for.  Anyway . . . . .

Today I’m still working with ways to get photographs onto fabric.  This time I used TAP – Transfer Artists Paper.

The technique is to print onto the TAP and then iron it onto your fabric.  It reminds me of the T-shirt transfers we used to buy.  The TAP is actually coated with some kind of polymer and the heat transfers that polymer.  It does leave a plastic feel on the fabric, but not as bad as I expected.  The literature says that washing will soften it even more.

You really do need to read the instructions on this stuff.  It needs to be removed while still hot – and that means immediately!  In the time it takes to set your iron down, the paper will cool enough to stick.  Fortunately, more heat takes care of that.

Also, they mean it when they say use in a well-ventilated area!  If you are at all sensitive to chemical odors, you may want to give this a miss.  I don’t generally have trouble with these things, but the odor from this process is very overpowering.  Even with my fan on high, I was not eager to try again!

With those few issues, however, it makes a very nice image.  Very crisp and vibrant.  Stitching on it is excellent and as I pressed during construction, I did not notice any further odor or smudging.

While I was printing, I also printed the same photos on Lutradur. 

You can really see the difference here, with the TAP on the left and Lutradur on the right.  I will be doing some additional experimenting with the Lutradur next week so come back then.