product play - ink aid

When I'm putting together my art quilts I often incorporate photos I've taken or images of scanned drawings into the layouts. I use a few different methods to transfer the images onto fabric and each method has it's positives and negatives and alters the handle of the fabric differently. I'm using an ink jet printer so the fabrics need to be prepared which enables them to firstly run through the printer and secondly hold the ink. For my current project I'm using a product called "Ink Aid(TM)-White Matt Precoat" to prepare the fabrics.

I particularly like using Ink Aid when I'm wanting to print onto colored fabric or do mono-printing over the top of the images once they have been printed. I've found that the handle of the fabric becomes stiffer but is still very easy to sew through. The instructions on the bottle are very clear and easy to follow. Following the instructions and doing a couple of sample pieces is always a good place to start and then play and explore from there.

The Lantern has been printed onto a patterned black (quilting weight) fabric with the second coat of Ink Aid(TM) not being applied evenly, I wanted some of the the fabric pattern to show through and the image not to be so clear/precise. The flowers down the side of the Lantern have been printed onto white homespun which had been prepared with 2 coats of the Ink Aid(TM). The Dandelion flower has been printed onto light blue cotton poplin which was prepared with two coats of Ink Aid(TM). All prepared pieces were then cut to A4 size and stabilized with freezer paper before running through the printer.