Awhile back I was downtown with
June Underwood and one of her missions was to drop into
Art Media and buy some
Golden Digital Ground. This was something I had barely heard mention of and was not even sure what it was supposed to do, but I ended up buying a bottle of it myself. This week I finally got around to trying it out.
There are three types and this one is transparent, for porous surfaces. Behind the bottle you can see a piece of the fabric I was using. The reason I got the transparent, rather than opaque ground was to see how it would work on an already patterned fabric. This fabric is not, by the way, pink. It is off-whites. I am experimenting with different camera settings and most of the photos I took today are Photoshop-resistent pink. Now I know what not to do.
I painted two coats of the ground on my fabric, letting it dry between coats. Although it says "gloss" on the bottle, on fabric it is not glossy and, in fact, does not change the appearance of the fabric in any way I could notice. It does, however, change the hand. It makes it very crispy, like a sheet of paper, which works nicely when you go to print it. I trimmed it to exactly 8.5 x 11 and ran it through the printer. Nice not to have to iron the fabric to a sheet of freezer paper. I printed a page of photos I took in Mexico that I had fiddled with in Photoshop to get a more water-color effect.
See that tiny little one of the stone head? (Again, not really this pink) I put that one on there to test. I cut part of it off and washed it rather vigorously, by hand, then dried it and compared to the unwashed part. It was pretty permanent—may have lost just a bit of color.
The prints were clear and the color good, though, of course affected by the underlying fabric color. The fabric remains crisp feeling, though not plastic-y or coated. It is easy to sew through and even needle or pins holes are pretty easily steamed out if you need to.
I made this little piece (7.5" x 9.5") to see what might be done with nice little photos on fabric. I think this stuff has some potential!
I used this on some of my show pieces. I used both types. I think I like the clear glossy better than the opaque. I have used it on lutradur. I will have to try it on fabric.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very interesting. Thank you for the clear description of what you did and the results-especially the washing.
ReplyDeleteRobin
I've just used the digital medium myself, the matte opaque on fabric. The print is lovely but it definitely stiffens the fabric. I'll be quilting it this week so we'll see how that goes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about this. I'm now thinking of trying it out. Have you fused any of the printed fabric yet? I'm wondering how the digital medium fabric fused with misty fuse would compare to the hand of fabric fused to wonder under and then printed...
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Terry. My only exposure to Golden media of any sort was in Wendy Huhn's workshop a few months ago, and I wasn't enamored with what we did with it there. But your experience shows promise. I'll have to look for the Digital Ground; Columbia Art Supply (my current fave) probably carries it, too.
ReplyDeleteI bought some a couple of months ago and haven't tried it yet. I definitely need to - given your results. Thanks for sharing. Love the quilt you made with the print!
ReplyDeletejane
I also bought some of this last fall and have been thinking about trying it. You have inspired me to "get to it". I appreciate your descriptions. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteBetty Warner
This sounds like it has similar properties to 'Inkaid'. Has anyone compared them?
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Golden acrylics and media so more likely to try this. Thanks for testing it out!
Thanks for the info, Terry. One question— if you have to ”unsew“ does it make the fabric retain the needle holes? Not a big deal, but just curious.
ReplyDeletei've been playing with this stuff on my dryer sheets... i like it!
ReplyDelete..a question about your photoshop picture. Did you have to print each individually or could you print them all at once. I always struggle with this and would like to have a solution if there is one. Thanks for always sharing your new info.
ReplyDeleteTerry, thanks for a very informative post. I would like to add text to a portion of a pieced block. Do you think this product might work for me? I wonder about the seams ... printing over them and the open seams going through the printer. Any thoughts or other suggestions?
ReplyDeleteKay
Does this produce a result different from or better than Bubble jet fluid?
ReplyDelete