Inkjet printing on fabric

I was watching B Original the other day and the very unique and talented Michele Beschen showed a quick and easy technique using your ink jet printer to print on fabric, such as table napkins, remnants, etc. It is pretty easy. You just need the following materials: freezer paper, iron, ironing cloth, fabric to print and of course your inkjet printer. You can get freezer paper at your grocery store, it is just standard freezer paper. You will want to cut it down to the typical size of printing paper which is 8 1/2 x 11. If your printer can take larger paper than you can obviously make it bigger. Next, take your fabric and cut it a little larger than the freezer paper. Make sure the fabric isn't too thick of a fabric. Keep in mind that the fabric will be adhered to the freezer paper so they will need to go through the printer. Lay the freezer paper on an ironing board, with the shiny side up. Be sure the shiny side is up or else it won't adhere properly. Place your fabric on top, with the wrong side facing down; the side facing up will be the side that is printed. Cover with a piece of thin ironing cloth, muslin works well. Using a Hot Iron (no steam) press over the piece for about 45 seconds. The fabric should be securely adhered to the freezer paper. Make sure to get the edges and corners to ensure that they're stuck tight. You don't want the fabric to get jammed up in the printer. Trim away the extra fabric so it is the same size as the freezer paper before you try to print on it. Now you are ready to print your desired image on the paper. One extra tip that Michele didn't mention is that you may want to change the paper setting on your printer to something a little thicker vs. the default plain paper setting. Every printer is different so it may be under page setup or you may find the option to change the paper source once you hit print. You could pick a matte photo or anything else that is thicker than plain paper.

I think it would look really cool to take white cloth napkins and put a black and white image on it. This technique is an easy and inexpensive way to create some art work for your walls. Just add a frame and you can have a unique piece of art!

Happy crafting,
Madame Craftsalot

Painting tips from B Original

I love to paint and one of my favorite shows today has some great tips. Michele Beschen of B Original had a segment on art and painting and once again a had a couple of tricks up her sleeve. One was to take a paint brush (like 1 1/2" or so wider) and wrap elastic bands around the bristles to bind them together and make a few different sections, she did 3. Load your brush and you have an easy way to paint stripes! Love it!

Every crafter is quickly learning that Home Improvement Stores and hardware stores can be a great place to find new tools to be creative. Another great tip from Michelle was to use perforated drywall tape to make a clutch of evenly-spaced dots. Fast and easy dots?!?! I'll try it! She also had some crazy kitchen tools she used to get some funky shapes, so go explore your utensils and get creative.

One final tip that I found useful was on preserving your paint brushes. She suggests to put a little petroleum jelly on the bristles after cleaning to help them retain their shape between uses. Michelle has her own website at http://www.couragetocreate.com/. It is under construction but worth a look! In the meantime, you can also find her on both HGTV and DIY Network as the host of B Original. It is must see TV!

Happy Crafting,
Madame Craftsalot