AboutConnie Hester Expertise Quilting and applique expert.Can advise on the following topics:quilting, art quilts, quilt design and construction, machine and hand quilting, paper foundation piecing, machine piecing, hand piecing, raw edge applique, turned-edge applique and fiber art.
Experience Winning awards in international fiber and art competitions since 1983; http://www.conniehester.com/
BS,MS
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Expert: Connie Hester Date: 2/12/2007 Subject: printing on fabric
Question Well, I will purchase these products and try again. How much synthrapol should I use in the wash? It said to wait 30 minutes before washing on the Bubble Jet bottle. I waited for an hour. Apparently too quick.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...
-----Question-----
I followed the guidelines to the letter to make my fabric colorfast. Used the Bubble Jet 2000. I have a Lexmark printer. The fabric printed out beautifully. I allowed to dry for 1 hour. Then washed as instructed. Colors faded badly. Ran together. I had pretreated the fabric prior to printing with the baking soda, etc. What went wrong. Is my only option to get an Epson C-88 printer. I am so disappointed as I am making a Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt.
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Which specific "guidelines" did you follow for pre-washing? Do you mean that you washed/scoured the fabric with HOT water, washing soda, and synthrapol?
How exactly did you apply the Bubble Jet 2000? Did you lay the pre-scoured cotton into a tray of Bubble Jet Set 2000, pick it up, allow excess solution to drip away, and then allow it to dry flat?
Printed fabrics should be left alone for 24 hours before washing.
Baking soda is not the same chemical make-up as soda ash/washing soda, nor will it have any impact on the printed inks, whether dye-based or pigment-based.
How did you pre-treat with *both* Bubble Jet Set 2000 AND baking soda??
Since all inks perform differently, even amongst particular printers, I would try again before buying the Epson printer. Scour 2 sample pieces of cotton with the soda ash/washing soda and the synthrapol. Soak and dry 1 sample in Bubble Jet Set 2000, as described above. Print on both samples, marking which is which. Allow to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. Wash samples with non-bleach, non-harsh detergent.
Connie Hester
Answer For the soda ash/washing soda, you can buy "Arm & Hammer Washing Soda" at many grocery stores, or you can purchase soda ash at pool cleaning supply stores. Use about 1/2 cup per washer load (you can judge the proportion to water that you will need based on this).
For synthrapol, use 2 teaspoonsful of "Joy, "Palmolive", or "Dawn" dishwashing liquid (since they each contain synthrapol) per washing machine load (to give you an idea of proportions), or you can purchase bottles of plain synthrapol from dyeing supply stores or from some quilting and fabric stores where it will cost far more.
The waiting time after printing actually depends on the particular printer inks. It has been demonstrated that waiting 24 hours is a good idea. Also, be sure to prevent the image from folding over and touching itself during the rinsing/washing. This is particularly important with dye-based inks. If it does touch itself, loose unbonded ink can easily transfer to other parts of the image - and stay there.
Since I have no idea what sort of ink is included in your particular Lexmark printer, these precautions cover known possibilities with Epson Durabrite pigment-based and HP dye-based inks. I know that folks HAVE used Canon and Lexmark printers with apparent success in the past, but I have no idea which particular printers they were or if their ink formulas even work for this purpose, on fabric, in their current models. Almost everyone seems to have eventually switched to Epson Durabrite and Ultrachrome (ALL Epson printers do NOT use pigment-based inks - only specific models) since they are the only lightfast inks.
