Full-Speed Ahead

The last several weeks have been quite challenging. First there was the week-long trip to Florida. Then, the realization that I only had two weeks left before I have to return to work (now down to less than a week—yikes!) from an 18-month medical leave (talk about scary; it’s like starting a new job!).

I have SO many projects I want to finish/start/work on before my time will once again be sucked up by my job. Plus, I’m still not completely recovered physically, so I’m trying to make sure I’m eating, resting, sleeping, and not pushing myself too hard (and with limited time and too many projects in the queue, that is REALLY difficult to do).

At any rate, I can check one item off the to-do list: this is my latest submission for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. I call it “After the Storm”:

You can read more about it on the Fast Friday blog.

Ok, now on to breakfast and another project . . . those minutes are ticking away!

Weekly Square #20

Somehow I’ve missed a week with my journal squares.

I knew I had skipped week 17 because I need to scan in a couple of pics for it. Yesterday, I went to do that and realized one of pics wasn’t where I thought it was, and I didn’t have the energy to look for it.

Instead, I decided to work on last week’s square, but then I realized I missed week 19. So, that’s two weekly journal squares I owe myself, not counting this week’s. Confused? Yes, me too.

ANYWAY, here’s 6"x6" weekly journal square #20 for July 5-11:

This piece started with a watercolor I painted last week. I scanned it into the computer, then printed it onto Lesley Riley’s TAP transfer paper. I ironed that onto muslin, then fused the image to hand-dyed fabric. I added a layer of batting to the back, then embroidered around the edge of the image. I cut away the extra batting on the back, added another layer of batting and more hand-dyed fabric for the backing, then quilted the square with invisible thread (I wished afterwards that I had used the smoke thread so it wouldn't be so bright). Finally, I zigzag stitched around the edge to finish the square.

Influences for this week’s square: like Weekly Square #16, I think this one reflects my anxiety/uncertainty/curiosity about what lies ahead. I like the juxtaposition between the right side (closed, interior) and the left side (open, exterior) of the painting, although I can’t really articulate the meaning of that.

Next on the agenda: backing up and creating the missing weekly journal squares. Fortunately, I’ve written notes every week for what I want the squares to reflect, so I have a place to start.

Weekly Square #16

Hurray! This square catches me up through last week (6/7-6/13), so technically I’m caught up with my weekly journal squares, since the current week isn’t over yet.

Would you believe this is an image transfer onto cotton batting of this painting I did a while back? I added some embroidered embellishment and a little color here and there with Prismacolor pencils.

Influences for this week’s square include: (too much?) time to think, especially about the future, while I’m lying in bed watching dreadful television: where am I going? what will it look like? How do I find (create?) the right doorway to my future?

Book Review: Digital Essentials

I love taking digital photographs and using them in my work. OTOH, I don’t like all the technical “stuff” I need to know about working with digital images, and I usually have no idea what I’m doing with them. I would just as soon NOT know what a pixel is, or what dpi or ppi means, or what resolution to save my images at. I try not to think about compression or whether jpg or tiff is better. And the last think I want to spend my limited memory cells on is the best resolution to set for printing or scanning images.

But alas, digital images and files are becoming more and more important in our technological world, and I know that I have to better understand them in order to get the best possible quality out of my photos.

So I’m really glad that I have Gloria Hansen’s book, Digital Essentials: The Quilt Maker’s Must-Have Guide to Images, Files, and More. Not only is Gloria Hansen a talented quilter and artist, she’s digitally-literate and an excellent writer. Hansen’s book is well-written and edited, and the layout is really nice. She provides step-by-step directions, screenshots, and high-quality images to illustrate the information, and good formatting makes the information easy to understand. In general, the overall look and feel of this book is high-quality.

This book is crammed with over 200 pages of valuable information about all things digital. Hanson could have easily divided this into at least two, and maybe three books. Since so many of us have limited book-buying budgets these days, I really appreciate that this book is such a great value. (Btw, it really isn’t surprising that Hansen’s book is so generous with information; she’s on a couple of mailing lists I belong to, and she’s tremendously generous with information in those forums, as well).

But the best thing about the book is the answers it provides to questions that come up over and over again for me about digital files, images, and software. Here are just a few:

• Should I save my pics as jpg files? tiff files? gif files? What’s the difference?
• What is a megapixel, and how do the number of pixels relate to the size of an image?
• What is resolution, and how do I know what resolution to use when saving pics, or scanning or printing images?
• What is the difference between dye-based and pigment-based inks (a particularly hot topic with fiber artists who use printed images in their work)?
• How do I resize images?
• How do I work with layers and other features in image software? (Hansen provides information for working with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, AND Paint Shop Pro, three of the most popular applications.)
• What does it mean—and why should I care—that the printer I’m considering buying says it will print “4800 x 1200 optimized dpi color”?

Plus, this books provides answers to questions I didn’t even KNOW to ask. Who knew, for example, that if your printed images don’t match what you see on your screen, you might need to calibrate your monitor? I do now! Hansen’s book has an entire section on color management.

I could go on and on about everything I’m learning from this book, but as I mentioned, it is over 200 pages. Instead, I’ll just point out a couple of chapters that might be of particular interest to quilters (or to artists in general): Chapter 11, Removing a Quilt From Its Background, and Chapter 12, Preparing Images for Digital Show Entry. As digital images become more accepted (and even required) for entering work into competitions, some of us (me) are really going to have to bite the bullet and learn how to create high-quality images for submission. With this book, I no longer need to fear submission guidelines that require digital images. And, because I do love incorporating digital images into my work, I think increased confidence from actually knowing what I’m doing with these images will make that even more enjoyable.

This is one book that’s going to get a workout for years to come, and I would suggest that anyone who works with digital images or files—or who wants to start working with them—make this book a part of your reference library. Even though Digital Essentials is not available from Amazon, you can read more reviews about it here. You can purchase Digital Essentials directly from Gloria Hansen’s web site at http://www.gloriahansen.com/

Weekly Square #12

This square catches me up through the end of this week on my weekly 6x6” squares. As I mentioned in a previous post, last week’s square depressed me so much that I had to find some way to find—or create—beauty.

I started with the iron-on transfer I made yesterday from a photo of the wilting roses. I went with this one rather than the TAP transfer, because I liked the aged/weathered look for this theme. I added some free-motion quilting. I started with the leaf on the left, then realized I didn’t want to cover the image with stitching, just enhance it. I started to tear the leaf stitching on the left side out, but decided to just leave it.

I didn’t want to detract from the image with a binding or border, so I just zigzag stitched around the edge a couple of times.

Influences for this week’s square: Mother’s Day roses from my son. Iron-on transfer technique. The need to find (or create) beauty, even in the face of decay and death.

In the Lab--Transfer Experiments

Last week’s 6x6” weekly square, which I posted yesterday, depressed me so much I had to seek out some beauty. My son had brought my lovely partner (he calls her “other mother”) and me roses for Mother’s Day, but they were fading fast. Because it was an overcast day, I took them outside and laid them against the picnic table and took a few pictures.

I really love the way the pictures turned out, so I decided to use one of them for this week’s 6x6” square. My first idea was to print the pic onto fabric; I had ONE piece of fabric all cut to size and ironed to freezer paper, so I carefully taped the leading edge and fed it into the printer. It jammed, of course.

I didn’t want to prepare more fabric for the printer, so I scrounged around and found June Tailor “Print ‘n Press Iron-On Transfer Paper.” I printed the pic onto my last sheet of that, then followed the directions to transfer it to cotton fabric.

Hmm; nice, if a little weathered looking. I remembered that I had ordered some TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) from Lesley Riley a while back, so I dug that out. I printed another copy of the image onto it (note: I used the HP printer this time rather than the Epson, so that probably accounts for some of the color difference). Then I transferred the image to cotton, following the TAP instructions:

The directions say to use an iron without steam holes, if possible; I used my regular iron and tried to move it around enough to cover the holes. I think, though, that the steam holes caused the incomplete transfer on the left side.

Ok, I thought, you’re supposed to be able to color TAP and then transfer it to fabric. I grabbed my Micron pens, crayons, and Prismacolor pencils, and drew on the TAP. It was a little hard to use the Micron pens on it, because they tended to catch the polymer and scrape it off, which gunked up the pen tip. The crayons were easier, but it was difficult to get a lot of color onto the TAP with them. The pencils worked the best. Then I ironed this TAP piece to cotton:

Everything transferred really well, including the Micron pen. Then, I wondered whether I could color on top of the already-transferred images. Using the Prismacolor pencils, I added color here and there, then re-ironed the piece:

I also added a little pencil to the rose prints in the areas that hadn’t transferred well.

Both the Print ‘n Press and TAP fabrics had a very stiff hand after the transfers; in addition, the Print ‘n Press was sticky, so I was anxious to see how they would feel after washing (and to see whether the added pencil would wash out). Each of them claim to soften with washing. I gave all three pieces a quick hand-wash with detergent, then dried them in the dryer on high heat. The Print ‘n Press lost much of its stickiness, but both transfer fabrics still had a very stiff hand. Neither felt plastic-like though, which I really like. The TAP polymers did seem more integrated with the fabric, which is one of its claims.

Surprisingly, the added pencil didn’t wash out on any of the fabrics. However, when I gave the TAP a final ironing after washing and drying it, I noticed the blue pencil had smeared or bled a little.

I like the way both of the transfers turned out, for different reasons. I love the aged/weathered look of the Print ‘n Press transfer. Otoh, I don’t want this look all the time, so the TAP is an excellent option for cleaner, crisper images.

Now, on to make my weekly 6x6” square, which I’ll post later today or tomorrow.

Round 2: Vivera vs. Durabrite

Now that I have an Epson printer (I got a really good deal on a reconditioned one from Epson), I can compare the quality of the Durabrite inks with the HP Vivera inks.

Some specifics: I have an HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-one that uses Vivera (#02 cartridge) inks, and an Epson Stylus CX7450 that uses Durabrite (#69 cartridge) inks. The images were printed onto Bubble-Jet-Set treated fabric, and rinsed with Bubble-Jet-Set Rinse and cold water.

Last time I tested just the HP Vivera inks, and noticed some fading of the inks when the fabric was rinsed. This time I got the same slight fading again. The first image is printed on HP’s “normal” setting, the second on “best.” On each, the top print is not rinsed, while the bottom one has been rinsed in the BJS Rinse:

I originally chalked the fading up to the truth of the rumors that Vivera inks just aren’t waterproof. So imagine my surprise when the Epson Durabrite inks faded just as much, if not more, when rinsed:

In terms of image quality, the Epson printout was brighter than the HP, but the HP colors seemed truer to the original (more red than pink).

Next up will be the “fade test.” I’ve heard the claim that HP Vivera inks will very quickly fade in sunlight, as opposed to Epson Durabrites, which remain stable. I taped an HP Vivera printout in a west-facing window and left it for two weeks, and the result showed no fading. I don’t think that was really long enough for an accurate test, though, so I’m going to repeat it, and this time include an Epson Durabrite printout. In addition, I’ll include a piece of commercial fabric and a piece of hand-dyed fabric for comparison (my window will look really bright, I think!). I’ll try to leave those in the sunlight for several months, and periodically record the results.

I can tell you that I’ve had an HP Vivera printout hanging on my design board for about 6 months now, and I can’t detect any fading. It’s not in direct sunlight, of course, but then, I try to keep all my fabrics out of direct sunlight.

HP Vivera Inks on Fabric

There have been some questions (and confusion) on a group list that I'm on about printer inks, and which ones can be used on fabric. Of course, everyone recommends the Epson pigment inks for both water resistance and light-fastness.

Since I love to print on fabric, I wanted an Epson printer that uses pigment inks for Christmas. My lovely partner wasn't quite sure what she was looking for while shopping. The salesperson apparently assured her that the new HP Vivera inks were pigment and not dye inks, and that these were comparable to the Epsons. So, I got an HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-one printer for Christmas.

I love this printer for all its features and for the quality of the prints. I've been happily printing away on fabric until someone suggested on the Yahoo list that HP inks—even the Viveras, whether dye or pigment-based--would run as soon as water touched them. I immediately had visions of all the color in my printed-fabric journal and art quilts melting away if they ever accidently got wet.

I started doing some research, and it turns out that HP calls both its pigment inks and its dye inks "Vivera." My printer uses the # 02 cartridges and a 6-cartridge color system. I assume that the inks are dye-based, since I found this information in a review of the C8180 at Imaging-Resource.com:

There's been a lot of discussion over the relative merits of pigments vs. dye-based inks. The longevity of HP's Vivera dye-based inks when used on HP's Premium Plus photo paper exceeds 100 years, according the tests by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.

That mates the dye-based Vivera inks to a swellable sheet that should not be handled right away. We let them sit for 24 hours, actually, before framing or stacking them. That's quite a bit less convenient than Kodak's pigment-based system, which lets you handle the prints right away (and doesn't have tabs that have to torn off the 4x6 sheets).

Doesn’t sound good. Does this mean I can’t use my printer for printing on fabric? I decided to do my own tests for water-resistance (I'm not sure how to test for light-fastness without comparing an HP-printed image to an Epson-printed image over a period of time; since I don't have access to an Epson printer, I can't check for this).

I used Photoshop to create a double-image, then printed this out onto a Jacquard Inkjet Printing Cotton Sheet (I’m going to duplicate the test with my own Bubble Jet Set-treated fabric in the future).

I waited for about 18 hours, then heat set the entire image with an iron on the highest setting.

I cut the image on the right side into 4 pieces, and wrote notes on each piece. I rinsed the first piece of the image in warm water, then let it dry. The second piece will be rinsed in warm water after two days; the third, after one week; and the fourth, after one month. The idea is to test how much ink rinses out of the fabric, and whether curing time retains more ink.

The first results (image dried for 18 hours, then heat set) show very little color loss between the original and the rinsed piece. There is a slight color loss, but not as much as I expected, give the rumors. I’ll post additional results over the next month showing the other three tests.

Given the results of the first test, I would recommend that fabric printed with HP Vivera inks be heat set, and that it be rinsed thoroughly so that any “loose” ink will be washed out before using the fabric in a quilt (otherwise, if the quilt gets wet, the inks may bleed or run into each other).

I can't tell you, though, how happy I am to know that the color in my printed-fabric quilts won't melt away with water, and that I can continue to use my wonderful printer!

How Much Can I Fit Into 36 Sq. Inches?

This week’s 6x6” square was influenced by some of the materials I’ve been using, the weather, my health, and my strange mood.

I was bitten by the dye bug earlier in the week. Other than dyeing a piece of round robin fabric a few weeks ago, I haven’t done any fabric dyeing since before I got sick. The weather was beautiful this week though, and I kept eyeing the picnic table on the back patio (which my lovely partner has given me permission to liven up with spilled paints and dyes) and thinking how nice it would be to spread some fabric out and paint some thickened dyes onto it.

I never made it quite that far, but I did mix up some dye concentrates and paint various combinations of color onto watercolor paper. Most of these are nice, neat tables of overlapping colors and neat notations.

Then I went a little wild and just slapped color onto the wc paper. I scanned these into the computer, and used part of one (above) for the background on the weekly square.

I’m feeling over-stimulated and anxious this week. It started as a sort of manic exhilaration, a feeling that I could accomplish anything. There are a lot of things I want to do—more than I’m capable of actually doing. So then, of course, I feel depression creeping in, because I start to think that I’ll never be able to accomplish everything I want to. That’s an unhealthy pattern for me, because I tend to push myself too hard and neglect myself in the process.

Maybe I’ve been exposed to too much sunlight this week; I have thoughts jumping around in my head like crazy, songs running through my mind night and day, and general disorder and chaos happening up there.

On top of that (or in relation to that? because of that?) I’ve felt some of the scary symptoms of my pancreatitis more strongly this week (pain and nausea, among others).

“Cacophony” kept coming to mind when thinking about the square, so I used Photoshop to layer the word and its dictionary definition over the dye-painted background. I upped the color saturation a little, then printed it out onto fabric, which is sort of ironic if you think about it: fabric printed with inks of watercolor paper colored with fabric dyes (!). I did some free-motion stitching (just a little) with black thread, and used some hand-dyed black/gray fabric for the backing and the fused borders.

I think of this week’s square as both a reflection of the manic anxiety I’m experiencing and a reminder to myself to slow down, take a few deep breaths, and take care of myself.

Imagi(ni)ng Faith

I just finished a journal quilt that is all about questions instead of answers. Since I got sick, I've been struggling with issues of faith. In my past, "healthy" life, I thought I had a good grasp on my spirituality, my beliefs, my understanding of the universe. Since then, though, I've been struggling with questions about how my illness (how I?) fit into the bigger scheme of things.

For some reason, thinking about all these issues brought to mind one of our "wildlife" adventures, blogged about in this post. I kept thinking about those birds, swooping through the garage with their sticks and bits of fluff to build a nest, then with food for those little cheeping babies. I wondered if their diligence required a good bit of faith; living in the wild as they do, do they approach the nest every time with fear that either their eggs or screeching little hatchlings will be gone? Or do they fly confidently back with faith that everything is just as they left it? Maybe both: maybe there's no extracting fear from faith, and vice-versa. Or maybe neither: maybe those birds are just living life day-to-day, doing what it is their instincts tell them to do without thought. Either way, they go on, pushing through every day, and I have no doubt that they'll be back this spring, seeking out the relative safety of our garage.

This quilt started as a mixed-media collage on watercolor paper, using scrapbooking papers, stickers, stamps (rubber and postage), and paints. I then printed the collage onto fabric, cut it up into three pieces, and fused it to the background fabric. I left the edges of these pieces raw and pulled some threads to fray them. I machine-quilted the whole piece, then added the ribbon and, on top of it, the beads (which are pretty hard to see in the pic).

I don't think this quilt brought me any closer to resolving my struggles around issues of faith, but I do find something comforting in thinking about those birds and how they press on year after year in the face of their own struggles. Maybe in some small way, that's what faith is about.